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This post is disingenuous and naive. The open-water cert MAY be all you need to do a (for example) boat dive, but it is NOT all you need to do a night dive, or a safe lift-bag/search-and-recovery dive, or a deep dive (like 130 ft). I'm guessing you have never taken a good specialty class from a good instructor. So maybe it is not good to generalize and offer bad advice.The dive industry had gotten so ridiculous with all of the specialty courses that they offer nowadays. Night diver, wreck diver, etc., it's all about money for them. I earned my open-water "C" card in 1988, and since then have watched the industry churn out students that are so scared of diving, because they are told that 60' is deep, and OMG don't go below that without more certifications! it's all about money. When you get your open-water certification as a new diver, you have all of the training that you need to do night dives, non-penetration wreck dives, boat dives etc., all that is needed after that is more experience diving to become more confident and relaxed in the water.
So to all the new divers out there, stop rushing out to get all of the latest specialty certifications, save your money and just dive more and get the experience.
you ever rent a helicopter for a hour? That price is not outta lineHere's an interesting one!
"PADI Heli-Dive Certification"
The OC Helicopters PADI Heli-Dive Course is a certification training course designed to familiarize Divers with the skills, knowledge, planning, organization, procedures, techniques, problems, hazards and enjoyment of diving from a helicopter.
And it's cheap!
* Single dives starting from $1,100 per/person
This post is disingenuous and naive. The open-water cert MAY be all you need to do a (for example) boat dive, but it is NOT all you need to do a night dive, or a safe lift-bag/search-and-recovery dive, or a deep dive (like 130 ft). I'm guessing you have never taken a good specialty class from a good instructor. So maybe it is not good to generalize and offer bad advice.
This is exactly the expected response: "I did it, so no one needs any training." Not quite a logical conclusion.So far I managed to dive at night and dive below 100', strangely enough without killing myself. Of course, some people look like they need a specialty class to breathe and chew gum at the same time...
This is exactly the expected response: "I did it, so no one needs any training." Not quite a logical conclusion.
I agree, there is a lot of material in the OW book. More than is actually covered in the in-water training.OW course should include all the information you need. I don't have my PADI booklet here to check, but I'm pretty sure we've covered narcosis in the classroom and basic compass use (to find the right direction in the dark) during certification dives. We did not cover the proper operation of a lift bag, nor search strategies and patterns, so I wouldn't argue about those. But then, neither did the post you were replying to.