Life After PADI OW certification- continuing education

[susan6868]

Hi Gang-
Hope this is the right forum. I've had my PADI OW cert for a few years now and I'm finally ready to continue my training. My first interest is learnig to use Nitrox.
Recently, I was taking to a dive master from another part of the country while on a surface interval. He suggested taking the Nitrox course online through SDI.
Has anyone done this? Also, if I want to dive Nitrox, which course is best? Does PADI offer the same thing and if I go with the SDI, is it widely accepted. If I show up in Cozumel with "certification" in Nitrox from SDI, is it something my dive op will honor?

Next thing is, I'd like to do advanced open water. Again, since I'm PADI certified, should I just go PADI for the advanced course?
I'm thinkng it might be good for the sake of continuity.

Let me know what you think. I'm hoping this is the right forum.
Thanks

 

[Walter]

SDI is accepted as widely as PADI. Non-divers are more likely to know about PADI, but any charter or fill station will accept SDI. There's no advantage, with regard to acceptance, of one ageny over another.

If you've been an active diver for "a few years now," you'll find the AOW class pretty much a waste of time. Look for an instructor who teaches the YMCA Silver Advanced class. Don't let anyone talk you into taking the YMCA AOW class, it's no better than the other AOW courses available. The Silver Advanced class contains more academics and twice as many dives as the typical AOW class.

 

[oly5050user]

Hi Gang-
Hope this is the right forum. I've had my PADI OW cert for a few years now and I'm finally ready to continue my training. My first interest is learnig to use Nitrox.
Recently, I was taking to a dive master from another part of the country while on a surface interval. He suggested taking the Nitrox course online through SDI.
Has anyone done this? Also, if I want to dive Nitrox, which course is best? Does PADI offer the same thing and if I go with the SDI, is it widely accepted. If I show up in Cozumel with "certification" in Nitrox from SDI, is it something my dive op will honor?

Next thing is, I'd like to do advanced open water. Again, since I'm PADI certified, should I just go PADI for the advanced course?
I'm thinkng it might be good for the sake of continuity.

Let me know what you think. I'm hoping this is the right forum.
Thanks

try this..I see you are in NY..so are we..I have a group going to Bonaire in April..If you join the group you will get a free nitrox course and if desired a free advance ow course on the trip..We offer this as a "thankyou" for traveling with us.. just get your training materials(books and pic card cost) from us..Taught by either myself or one of our other instructors..PM me if interested for details and cost..

 

[rakkis]

To be honest, I'd nix the online nitrox courses. Sure they are convenient... and I suppose for nitrox they are adequate, but nothing beats having an instructor in your face to ask for clarification, exceptions, special circumstances, applicability, etc. No pre-packaged course will beat a good instructor in this regard.

 

[TwoBitTxn]

There is nothing wrong with jumping from one training agency to another. It has been said many times around here that rescue, with a good instructor, is one of the best courses that you can take. That just happens to mean you are required to go through someone's advanced course.

There is nothing wrong with taking SDI nitrox, I did, and now I am a PADI nitrox instructor. There is nothing wrong with taking nitrox online. If you have questions when you are done, you can ask them in a number of places, including here.

Best wishes on your continuing education.

TwoBit

 

[mike_s]

The only negative to jumping to another training agency from PADI is that if you wanted to take something like Nitrox it would count towards your PADI Master diver cert, if that's something you're interested in.

Note that cert is not really a class but you get 5 speciality certs and then fill out an extra form and pay an extra $35 or so and you get another cert. NAUI and some of the others actually teach this cert as a real class.