I got certified!!

[DivingsInMyBlood]

congrats on getting your cert

 

[njd3rph]

Take the AOW class. It will be a good continuation of your training. TDI is more focused on "technical" diving. You need to learn to be a good recreational diver first.

Even after completing the AOW class, I'd strongly recommend not doing those 130' dives until you get a lot more experience.

If by "technical" you mean safer and better taught I would agree, as for learning to be a good recreation diver, how about just learning to be a good, well trained diver who knows his/her limits and doesnt attempt to exceed them. While I don't know what others experience with PADI AOW training has been, my PADI AOW wreck segment included learning to guestimate the size of a wreck by measuring with arm length, and then being told not to stir up silt in the wreck to prevent blackout conditions, followed by the instructor having us take off our fins (so as not to stir up silt) and swim through the cabin of a 20' boat in 30' of water in a quarry, hardly proper training for a 130' wreck dive.

 

[TheRedHead]

IF he is taking his PADI AOW deep dive then he will have an instructor with him and will have planned his dive with his instructor. I do feel that if he wants to dive deep, this would be a really good introductory dive. Leave the deeper dives with a DM in the same ocean for later.

And you're speaking from experience about this? Gawd, go read the entire Accidents and Incidents forum. I took AOW after 100 dives. It was a JOKE.

 

[Deep-Seven]

Well now....that was more replies than I expected!! lol, but much appreciated!
turns out I prolly won't be going on those dives. I think I convinced my dive buddy that I was paired with in our cert. dives that we need to work on buoyancy since he is having problems with that and his ascents/safety stops. My instructor did comment on my ability to maintain position in a column of water (it's cool just being able to stay put!), plus, practice makes perfect, right? I'd rather work on the skills I have so I don't look like a goober when I go dive in "public"
As for gas management, I was taught "dive the rule of thirds", 3000psi at the start of the dive, no less than 1000psi when you get out...no exceptions

 

[Hinalo]

And you're speaking from experience about this? Gawd, go read the entire Accidents and Incidents forum. I took AOW after 100 dives. It was a JOKE.

Yes, that is from my experience of my PADI AOW deep dive. My instructor stayed with me, supervised my skill execution at depth, and even hung with me for a deep stop. We went to 80fsw on that dive and precisely kept to our plan. I learned a lot on that dive, especially bouyancy control while descending. Maybe it's not like that for everyone, but it was for me.

 

[Mako Mark]

Deep seven,

Dont do the 130 ft wreck dive, that is just asking for trouble at your newly minted level.

Go and do a handful of fun easy dives with your buddy, sort out your bouyancy, figure out your gear and your communications etc.

Once you are ready to learn some more, take the (badly named) advanced course, it will introduce you to some other areas of diving, but dont wait as long as redhead did, by 100 dives it would take an exceptional instructor to teach you somethng new.

 

[Colliam7]

So, there is a Padi AOW class next week. Should I go ahead and take it, and then start working on my specialties through TDI? I just don't like the idea of being an "advanced" diver after just a handful of dives, but I'm on vacation in a couple weeks and I'm going to try to dive on what the shop calls "advanced" (130ft) wrecks.

The answer to your question is not necessarily an absolute 'Yes' or 'No'. A lot depends on you. Personally, I recommend you do the AOW course. Not because you will become an 'advanced' diver (the name notwithstanding), but because it continues your training, and gives you exposure to a bit more depth. You can get a lot, or a little, out of PADI AOW. Part depends on the instructor, but part depends on you - I mean that in a very positive sense, because a given diver can get a lot out of AOW, or little more than a C-card. As for doing the 'advanced' wrecks, the cautions already expressed are very valid and appropriate. I doubt any of us are going to suggest a newly certified OW diver jump off a boat and drop to 130'. Your readiness for deeper dives will depend a great deal on individual circumstances, your personal fitness, your confidence, your bouyancy control, how many dives you have by that time, your buddy, dive site conditions, etc. I read your post as possibly considering a NC coastal trip, perhaps organized through your LDS, not traveling to a resort area. Depending on the LDS, you may have an experienced, instructor-level trip leader on board, or it may just be a charter that is filled by whomever signs up and you end up with an insta-buddy. An anecdotal observation: my son did OW at 18, right before going in the Army. He only did 2 (quarry) dives, to 50', each year for the next two years. The third year he did 4 more quarry dives, then a NC coastal trip on a couple of 85' wrecks. His 15th logged dive (at that time no AOW, no additional training) was to 115', on one of the NC U-boats. His 17th dive was on a coastal WWII wreck, to 136'. Not a scenario that we would ordinarily consider prudent, or recommendable. But, he is exceptionally fit, has great bouyancy control, functions well in stressful environments, is very smooth in the water. On the latter dive, he happened to be diving with a group of experienced divers and dive professionals, but it was by no means a 'trust me' dive. Individuals progress in their diving along different paths, and at different rates. So, continue your training, and continue to gain experience. There are a lot of great NC coastal wreck dives that are shallower than the 130' recreational limits, that might represent a better starting point.

 

[creggur]

Congrats on Your Certification!!!

 

[TheRedHead]

Yes, that is from my experience of my PADI AOW deep dive. My instructor stayed with me, supervised my skill execution at depth, and even hung with me for a deep stop. We went to 80fsw on that dive and precisely kept to our plan. I learned a lot on that dive, especially bouyancy control while descending. Maybe it's not like that for everyone, but it was for me.

There's nothing wrong with AOW, but it doesn't prepare you to dive a wreck to 130 feet. Frankly, I took it to get the card. You need the card to dive the deep wrecks. A lot of people take it for that reason. I did my AOW in St. Croix and dove to 100 feet on a wall, wrote my name backward, easy-peasy, yawn.

Even though you may be able to handle a dive to 100 feet or deeper when conditions are right, if conditions are wrong and something goes wrong, you can easily die at that depth. I have a great respect for deep wrecks. You would be surprised how easy it is to lose the upline diving a large wreck in poor visibility. And if you have to ascend without a line, you had better be able to shoot a bag so the boat can find you. Getting behind a boat in a current is bad news.

You may be able to handle losing your reg and your mask in the pool, but having it happen to you at 125 feet is a different matter. I was in the Devil's Throat in Cozumel and was kicked in the face and lost both my reg and my mask. Getting my secondary was easy enough, then I got my mask straightened out. I was diving with the typical octo set up at that time and when I recovered my reg and exchanged it for my octo, I discovered I was hung up on something and couldn't move. It took me about a minute to figure out that my octo was caught on some coral on the roof the cavern because I was narced out of my mind. Being kicked in the face caused an adrenaline kick and then the breathing rate increased and believe me, you can get very narced. I was an experienced diver at that point and I was able to find my way out of the throat by myself because the group were all outside on the wall. I think it would have been a very bad experience for a new diver, and possibly resulted in an accident or death.

For these reasons, I think a newly-minted diver, even with AOW, is ill-prepared for the conditions of found at depth, particularly with the potential for strong currents and bad viz.

 

[Melicertes]

Hey Deep-Seven,
I think there's been enough said about getting some more well watered experienced before considering a dive to 130'. Well done on your cert so far. It's a good start. Another good start was posting on the board here to get some advice. RedHead summed it up nicely: things can go wrong, badly wrong, very quickly even at depths most people don't consider deep, and it's often only well honed skills and experience that might make a lifetime of difference. Take it easy and slow but learn as much as you can from every dive. Just so you know, there are other wrecks at way shallower depths if you're interested in wrecks specifically.