Flexibility between agencies for future certifications and instructor courses

[adimi24]

Hi, I am in Tulum right now and thinking about taking

Basic Openwater sidemount
Nitrox
Cave essentials

all with IANTD with Protec dive shop

I am new to diving and know very little abuot the agencies. I am kind of obsessed with diving right now and although it´s far away, I am considering options for tec diving, cave diving, and for instructing diving as a career in the future. My concern is that if I do a bunch of courses now with one agency and then decide to pursue further training and/or a career with another agency is that I´ll have to waste time and money to redo courses with the "other" agency.

It seems some things are flexible. I am PADI OW and AOW certified and it seems like I can pursue rescue diver with most other agencies if I want. Hopefully that is the same with most basic classes

I am trying to figure out how flexible the prerequisites are for further training with various agencies but though someone might be able to offer a quick answer, as i have to decide if i am doing this training with protec tonight.

I´m not even going to spend the money on the cave card because that is useless anyway ( or so i was told). So the concern is with the sidemount and nitrox courses.

Hopefully that makes sense

 

[drrich2]

I'm not familiar with Tulum or how widely you plan to travel. Did you mean you would take a Cave course & 'pass' it but not send for the card to save money?

I ask because there are places that require a cave card to dive a cave.

I may have misunderstood your intent.

Richard.

 

[adimi24]

No, the course I would be taking is Cave Essentials, which I think is just the most basic introduction to overhead environments. This course is before even cavern diver and intro to cave and I think is an uncertainness step and paying for the card would be useless other than owning a useless card ( or that´s how i understood it anyway) so I´d rather not spend another $40

 

[tstormdiver]

For most agencies, the basic diving courses & specialties are interchangeable. When you start getting into the technical realms, it may change a bit,.. ie one agency's course may not exactly match another's,... though most tend to be close. It can really change when you get to the professional ranks, though. Some agencies will accept another's certifications, some you may have to downgrade.

Richard, I've done the "Essentials to Cave" (at the time I think is was a general Overhead environment class). We did it at Pennyroyal, using taped up masks (simulate silt out/ no lights), line strung out around rocks to learn to follow the line by feel & used the school bus & RV as actual overheads. I then did IANTD Cavern & Intro & the TDI Full Cave & Cave DPV.

 

[DevonDiver]

Whilst courses like 'cave essentials' don't function as a "license" to do anything in particular, they do provide a good indication of core environmental training. Try to get away from the "this card permits me to do x" mentality as a guide to its worth.

Personally, leading dives and training on/into wrecks...I'd be more interested to see a diver turn up with proof of dedicated overhead environment training, rather than something of very variable quality like a PADI wreck diver or cavern diver card..

 

[adimi24]

Whilst courses like 'cave essentials' don't function as a "license" to do anything in particular, they do provide a good indication of core environmental training. Try to get away from the "this card permits me to do x" mentality as a guide to its worth.

Personally, leading dives and training on/into wrecks...I'd be more interested to see a diver turn up with proof of dedicated overhead environment training, rather than something of very variable quality like a PADI wreck diver or cavern diver card..

I understand what you´re saying Devon but I don´t think it´s worth spending $40 for a card that no one will ever probably want to look at. If I decide to pursue the cavern course, cave essentials isn´t required and I doubt most other people in the course would´ve done it. I´m doing it more so to get an intro to overhead environments and see if I want to pursue cave/wreck diving. Does that make sense?

 

[The Chairman]

The best thing to do right now would be to dive, dive, dive. Get the skills you want and need and don't worry about the cards. We have a ton of card collectors already and none of them prove that they are decent divers. Experience is what new divers need more than anything. Get a few hundred dives and then do rescue and beyond. You'll be glad you did!