I started my journey with GUE about 3 years ago, from a similar experience level. I was AOW with about 30 dives, diving wet. I decided, as has already been suggested, to take the course in a Drysuit. I went through the PADI Drysuit course prior to purchasing my own suit. I did this just to make sure that there was nothing about diving a drysuit that was going to be a “deal-killer” for me. There wasn’t. I love diving dry now. My current diving buddy went through Fundies with me, and also dovea new drysuit. He took the course WITHOUT having taken a Drysuit specialty course, and he did fine. I already had an idea as to what kind of equipment I was going to purchase, but a few conversations via email with Beto cleared up some questions regarding the finer details (what material for the Drysuit, rock boots vs turbosoles, aluminum vs steel backplate, regulator, etc).
The biggest thing that Fundies gave me was a heightened sense of comfort and awareness in the water. I am a much safer, more comfortable and more competent recreational diver for having taken the course and I recommend it to anyone, regardless of whether or not they have technical diving aspirations. In fact, the course serves as a great “reality check” and I found myself asking, “Am I really ready for more technical diving yet?”
I would be happy to meet with you for a dive or two once the beaches open. Monterey offers some amazing diving when the conditions are right, and Fundies will give you the skills to maximize your enjoyment of the area.
Thanks for your input! Your second paragraph pretty well sums up my goals. I'm
certain I'm not ready for technical diving yet haha. Fundies should be a good first step, if it lives up to its reputation.
And thanks to everyone who's volunteered to do some diving when the world creeps back toward normalcy. I'll definitely be reaching out to folks as soon as the world and life allow!
I've been trading a few emails with Beto on the topic, and he's (not surprisingly) cleared quite a few things up for me. I was sort of hung up on how to best approach things from an efficiency perspective. What's the "shortest" route to Tech 1, in terms of not having to rewind and repeat any training later (such as potentially having to repeat fundies if I add doubles after I've already taken it with a single tank). I wasn't aware of the GUE "tech endorsement," which Beto said is a one-day checkout once I've got the requisite skills mastered. That drastically simplified things, and cleared up all the confusion in my head.
Knowing the tech endorsement is an option at any point in the future (post-fundies), and in line with Beto's advice, I'm thinking I'll probably just take fundies in my wetsuit and on a single tank. Kind of a "building block" approach. Once I've got the foundation from fundies, learning the drysuit and doubles *should* be a much simpler transition. The alternative is to try to learn one or both of those skills prior to fundies, adding new challenges up front. I've seen multiple stories of folks learning drysuit and/or doubles in fundies, and even stories of GUE instructors urging students to take fundies with both of these, even if they're not interested in tech diving at all.
I honestly really like the idea of doing fundies dry, and refining those skills throughout the class. But I can also appreciate Beto's advice to dive the class in the configuration I'm familiar with, then expand on the skills after. Another, arguably bigger bonus is I already own everything to be able to take fundies in a wetsuit. I don't have the budget for a drysuit in the immediate future (more accurately, I would have to decide between a drysuit and fundies tuition, until I can squirrel away some more cash), so choosing to take fundies dry could wind up being a pretty decent delay. The pandemic slowing the world down in general, then account for time to save the remainder of what I need for a suit, researching and deciding on a suit, order/potential manufacturing lead time, then enough time to squeeze in enough dives to have
some level of comfort before class - that all quickly adds up. And that's assuming there's a course that fits that schedule nicely, and doesn't require waiting another few months at the back end.
I do need to pick up a few gear items; my computer's a bit spazzy - I need to decide what to do about that without breaking the bank. I think I want to try to pick up a used can light (or find one to borrow/rent) before class so I can begin learning those skills. Then continue saving and planning for a drysuit!
