Education and Training Advice?

[TheBigPhillyFish]

I got my PADI Open Water last month, after a little ear problem the first try. So I finished it up at Conch Republic Divers in the Keys. Great dive shop, great instructors and friendly place. Stayed in the keys for over a week after my cert and got in 605 minutes of bottom time. Not bad!

So now with the winter months here, I would like to take advantage of the off time and get some more courses in. I wanted to get some feedback or thoughts about the courses I wanted to take. I see there is a lot of instructors and master divers here, so your advice is extremely valuable.

So here is what I want to take:

Advance Open Water, but someone told me you also take two specialty courses with it. So if this is true I would take Nitrox and Underwater Navigation.

I also wanted to look into TDI Solo course, I have heard this is an excellent course.

Also Advanced Nitrox, Decompression Procedure Diver, and Extended Range Diver.


So any advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Ed

 

[ronbeau]

I got my PADI Open Water last month, after a little ear problem the first try. So I finished it up at Conch Republic Divers in the Keys. Great dive shop, great instructors and friendly place. Stayed in the keys for over a week after my cert and got in 605 minutes of bottom time. Not bad!

So now with the winter months here, I would like to take advantage of the off time and get some more courses in. I wanted to get some feedback or thoughts about the courses I wanted to take. I see there is a lot of instructors and master divers here, so your advice is extremely valuable.

So here is what I want to take:

Advance Open Water, but someone told me you also take two specialty courses with it. So if this is true I would take NITROX and Underwater Navigation.

I also wanted to look into TDI Solo course, I have heard this is an excellent course.

Also Advanced NITROX, Decompression Procedure Diver, and Extended Range Diver.


So any advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Ed

NITROX would be an excellent course to give you a better understanding of things like partial pressure and other concepts.

I don't think you will find anyone who will suggest that you take a solo diver course this soon after completing OW certification. You will need much more experience before you consider diving solo.

If you decide to the the AOW course the logical next progression would be the Rescue course (regardless of certifying agency). Along the way you will want to get a lot more diving experience under your belt.

Once you get a lot more experience and the Rescue course under your belt you might want to consider the NAUI Master Diver course. The knowledge provided in this course includes an in-depth knowledge of diving related physics, physiology and other topics required for dive masters and instructors.

Dive Masters doing a cross-over to NAUI dive master are required to pass the NAUI Master Diver course before entering the DM training course.

As many will tell you the quality of the instructor is key to the success on any Scuba training course.

The NAUI Master Diver course (not to be confused with the NAUI Dive Master course) is will provide with a more in-depth training than the PADI Master Diving course which is effectively a collection of specialty courses as opposed to a single directed course with its own exam requirement.

I can't comment on the Advanced NITROX, Decompression Procedure Diver, and Extended Range Diver since I very limited knowledge relative to these courses.

 

[Don Wray]

If you are referring to the PADI AOW, you do not have to take any specialty classes with it or before it. You will pick 3 courses you might be interested in and do dive one of that specialty which will count toward that specialty if you decide to take it later. You must do a deep and navigation dive. For SDI solo diver, you must have 100 logged dives.