What would you do differently ...

[Dish]

Pretty much like my NAUI course in the late 70s and what @chillyinCanada was referring to earlier. I would not change that course in the least.

 

[wsr523]

I wish I would have gotten my certification when I was in my 20's while serving in the Navy. I missed a lot of good diving opportunities in places that I'm pretty sure I won't visit again.

 

[ljpm]

I wish I had found this site first. It could have saved me a lot of money.

1. I would like to think I would have waited on buying gear but with the rental costs that might have ended up costing me more. I would definitely done more research before buying my gear.

2. I would not have taken any PADI on-line courses. Why pay Padi for the on-line course only to have to pay my LDS again for the training.

3. I would like to have had more dives between OW, AOW and Rescue.

 

[Pinecube]

This goes back a bit before I was certified but I wish I had bought a car that handles dive gear better.

 

[Marie13]

This goes back a bit before I was certified but I wish I had bought a car that handles dive gear better.

I'll agree with you on this one! I have a small sedan. At least the trunk accommodates more gear than the hatchback version would.

 

[TMHeimer]

I wish I would have gotten my certification when I was in my 20's while serving in the Navy. I missed a lot of good diving opportunities in places that I'm pretty sure I won't visit again.

Yeah, that's what my brother did--got his NAUI OW and PADI AOW back in the early '80s. He did dive in quite a few exotic places. As an officer, he was told he could not dive with his enlisted dive buddies, so I guess that's what curtailed/ended his diving until his recent retirement. Now we meet each summer over a weekend, rent a small boat, and do one day of diving in L.I. Sound off Connecticut.

 

[CassieNYC]

I was certified in 2015. I would have looked for an open water course with more pool sessions. We had one long one, which left me under-prepared. The additional training I got in the open water part of the dives helped a lot.

 

[mdb]

Yeah, that's what my brother did--got his NAUI OW and PADI AOW back in the early '80s. He did dive in quite a few exotic places. As an officer, he was told he could not dive with his enlisted dive buddies, so I guess that's what curtailed/ended his diving until his recent retirement. Now we meet each summer over a weekend, rent a small boat, and do one day of diving in L.I. Sound off Connecticut.

The Navy was/maybe still is, a bit strict on the officer enlisted separation.

Not in the USMC.

Marines are Marines, and off duty dive, ski, play other sports and get together.

On Monday morning it is "Good morning sir."

 

[Yancey M]

This goes back a bit before I was certified but I wish I had bought a car that handles dive gear better.

I'm with you on that one. I just gave my VW back cause of the TDI scandal deal. So brand new truck(with a topper) here I come.

 

[flybigjet]

As an officer, he was told he could not dive with his enlisted dive buddies, so I guess that's what curtailed/ended his diving until his recent retirement.

Weird. When I was still in the Air Force/Air Force Reserve, I've gone diving with my enlisted flight engineers and loadmasters more than once. We'd hard break somewhere (like Thailand or Egypt) and we'd all go diving while we were waiting for parts.

Of course, aircrew (and especially Reserve aircrew) are a little more fuzzy on the whole officer/enlisted thing-- we always said that rank was simply a pay status.

R.