Best way to learn tec diving?

[HappyHonu]

PADI tech diving classes versus GUE fundamentals and beyond.

My thoughts are that GUE will be much more thorough, but PADI cards are more reconizable to the average dive shop that won't understand what you're doing.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[DMDavid]

My thoughts are that GUE will be much more thorough, but PADI cards are more reconizable to the average dive shop that won't understand what you're doing.

It shouldn't matter to a dive shop what your advanced certs are.

I have all kinds of different levels of certifications but when it comes to airfills or renting from a dive shop I normally just plop down my old basic open water card.

Most shops couldn't care less if you were trained by Cousteau himself.

And GUE is a highly recognized certification agency, any dive shop that doesn't recognize it would be very unlikely.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Once you get some tech certs, shop won't really matter. If they do not recognize them run away from that shop. There are others as well. TDI, IANTD, NAUI Tech, etc. If they have any real knowledge at all a tech cert from any recognized agency will get you what you need.

 

[BabyDuck]

at that level, your job isn't to make some random shop happy. take shops out of your thought processes about what instructor to choose.

 

[DevonDiver]

And GUE is a highly recognized certification agency, any tech dive shop that doesn't recognize it would be very unlikely.

I'd think that there were probably quite a few recreational shops/staff around the world who would be clueless about GUE.

However, if they were tech diving operations, then I'd walk away instantly.

Choosing to go to GUE/UTD should be the result of considerable research. GUE has a very specific methodology and mindset that is much more single-minded than other tech agencies.

As for quality of instruction - that's entirely about your selection of instructor. It has little to do with the shop or agency concerned.

Tech diving is an expensive and time consuming endeavour. It's wise to start as you mean to go on.... and do a lot of groundwork research before making a decision.

 

[w ripley]

I have to agree with the posts so far.

Tech diving is a life-long pursuit that may take you deep in oceans or very far back in caves. Don't expect to learn everything with one course or in one year (although we all are guilty of thinking we can or should). Understand that it's going to be very expensive in terms of gear, time, and personal committment.

I suggest that you take courses that are close to where your live when available. What one instructor may not cover another will. And, try to dive with people who share your ambition. You will learn a lot from each other.

Consider including some cave-related courses, not to go cave diving necessarily but to learn trim and buoyancy skills that will benefit you in everything you do underwater. You will be surprised how few divers have these skills + what a difference they will make.

It's not the agency: It's you and your instructor.

Good luck.

 

[Wookie]

The card means very little to me as an operator. Who you mentored with and their phone number so I can chat with them means far more. I'd love to tell you that a PADI card means instant acceptance or a GUE card or a DIR rig or a ....., but it really doesn't. At that level of diving, your references are what really count. If you want to come with me on a 400 foot deep trip, I'll need to know where else you've been diving. Not that I won't let you come, 400 feet deep in the warm clear waters of the Keys are much different than 400 feet off the coast of Ireland or New Jersey, but I'll still want to know who you've been diving with and where.

 

[kanonfodr]

I've never had my Fundies card questioned before, and GUE cards state specifically what depths and gasses the diver is qualified for. If a dive op doesn't accept that, then I probably won't do business with them. But then again, for travel I tend to research where I'm going and who people are diving with and talk to the operation so they know I'm coming and we both have a clear picture of what is going on.

And yes, GUE/UTD/DIR is more than a certification IMO. It's about team and individual skills, and being consistent within the organizations as a whole. This weekend I was lucky to join a visiting DIR diver for two very nice dives and while the trip didn't work out as planned we were both able to adapt and have some real fun diving together. Sure beats having an unknown insta-buddy on a charter.

But really, you need to chat with local instructors (and their students) about your progression. Where the card comes from is secondary, IMO, to what you gain from the course in both knowledge and skills. You can't learn from an instructor you don't gel with, period. I've been lucky that most of my out-of-PADI instructors have been really good mentors and can really get a point across.

Another thing I like to find is an instructor that is doing the dives I want to do. If you want to dive caves, find an instructor that is actively fun-diving or exploring caves. I don't know how much you could learn about deep wreck diving from an instructor that does all of their dives on tropical reefs :/ . Same thing for an instructor for whom teaching is all they do, I like knowing that the knowledge I am gaining from them is being used outside of the classroom on real dives.

So find an instructor or instructors (do your research), talk to them about your diving goals, and if possible go diving with them before a class to see how you really gel in the water. And Have Fun!!

Peace,
Greg

 

[Peter Guy]

Yes, it IS the instructor that matters -- perhaps especially in technical training. That written, I will make the flat statement that GUE and UTD, no doubt because they are so small, have very good "instructor supervision" which really means the instructor corps is more uniform and, quite frankly, uniformly good. For what it's worth, ALL of my technical training has been with TDI and NAUI -- although I did take GUE Fundies and have had "diving lessons" (which really taught me a lot) with the head of UTD.

I don't know if there is a "Best Way" to learn technical diving for it depends on so many things:

a. What instruction is available (and affordable) to you?
b. What do you want to learn/Why do you want to be a "technical" diver?
c. What are your skills at the beginning?

There is a reason why GUE created the Fundamentals class -- which is because GUE found that too many people who came to take their technical classes weren't ready (didn't have the basic skills) for the class. For that reason, I would recommend that you take Fundies or Essentials OR an Intro-to-Tech class which is modelled on Fundies. You won't be learning "technical skills" but, instead, you will be getting the basic skills you need to be a strong technical diver -- at least that's my opinion.

A couple of stories -- my TDI Cavern instructor told me he had a hard time with me in the class because I came prepared with a lot of the skills he normally taught. What that meant was that we were able to concentrate on the Cavern specific skills which meant I got a lot more out of the class than the normal Cavern student.

Second story -- I did a dive yesterday with 4 other technically trained divers -- a purely recreational dive on scooters in pretty sucky viz. We had never dived together, although I think we had all had a dive with each, just not as a group. We also did not have training from the same instructor or the same agency -- but we all had similar training. The point of this? Because we all had similar technical training AND because we all dive regularly, we had a really fun dive -- low viz, on scooters.

Good training makes for really great and fun dives.

Go for it!

 

[SDAnderson]

PADI tech diving classes versus GUE fundamentals and beyond.

My thoughts are that GUE will be much more thorough, but PADI cards are more reconizable to the average dive shop that won't understand what you're doing.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

The primary objective of technical training shouldn't have anything to do with the card. If you pick PADI because the card will be widely accepted or GUE because of the hardnose cachet, your priorities are mangled.

Frank has it right - at the technical level, most people are going to be more interested in what you've done and won't much care about what cards you've collected. Find a program that you're comfortable with and an instructor who knows what he is doing and actually does the dives you want to learn about. Then go diving. A lot.