Just got my OW. Not stopping there

[TMHeimer]

In hindsight, take Rescue as soon as you can. You only need to be an Adventure Diver now for that--and you no longer need 20 logged dives. You may not do great in the course, but the stuff you learn is still the same when you get more experience and you can review after that.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I'd do rescue before advanced. And then find an Advanced class that is. Advanced that is. Not some taste or tour of advanced dives. Before you do it though make sure your basic skills are solid. Buoyancy, trim, weighting, etc. You should be able to do all skills neutral and horizontal in the water column without changing depth more than a couple feet. It's what I require before allowing students into my advanced classes. And forget the altitude dive as a dive. It's an exercise in planning using altitude tables. I know some instructors like to use it as a dive but they don't really do anything on the dive except swim around. And if you are doing the dives at an altitude location guess what? All the dives are already ALTITUDE dives. So instead throw in Search and Recovery, Night/Low Vis, or even better a second Nav dive. Problem is with that many instructors who follow the book won't know what to do on the second one. Find one who will.

 

[Blue Life]

Congratulations Brandon! Welcome to this awesome underwater world! I believe you are in the right path. If you are interested in cavern and cave training after let me know!
Enjoy this awesome sport!
Karla


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[52brandon]

thanks for the welcomes everybody. I'm definitely interested in the cavern/cave diving. And most definitely plan on doing a good deal of that in the future. But I don't want to get too far ahead of myself right now. As excited as I am to get into all of these amazing dives/styles/specialties, I know I'm very green and don't want to try to run before I can walk. Tomorrow I'm going to dive a reef shark feeding and maybe a night dive before heading home as well.

As for the Rescue Diver before AOW, I didn't think that was possible. I thought it went OW -> AOW -> Rescue -> Master?

 

[beaverdivers]

Congrats!

Good Luck & Good Diving.

 

[TMHeimer]

As for the Rescue Diver before AOW, I didn't think that was possible. I thought it went OW -> AOW -> Rescue -> Master?

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As far as PADI goes, they changed that a while ago. You only need to be an Adventure Diver Cert. (not AOW anymore) to take Rescue. Check PADI's website.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

There are also.other agencies that do not require anything other than ow and a few dives before rescue. You do not have to limit yourself to PADI.

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[TMHeimer]

There are also.other agencies that do not require anything other than ow and a few dives before rescue. You do not have to limit yourself to PADI.

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Agree. Doesn't matter where, just get the skills.

 

[52brandon]

thank you for all of the replies. Just got back from the shark dive. That was an awesome experience. That's probably gonna sum up this vacation. Now it's on to planning the next one

 

[Easdem]

Congratulations on getting your OW, it’s a first step into a bigger world.

When it comes to continuing education, there are a number of opinions as to what is appropriate to take at what point. I am of the opinion that AOW is a good class to take quickly after getting your certification, and if I had my own agency, I would combine OW and AOW into one class and would add some basic rescue skills to the curriculum as well.

Having your AOW card does not make you an advanced diver, what it does do is, give you the opportunity to get more instruction past the basic OW level and a chance to sample some specialties. The navigation and deep portions of PADI’s AOW curriculum fill gaps that are not covered well in the OW class. These are, in my opinion, extremely important in producing safe, competent and confident divers.

Nitrox is a good specialty to take, as it adds some depth to your knowledge about gases and their effect on your physiology but may be of limited value at first. It has been my experience that new divers are limited in their dive times by gas consumption and not by the NDL. However, if you are planning a dive trip soon, having an EANx cert will be helpful in giving you longer NDLs when you dive 4+ times in a day.

Rescue class will undoubtedly change you as a diver. I will say that when you take rescue class, you should be fully comfortable in the water and have your buoyancy control down to almost autopilot.

Lastly, for a class to be good, you need a good instructor almost more than a “good agency.” Find a good instructor and stick with them.