New Divers Planning a Trip to Belize

[Downing]

$350!! Good on ya, mate.

Imho, there's no right or wrong answer as to whether it makes sense to do the Advanced class now. The PADI Advanced Course is like a five-dive sampler of PADI's Specialty courses, three of which are mandatory: deep, night and um, um, navigation (?). The other two are at the Instructor's discretion.

Some folks are of the opinion that these courses are a waste of time and/or effort and/or money and that you should just concentrate on picking up as much experience as you can on your own. Others, me included, think that there's some benefit to be had by continuing to do dives under the direct supervision of an instructor so that the experience you gain will be even more valuable.

I took the Advanced Class locally specifically because I was going to be diving the Blue Hole and I wanted to get a deep dive under my belt first. I think I had around 20 or 25 dives at that point. Since then, I've gone on to do enough specialty courses to qualify as a Master Scuba Diver, with the majority of them taken at Splash last summer. I enjoyed taking the courses and believe I gained something from each one even though at that point I had over 100 dives in the book.

Realistically, even if you earn an Advanced Card, at this stage you won't be an "advanced diver." Even with my MSD card I don't think of myself as particularly "advanced" and I'm certainly no "Master." But you will have a feeling of accomplishment and you will gain confidence as you polish your skills, making you a better diver.

As an aside, the level of instruction at Splash is excellent. Wherever you go, first find out which courses you'll be doing, then buy the manual and study it at home so you can move right into the Knowledge Reviews when you get there.

 

[nuderdiver]

Wow, $350, that's a great deal . I need to do some more fare shopping. I can do a mid week trip for that airfare. Thanks for tehheads up, giving me reason to search some more. When are you going to Belize, that you got that airfare?

I got totally lucky. I was getting my teeth cleaned and during the general chit-chat with the hygenist, she mentioned something about reading of this special fare that Delta was offering in a local travel column of the paper. I asked her to please email it to me - which she did. So, I followed up on it - that was the very last day to get tickets and availability was very limited - but Continental & American matched the deal (and was actually a little less). Travel was good for Jan & Feb 2012 only. I didn't get the dates I wanted, but with that kind of deal you can't complain much. I bought tickets immediately, as one of the flights had only 3 seats left and I needed two of them.

2 adults: $583.20 ( $291.60 per person) Taxes & fees: $174.50. Total: $757.70

OK, so that's closer to $380/person - but still - excellent deal We got those tickets on December 6th, for travel good in Jan/Feb.

Where in AK are you? Lived in Fairbanks for 20 years and went to high school in Anchorage and Nome. My mom still live in Anchorage.

Anchorage. Lived in Fairbanks for 4 years, that was enough for me

Cheers!
nd

 

[nuderdiver]

I got my advanced card immediately after my OW card mostly because it was offered for free on the liveboard I was on. The required dives are navigation and deep - everything else was optional. I think 3 options we did were "boat dive", "underwater naturalist" and and "peak performance buoyancy". It should be pretty clear that two of those five were complete fluff. Glad it wasn't something I paid for.

My wife got hers mostly because I wanted her to give more dive experience under the supervision of adequate personnel. The 3 options she did were drysuit (also got a drysuit cert), underwater naturalist and - I THINK search & rescue.

The main advantage of having the advanced card (padi) is that it is required for the (padi) rescue diver course. That course is actually pretty useful and I highly recommend it.

 

[Downing]

The required dives are navigation and deep - everything else was optional.

Oops, I stand corrected. I thought Night was one of the mandatory dives.

The main advantage of having the advanced card (padi) is that it is required for the (padi) rescue diver course. That course is actually pretty useful and I highly recommend it.

Absolutely agree. You also qualify if you have an Adventure card, PADI's three-dive sampler. Plus you need to take a CPR class. And it wouldn't hurt to take the Oxygen Provider class so you'll have some familiarity with the equipment.

Regardless, I'd recommend waiting on Rescue until you're pretty confident in your abilities.

Another plus is that if you go on to take any of the specialties which were included in either the Adventure or Advanced class, you'll get a dive credit towards that cert and save some time and $$.

Boat is the one specialty that just makes me roll my eyes. If there's going to be a Boat, then there ought to be a Shore since shore diving can actually be pretty involved depending on the conditions whereas Boat is just do what the crew tells you to do.

 

[north6633]

Great information everyone, we appreciate everyone taking the time to respond. Its my wife that primarily wants to take the Advanced Open Water, she feels more comfortable having more instruction, not unlike your wife nuderdiver Which is fine with me, I am a kind of a do it and figure thing out as I go along type of person, so taking the time to be taught is actually kind of nice. The navigation and deep water diving really interests me and I really woudl like to do some wreck diving.

But we have been doing a little research here locally and we can actually take our Advanced Open water cheaper here locally in Puget Sound, the draw back there is the water is cold. So we are considering that too.

I think we are starting to get it dialed in, hopefully early in the coming week we will get everything sorted and set the dates and then start counting down the days!!

Did not think I woudl get to do another big trip, looking forward to it.

 

[nuderdiver]

But we have been doing a little research here locally and we can actually take our Advanced Open water cheaper here locally in Puget Sound, the draw back there is the water is cold. So we are considering that too.

If you do that, consider the Drysuit specialty as well. You can do drysuit as one of the 1 optionals for the AOW - it's also one of the more useful options, esp. if you plan to dive in the local (colder) area. If you use a drysuit, the water really isn't cold. Once your face goes numb (only takes a few seconds), you're fine. Actually, when it is cold enough, you'll find you're warmer in the water than when you get out

 

[peterbj7]

IMO you need to be a competent dry suit diver BEFORE diving in cold water. I can't think of any circumstances when it would be appropriate to do a dry suit dive as part of AOW, as AOW dives really are just taster dives.

Incidentally, I've done a few dives in various parts of Alaska, including several at Whittier. Water about as cold as it gets, but great dives if you're appropriately attired.

 

[nuderdiver]

IMO you need to be a competent dry suit diver BEFORE diving in cold water.

I can certainly understand that perspective - not going to argue with it.

I can't think of any circumstances when it would be appropriate to do a dry suit dive as part of AOe, as AOW dives really are just taster dives.

FWIW, it's pretty common for people (myself included) to do their OW certification in drysuits in Whittier.

Water about as cold as it gets, but great dives if you're appropriately attired.

Was pretty slushy last time I went

 

[north6633]

This is all good information. Something definitely to ponder in how to pursue furthering our diving education. I do know the dive shop we were talking with in Seattle, does a half day orientation in a pool with the dry suit before you go to the open water. But I can totally understand why one would want to be comfortable with diving before throwing, yet another piece of equipment into the mix.

its funny how PADI uses the nomenclature of "Advanced" when you can take it with as little as 4 dives and when you are done you have 9 dives. As was mentioned in an earlier post I woudl not consider my self advanced, a but more knowledgeable or a bit better trained.

Again thanks for the insight.

 

[peterbj7]

Actually PADI call it "Advanced Open Water", but many people drop off the last two words. Perhaps a better word might have been "Progressive", but it's a bit late to change it now. Some agencies do have an "Advanced Diver" qualification, and that is a completely different kettle of fish. It REALLY is advanced, and is hard to get.