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[hdtrip2004]

Hello all,
I hope I am posting in the correct place, if not I apologize. I, like so many others, have been lurking in the shadows reading posts on here for some time, and I must say that this board seems to be very friendly and helpful. Kudos to everyone here. I just recently (as in, my c-card showed up in the mail today) got my open water certification and have a couple questions. I am NASE certified. Is this not a good organization? I have not seen to much on here about NASE. Next, how many dives should I get under my belt before I move to the advanced class? And lastly, would there be any advantage to moving to a different organization, say PADI, for my next class? Thank you for any help you can send my way, and I apologize in advance if my questions from time to time will be repeats of other strings on here. Have a great day.

 

[rstofer]

In my view, you should sign up for AOW immediately. The more supervised dives you have early on, the less bad habits you will develop.

As soon as you finish AOW, sign up for Rescue. Oddly, your organization doesn't seem to require First Aid/CPR until the next class: Advanced Rescue Diver. Anyway, sign up for that immediately after Rescue.

At the end of this sequence you will probably have something like 20 supervised dives. NOW you're ready to start diving.

Other opinions may vary but I feel the path to safety in diving is with more training, right up front.

Moving to PADI might make sense from a recognition point of view. I guess it depends. Just because I haven't heard of NASE doesn't mean they aren't recognized world wide. In any event, PADI will probably recognize your OW, AOW and Rescue certificates from NASE so it's your choice.

If you want PADI Master Scuba Diver, you will have to take PADI specialties for the 5 required topics.

Richard

 

[ronbeau]

Hello all,
I hope I am posting in the correct place, if not I apologize. I, like so many others, have been lurking in the shadows reading posts on here for some time, and I must say that this board seems to be very friendly and helpful. Kudos to everyone here. I just recently (as in, my c-card showed up in the mail today) got my open water certification and have a couple questions. I am NA SE certified. Is this not a good organization? I have not seen to much on here about NA SE. Next, how many dives should I get under my belt before I move to the advanced class? And lastly, would there be any advantage to moving to a different organization, say PADI, for my next class? Thank you for any help you can send my way, and I apologize in advance if my questions from time to time will be repeats of other strings on here. Have a great day.

Keep in mind that you do not necessarily have to take the more advanced courses from the same agency that issued your open water "C" card.

For example I have a PADI open water "C" card but my AOW, NITROX and Rescue certifications are from NAUI.

The key to keep in mind is the quality of the instructor. The quality of the instructor should be the prime concern for non-leadership certifications regardless of agency.

For leadership certifications (dive master etc) the quality of the instructor is still the primary concern. The agency he/she is affiliated with might also become very important depending what your motivation was for getting the leadership certification.

For example, if your intent is to go off to the Caribbean to work as a dive master for a few years then it might be important that the instructor is affiliated with PADI since most dive shops in the Caribbean are affiliated with PADI.

If your motivation is to be able to help with getting new local divers excited about the sport then the instructor's agency affiliation is probably not important.

 

[BDSC]

Hello all,
I hope I am posting in the correct place, if not I apologize. I, like so many others, have been lurking in the shadows reading posts on here for some time, and I must say that this board seems to be very friendly and helpful. Kudos to everyone here. I just recently (as in, my c-card showed up in the mail today) got my open water certification and have a couple questions. I am NASE certified. Is this not a good organization? I have not seen to much on here about NASE. Next, how many dives should I get under my belt before I move to the advanced class? And lastly, would there be any advantage to moving to a different organization, say PADI, for my next class? Thank you for any help you can send my way, and I apologize in advance if my questions from time to time will be repeats of other strings on here. Have a great day.

First of all congrats on getting certified. I believe you'll love the hobby/sport.

I waited about about a year after being certified before I took my advanced class. I'd say in that year I probably got in about 25 dives. Some were at the local quarry, some in the Florida springs, and some in the Keys. For me, I think this was the way to go. It helped me become much more comfortable in the water and gave me what I think was some much needed dive experience before taking the advanced class. By that time I was use to my own equipment and had my buoyancy almost perfect. (I did get better with that over time so it wasn't perfect.) That way when I took the advanced class and did the navigation part etc., I was able to focus on the tasks at hand without worring about other basics. So that's how I did it.

I really don't think there is a right or wrong way to proceed with your next class. I have always thought it a little strange that you can go right to the advanced class without having additional experience from the basic open water class. I think going straight to the advanced class really means that you will have advanced training but you won't be an advanced diver.

My one piece of advice would be to dive as often as you can after any of your certifications. My instructor hammered me on this over and over when I was taking my first class. Far too often he said people get all hyped up, take the course and get their c-card and then never go and dive again. He really preached getting involved in the sport quickly so you don't lose interest. But it looks like that won't be a problem for you.

Good luck which ever way you decide to go.

BDSC

 

[hdtrip2004]

Thanks for the help on this. I live in the midwest so there isn't much time left to get out and dive in the area. However, I did get ahold of a shop in KC that will let me come down and dive their pool to practice on my skills. I am thinking I would like to do that at least a couple times a month. another question, I have read on a few strings here that your dive instructor should give you a few freebies with your class, what kind of freebies? I didn't get any with my class.

 

[BDSC]

Thanks for the help on this. I live in the midwest so there isn't much time left to get out and dive in the area. However, I did get ahold of a shop in KC that will let me come down and dive their pool to practice on my skills. I am thinking I would like to do that at least a couple times a month. another question, I have read on a few strings here that your dive instructor should give you a few freebies with your class, what kind of freebies? I didn't get any with my class.

It's been a long time since I had my open water class but I don't remember anything being free except for his advice. But he was a great instructor and had great advice so I got more than my money's worth. But I'm with you, what kind of freebies are they talking about?

 

[leapfrog]

Hi. Congratulations. I know NASE. Fine people, fine organization. I agree with most of what has been posted so far about the instructor being more important than the certification and training agency.

It really does come down to where you are going to dive (inside the US or travel) what your medium and longterm objectives are (going Pro, getting in to tech diving or just enjoying recreational diving.

I always recommend all divers to train up to and including Rescue Diver. This is the level that I consider a diver to be sufficiently trained to deal with most situations and be a good buddy for another diver.

You should look at doing a Nitrox certification asap because you will find more and more places offering Nitrox, often for free and it has many benefits in recreational diving.

If you ever become interested in rebreathers, most rebreather courses mandate either an AOW or a Rescue certification and a Nitrox cert.

Unfortunately NASE is not really known outside the US, So if you are going to travel extensively, you might want to think of training with PADI, CMAS or SDI. NAUI is well known in Asian markets but not so much in Europe.

IMHO train to the next level as soon as possible... enjoy!