It's a generalization, sure. And while I don't disagree that this is another sort of "skill", we're getting into semantics there - I'm sure you know what I meant when I said skill. First, I think the OP's thread is "Is the U/W Naturalist specialty worth a dang," not whether U/W naturalist should be one of the elective dives for AOW. But let us assume that the question is whether someone should pick an elective dive for AOW that provides them with more "skill" as a diver. Which dive would you recommend? I definitely agree that PPB would be a good choice, but what other elective dives enhance a "skill?" Wreck--only if they are going to dive wrecks. Drift--ditto. Photography--more of the same. Search and Recovery? The truth is, with very few exceptions, is that divers' skills improve with more diving. My concern (as posted earlier in this thread) is that many folks are hanging up their dive gear and leaving the sport BECAUSE they simply don't know what they're looking at. If they don't see the shark, ray, eel or turtle, they consider their dives a waste. So how do we keep them in the sport so they can dive more and improve their skills? The answer that I've found is by making them truly aware of ALL the critters that divers often overlook. I've found this to be the case in over fourteen years as an instructor. Thing is, while you may teach a great class that happens to improve skills and provides great info I don't think that (or getting an instructor with a degree in marine biology) is something that can be relied on as a general rule. True, but that is why I emphasized that students should consider the qualifications of their instructor before picking a specialty. I wouldn't want someone teaching a wreck specialty unless they had a decent amount of exposure to wreck diving. As a side note, I know dozens of instructors who teach wondeful U/W naturalist courses, and I've learned from them as I hope they have learned from me. I would hazard that quite often UWN (or similar) in AOW is more of a filler. Any of the elective dives can be considered "fillers." They are what the instructor and the student make of them. (If someone needs to improve their buoyancy skills, I think it would usually be better to at least do PPB which focuses on the skill rather than a class that may hit this some as an aside.) Agreed
"Buy a book" is a generalization too, but again I'm just expressing a general idea. Sure they're not going to buy a book and get all the knowledge of a marine biologist. But it doesn't take much reading to learn that corals are delicate and not rocks, and the other basic stuff people should know before diving in that environment. I'm not talking about "basic stuff. I'm talking about developing techniques so that if students want to, they can identify ANY of the corals, sponges, fish and critters they desire. you would be surprised how many divers come to the surface with questions like "what was that brown thingy I saw down there?" If someone has any interest or cares at all they're going to pick this up reading some dive magazine, from a couple good dive briefings, or maybe because they go to someplace like Bonaire and the basic idea will hopefully get stuck in their face before they get in the water. And I do think someone can learn quite a bit reviewing fish books for the area they're diving.
