Some cards are certifications. Some cards are souvenirs. Nothing wrong with souvenirs.
The benefit of specialties
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Expensive souvenir ! how much more than the normal dive does the add on for the specialty cost?
You took a class, learned a lot, and became a better diver. The only thing lacking was a certification card for it.
Believe it or not, there is a PADI specialty that teaches everything you learned in that experience and more. It is a Distinctive Specialty name TecReational Diver. There aren't many instructors who are certified to teach it, but they are around. The world of scuba is changing. There is now a middle path forming between what used to be thought of as two different world, the recreational and the technical. It will take a little longer for that new path to become fully evolved, but it will happen.
Believe it or not, there is a PADI specialty that teaches everything you learned in that experience and more. It is a Distinctive Specialty name TecReational Diver. There aren't many instructors who are certified to teach it, but they are around. The world of scuba is changing. There is now a middle path forming between what used to be thought of as two different world, the recreational and the technical. It will take a little longer for that new path to become fully evolved, but it will happen.
When I started diving dry I hated it. I felt like I could not get anything right and was ready to give it up and go back to a wetsuit. No one I dove with could help so I thought I would give it one more try and did a PADI drysuit course. After one confined water and two open water training dives I thought "I love diving dry".
Later I took Nitrox and Deep from the same shop but a different instructor. My instructor was a PADI RecTec instructor and included a lot of more advanced information than the course calls for. These two courses were the best training I have every taken.
If I want to learn something I will seek out the best training I can find. If it is a specialty course then that is what I will take, however, I do not pay for specialties, I pay for training and if I happen to get a card I will take the card.
Later I took Nitrox and Deep from the same shop but a different instructor. My instructor was a PADI RecTec instructor and included a lot of more advanced information than the course calls for. These two courses were the best training I have every taken.
If I want to learn something I will seek out the best training I can find. If it is a specialty course then that is what I will take, however, I do not pay for specialties, I pay for training and if I happen to get a card I will take the card.
As you learned the hard way... "It's not the specialty, it's the instructor."
As you did, I took several classes early on. Some would have said I was going too fast or called me a "card collector" at the time. However, I had the great fortune of having an LDS with owners and an instruction staff that places tremendous value on proper trim, buoyancy, and propulsion from the earliest classes. Early on in my diving career I took the peak performance buoyancy specialty with them which covered all the same things you're speaking about, so it is certainly possible to get good instruction with a specialty card included.
lindenbruce
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DevonDiver
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Goodtime Adventures
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Specialty courses are great for learning new skills and gaining more experience. However many are over rated - not just with PADI but other agencies too. This is because there is no onus on the instructor to do anything other than meet the performance requirements. Its sounds like you have had great training with your instructor so far, but sadly unless you find someone so enthusiastic or passionate about the specific area you are training in, you may not feel you get value for money on many of the spec courses available.
Distinctive specs are fun if you have a special interest in a particular area, but dont carry much credence with many dive centres/operators unless you are doing something very specific (eg Manta research in your case). I'd agree with some previous posts that the ones that carry weight are the more technical specs such as deep, eanx, Nav, wreck etc
Good luck in your diving, and enjoy your time with the mantas and big spotty fish!
Distinctive specs are fun if you have a special interest in a particular area, but dont carry much credence with many dive centres/operators unless you are doing something very specific (eg Manta research in your case). I'd agree with some previous posts that the ones that carry weight are the more technical specs such as deep, eanx, Nav, wreck etc
Good luck in your diving, and enjoy your time with the mantas and big spotty fish!
Each of the two certifications a $70 on top of the dive itself. The dive, about 35 minutes in the water, is $325 per person. No waterproof cameras allowed, but they will happily sell you a DVD for just $50 more.
Credit cards only. No cancellations. If the doc says you can't dive, well you can still pay, can't you?
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