Next step / possible training to pursue

[Heat Miser]

I'm having a bit of a dilemma. My Wreck Diving course has been delayed twice, originally 2020 bumped twice so now 2022 and I'm feeling a bit stagnate.

If there are rebreather divers/instructors in your area, find what model they use and consider doing an Air dil (no deco) rebreather course, stay down longer, wildlife doesn't get scared by the bubbles so come alot closer, have alot of fun (and spend alot of time) learning how to build and rebuild and dive your rebreather. Spend hours talking to other divers, about how good your rebreather is compared to other rebreathers you have never dived.

It is an easier way to progress to deeper diving if you need to later. Is an easy way to progress into trimix and deco diving if you want to later, i.e. one more course afterwards.

Its not cheap but is all engrossing/encompassing, your diving will never feel stagnate again.

 

[Wibble]

From a CCR convert, there's also the pre-dive prep the night before which seems to be endless if on a week of recreational diving. Bubble-blowers seem to do nothing in comparison! Check gauge, check regs, jump in!

CCR's the endless cycle of rinsing the loop; cleaning lungs; disposal and re-packing the scrubber; topping off the O2 and dil from larger tanks; running through the build process checklist; running through the closed checklist... An hour? All that time the rest of the crew are drinking beer or sleeping.

But underwater... Lovely -- as long as you're away from the noisy bubble blowers ;-)

 

[Cdncoldwater]

If there are rebreather divers/instructors in your area, find what model they use and consider doing an Air dil (no deco) rebreather course, stay down longer, wildlife doesn't get scared by the bubbles so come alot closer, have alot of fun (and spend alot of time) learning how to build and rebuild and dive your rebreather. Spend hours talking to other divers, about how good your rebreather is compared to other rebreathers you have never dived.

It is an easier way to progress to deeper diving if you need to later. Is an easy way to progress into trimix and deco diving if you want to later, i.e. one more course afterwards.

Its not cheap but is all engrossing/encompassing, your diving will never feel stagnate again.

Good information but a rebreather is outside my budget for the foreseeable future.

 

[Cdncoldwater]

Have had discussions with classic recreational instructors about technical diving. Was quite revealing how they don't dive "for fun" to those depths and where they count quarry dives as experience. OK, not all instructors are like that by any means. Am wary of dive shops pushing their "Tec NN" courses as if they're just like recreational courses. Again, some dive shops will be good, but most will be so recreationally focussed that it's less likely to be a 'great' course.

ANDP+H was really beneficial as the first steps beyond recreational diving where diving standards are in a different league to recreational diving. If nothing else it really fits the self-reliance culture as you're always considering redundancy and practising failures.


As an aside, the Fundies suggestions earlier... The main thing with fundies is sorting out your core skills of buoyancy finning and trim. That alone is worth doing the course, but backmount, shutdowns and all the other guff is of dubious use if you're not diving with GUE.

Here's a thought: when you choose your instructor, see if they'll be able to do a day's coaching on core skills. ANDP is so much easier if you can demonstrate a shutdown without moving in the water.

The folks I have for Tech are not only rec divers. One has 12,000 + dives, is a Tech instructor with IANTD and TDI as well as a commercial and military instructor PADI would also be available. The other is also a Tech diver, not sure if he's certified as an instructor though; he is certified cave as well. There is possibly another, but not sure if they actively dive tech any more. I think GUE would be good if it was readily available here, the skills regardless of configuration would be beneficial.

I may need to do some courses before AN/DP reading the IANTD and TDI websites; I'll talk to the folks here and see what they think or can offer.

 

[Wibble]

An observation about dive numbers…

I’m a keen diver and do 80 to 100 days of diving a year, so most weekends with less in the winter as the weather is poor. Virtually every day is a one-dive day on a boat where we 'steam' for probably two hours out to the wreck, do a one to two hour dive in the 30m to 60m range, then steam back for two hours. Add to that the hour or three driving to and from home to the boat.

Thus, as an experienced technical diver, I’ve only racked up circa 600 dives over the 9 years I’ve been diving — 368 dives in 360 hours over the past five years according to my Shearwater.

How can some divers claim thousands of dives without counting pool time, discover scuba, OW training, etc? NONE of those should be counted as they’re not learning nor relevant to technical skills. When some recreational Dive Instructors gob off about their numbers I get this nauseating smell of BS wafting from them, especially when they know little or nothing about decompression skills nor do they do pleasure diving.

 

[MichaelMc]

Tropical pro: 3x/day 6days/week 50wk/yr = 900/yr times 5 years of the same 20 dive sites.
It's not the dives, it's the teaching or guiding.

 

[Wibble]

Tropical pro: 3x/day 6days/week 50wk/yr = 900/yr times 5 years of the same 20 dive sites.
It's not the dives, it's the teaching or guiding.

Agree, but that means nothing as an indication of skills.

The old adage…. Those that can, do. Those that can’t, teach.

 

[Cdncoldwater]

Agree, but that means nothing as an indication of skills.

The old adage…. Those that can, do. Those that can’t, teach.

Or as in this case, someone who dove commercially, dives and instructs in the military, as a pro, public safety and enjoyment in both rec and tech. Agreed numbers don't always matter but experience and knowledge in different aspects do and I know dive pros here don't count discover or pool dives.

 

[TMHeimer]

An observation about dive numbers…

I’m a keen diver and do 80 to 100 days of diving a year, so most weekends with less in the winter as the weather is poor. Virtually every day is a one-dive day on a boat where we 'steam' for probably two hours out to the wreck, do a one to two hour dive in the 30m to 60m range, then steam back for two hours. Add to that the hour or three driving to and from home to the boat.

Thus, as an experienced technical diver, I’ve only racked up circa 600 dives over the 9 years I’ve been diving — 368 dives in 360 hours over the past five years according to my Shearwater.

How can some divers claim thousands of dives without counting pool time, discover scuba, OW training, etc? NONE of those should be counted as they’re not learning nor relevant to technical skills. When some recreational Dive Instructors gob off about their numbers I get this nauseating smell of BS wafting from them, especially when they know little or nothing about decompression skills nor do they do pleasure diving.

I haven't been following this thread lately, but am not sure what you're saying. While I personally agree with you about pool time, are you saying that DSD, OW training (and I assume you mean for the student AND the instructor/DMs) dives, or any dives not relevant to technical skills and are "not learning" shouldn't be recorded in one's dive log?
Maybe you mean something else regarding only tech. diving?
If not, I'm pretty sure most of my 882 dives don't count. To be honest, on most of the shore dives I've been doing the last few years, it's a rarity when I learn something new. It's not the objective.

 

[Wibble]

A couple or three years ago I was chatting to a DM/Instructor at a resort type location. He was saying about the 350 DSD (discover scuba) dives he had done up to halfway through the season. Add to that Open Water, etc...

My point is that those dives do not count as experience except as a DSD / OW instructor. They're good evidence of extremely basic shallow solo abilities and leading complete novices, probably "kneeling". No relevance whatsoever to more advanced courses; even Rescue diver for that matter (that might be contentious).

When moving on to more advanced courses and diving, you must have much wider skills and of a far far higher standard.

TBH this is bordering on the standard PADI paradox. By far and away the largest agency which concentrates almost solely on diving strictly within recreational limits. The whole organisation's set up for this. Of course there's plenty of great PADI TecNN instructors who specialise in technical and other advanced courses (PPB). However, there will also be instructors who rarely teach those courses, spend their diving career with complete novices and rarely dive in an "advanced mode".