Question Next steps in Certification?

[VikingDives]

@JimmyTheChicken, you will probably end up in Santa Rosa, NM if you're looking for good dive spots.

The Blue Hole is closed at the moment, but it should be reopening in the next few weeks.

All good advice above, though I'd recommend you find your tech instructor first. When you've figured that out, take a fundies/ITT course as your next step. Yes, you'll likely need advanced at some point, but if you've taken a foundations course, you can spend your rec diving time working on your buoyancy/trim/hovering/kicks. You can also likely take required rec courses with your tech instructor.

If you start breaking habits first, you're in a better position than you would be taking an advanced class where you just reinforce those bad habits - e.g. you can learn to hover in horizontal trim, and then practice that in a peak performance buoyancy dive, as opposed to doing a buddha hover.

If you want to come down to Santa Rosa, give me a call. I've usually got a few students who are just hanging out and they'll dive with you. I'll be out there from today until Sunday teaching in Perch Lake - it's not nearly as nice as Blue Hole - and you'd be welcome to join us on some dives.

 

[Madden’s78]

I would recommend Nitrox, Aow and Rescue. and dive as much as possible all of those will help you in tech. I am not an expert on tech diving but I have heard great things about Miami Technical Diving from my friends who are. The owner has a great YouTube channel as well.

 

[InWay2Deep]

So you will need AOW and likely Rescue, however you do not need to TAKE AOW. With PADI all AOW is is the first dive of 5 specialties of which 2 must be Deep/Nav. SO, since you are planning Tech anyway I would recommend just signing up for 5 specialists that will advance you. So you need Deep/Nav for sure, then I would recommend Nitrox (yes it counts towards AOW even though there are no dives) and Dry Suit (you will need it in Tech Diving eventually), then pick 1 other you find interesting. Also check the instructors in your area and find the ones that are/were tech divers and try to take the classes with them. There are a lot of instructors out there 'self certifying' these specialties that couldn't spell tech diving and just spend all their time teaching and not executing demanding dives.

For anyone that wants to argue w/ me about not having to take AOW to get AOW I've done it, you can skip the sampler class and get AOW after you complete the 5 specialties, my dive shop awarded it at no cost, regardless he will need Rescue anyway so he will pay for that class and get that card in the end.

 

[ginti]

@JimmyTheChicken you are getting too many suggestions, and these too many suggestions are really too much different.

It seems like your end goal is tech diving (rebreathers are mostly used for tech diving or photography, but given you mentioned deep/longer I assume tech diving is your goal).

Most suggestions here seem to be focused on rec diving.

If your goal is really tech diving (or cave), be aware that tech divers will likely tell you to take GUE fundies/Intro to Tech as soon as possible (not all tech divers, but most of them). It will really save you time later on - if you are curious why, just ask (but @VikingDives already highlighted why more or less).

If your goal is only rec diving, you may not need fundies/intro to tech, but keep in mind that if you want to switch later on to tech diving you may find it painful.

Whatever you decide, enjoy the blue

 

[steinbil]

Listen to @ginti and @VikingDives. If you want to pursue technical training, you need rock solid fundamental skills. I doubt any of the PADI recreational specialties will give you that. GUE fundamentals, regardless of the instructor, will pretty much guarantee to get you there (at your own pace, you might not get it first time around, but you'll get very clear directions on how to get there). I assume that ITT with a good instructor will give you something equivalent, all though if you want to continue down the GUE path you can't cross over, so you might as well start there. However, if you take GUE fundamentals I believe it's easier to go either direction later on, so you get a taste of GUE and then decide where you want to continue.

Get the fundamentals down as soon as possible. Don't keep practicing potential bad habits. You can get drysuit/nitrox/doubles training from your ITT/fundamentals instructor, no specialties needed...

 

[jadairiii]

If you go GUE Fundies, that will also give you Nitrox certification. A 2 for 1.

My personal opinion, the PADI "deep" course is a waste of time. You will get way more out of the GUE class or an agency that teaches a "like kind" course.

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

Most of the specialities will be a waste of time, outside of drysuit and rescue…

 

[34109411]

Hello! Apologies in advance if this isn't in quite the right place.

I am a 19 year old diver out of Denver, CO and I'm wanting to continue my certification so I can (safely!) go deeper, longer, etc. I am absolutely fascinated by rebreather diving, both the science and the practical benefits - this is my long term goal, but of course I understand there is a lot of training to do before then. I currently am only PADI Open Water certified with about 50 dives logged, but I am trying to figure out what certifications I should complete next. I have heard some say that AOW is absolutely necessary when moving into technical diving, while some others do not think so. I also have seen that many of the technical certifications *only require OW, do you all think its worth the time and money? If so, what specialties should I focus on? (Nitrox, Deep and Drysuit are some of my considerations) If not, what do you think I should target next? I would love all of your opinions. Thanks!

Charlie

solo/ self reliant
rescue
nitrox

 

[broncobowsher]

Lot of recommendations. I'll go at it a different way, how I screwed up. Didn't start with a good intro class.
Finding the right instructor. Get the basics. I started my tech path with a very poor intro class. That has left me struggling to this day. Really need to find someone who does technical diving most of the time, not the once in a blue moon, yea I can do that for you, instructor.
Once I started getting good instructors, things were great. Until we reverted to some basic tech skills that were never taught right. I could probably really use a good fundies class.

For your location, try and get in touch with @boulderjohn .

Basic path for a rebreather. Nitrox, Advanced Nitrox/deco procedures, then rebreather. You really need a solid understanding of Nitrox and Deco before adding the complexity of a rebreather. The little deeper, little longer will get you into planned deco. So get a start on it first.

 

[KenE]

Your first task is to find a good instructor that teaches in a way that you can understand and learn. This is easier said than done. I, and most on SB, cannot emphasize this more than anything. Where do you intend to do the tech diving? If you are looking at cold water then drysuit is next. AOW is really for recreational divers, but there are better ways to get to where you want to go. Intro to tech would be my next suggestion. Nitrox will help with diving for now, but not really necessary. Do a search on SB for how to choose a tech instructor. There are also several YouTube videos on this subject. A bad or marginal instructor will cost you money and you will be correcting bad habits. Tech diving is very structured, it is better to start right then to correct bad habits taught by a non-Tech instructor. Diving as much as possible with a similarly trained diver is invaluable to practice and enhance skills. They will be able to evaluate your progress and communicate with you about issues.