What now? Adventure Diver? Advanced? Something else?

[DivemasterDennis]

I am a big fan of continuing diver education and taking courses to broaden you competence and comfort levels, BUT.. I am an even bigger fan of practical experience. Many divers never do any certifications passed their basic open water ( my wife Debbie, for example) but are excellent divers. Debbie has over 200 ocean dives and I would rather dive with her than anyone. Of course, she has had the benefit of a private DM on every dive (me)! Enjoy the trip, gain experience, and as area interest s you or as you feel a need to improve in a certain area, take an appropriate class.
DivemasterDennis

 

[GrandpaScuba]

First - Dive as much as you can. If you have trouble getting buddies to dive with, then taking a course is one way to get hooked up with other divers and to get a known number of dives in. Any advanced class will do, but I'd suggest the AOW, 'cause there is more diving done in that class. So back to my first point, get as many dives in as you can.

 

[farsidefan1]

Nitrox would be useful immediately. You are going to have a ball. The red sea is one of my favorite places to dive.

 

[tracydr]

Thanks!

You can often do nitrox and AOW together. You'd probably find them both useful. Make sure you get some navigating experience with your compass. Are you diving from a boat? Is this the first time?

 

[Altissimus]

I did Nitrox and AOW together as the next training after my OW. I felt the AOW finished off a whole bunch of questions that the OW had left open. It also concentrated a lot more on buoyancy skills, which I found invaluable. The AOW gave me a lot more confidence thatn the OW had done.

 

[antattack]

++1 for just diving for a while, maybe up to about 20 fun dives. That's what I did and then I found myself in Hawaii while my wife attended rehearsals for a wedding. I had no dive buddy, so I asked about a nitrox class- boom! I got a certification card, learned something and had two very nice boat dives with a dive instructor who really knew his way around.

AOW is a great class, but it's greatest value is that it is a requirement for the best class ever. Rescue. After I took rescue, I felt like I started to really understand diving and my role as a dive buddy. Great stuff.

You have a lot of good times ahead. Training is great, but we do the training to better enjoy our sport dives. And if we meet some nice people along the way, well that's even better!

 

[Token]

Matriga -- It sounds like I'm in about the same place as you...feeling confident in the water, but still pretty new to it. I've got my Nitrox cert [mainly to reduce my Nitrogen exposure on repeat dives...I'm hoping to do a lot of multiple dive days on my next few vacations] and I'm strongly tempted to check off my AOW despite having limited experience. However I think I will resist that temptation. It seems to me that I should have well over 25 dives under my belt...maybe 50... before doing my AOW. Until I'm at the point where buoyancy and equipment familiarity is automatic and thoughtless, I won't be an 'advanced' diver, no matter what my cert card says.

I think I will do a deep-dive course however...on a couple of my dives I've found myself pushing 90' with no issues, but I think I ought to know more about it before that happens again.

 

[ac]

Just dive, dive and dive. Nitrox will be good after you have your skills and breathing down.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I think I will do a deep-dive course however...on a couple of my dives I've found myself pushing 90' with no issues, but I think I ought to know more about it before that happens again.

Some food for thought ...

NWGratefulDiver.com (Gas Management)

... and ...

NWGratefulDiver.com (Deep Diving)

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[ADeadlierSnake]

I agree with what people are saying here... Just go out and dive. After some time, if you feel confident in your basic skills, and you find that the 60 ft depth limit of OW is a little constrictive, then at that time I would recommend taking AOW and Nitrox. But in the end, you have to ask yourself what your own goals are for diving. If you are perfectly content diving in the 60 ft range, then there is no need to take either. However if you are interested in more challenging dives, maybe its a good fit for you. Do whatever you want to do, but just make sure that your skills at one level are honed before moving to the next