PADI speciality courses

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halemanō;5696593:
I think the "average" Navigation Specialty involves more "learning/teaching" than any other "average" PADI Specialty. I feel the same way for "good" versions of PADI specialties as well. :D

+1. I think the Nav specialty has a lot to offer, both in terms of useful information AND something that can have a diver revel in a real sense of accomplishment.

-kari
 
Devon Diver: How do YOU know I haven't taken any of these courses?
 
halemanō;5696593:
The Navigation Specialty should be a mandatory Specialty (along with Deep) for Master Scuba Diver (like AOW's required Deep and Navigation dives).

I think the "average" Navigation Specialty involves more "learning/teaching" than any other "average" PADI Specialty. I feel the same way for "good" versions of PADI specialties as well. :D

Hey, we agree 100% on something again. And I thought we were "opponents".
 
Personally, I'd skip the drift and navigation. These can be learned from experience, practice, and snooping through the AOW manual.

I'd recommend Nitrox, or maybe Drysuit, and follow up with Wreck or Deep if you're still interested. But get your books in advance, study and do the KRs.

Perhaps for some divers those skills are easy to pick up in their own diving environments. But it's really a matter of where you're likely to dive and what kind of diving you're likely to do whether they merit the time and expense needed to do a spec course. Spec courses are meant to provide more insight and practice in specific dive environments or with specific equipment or to develop specific skills or to explore specific interests. Which combination of environments/equipment/skills/interests is appropriate will always vary by individual.

IMO, Drift is a great specialty for people who are going river diving, for example, and Navigation is a frequently cited skill that lots of otherwise competent fun divers feel insecure about. Some people don't need a whole Drysuit specialty, particularly if they were trained in Open Water and Advanced Open Water in drysuits (it would be like me offering Boat Diving spec to my students whom I've trained from the start by doing boat dives). Nitrox, yeah, that's one I think can benefit nearly all divers, but OTOH, it's dry-land specialty.
 
I would tend to agree that Nav and Deep should be required for MSD. DM as well.

From a diving point of view, I would also investigate Search and Recovery after you Navigation course. This is a fun course that puts your navigation skills to practical use. It is amazingly easy how being off course by a couple of degrees will make you miss your target. Playing with the lift bags probably doesn't have a ton of application besides making the diver more aware of buoyancy but they make the dives fun. My first dive with the bag opened my eyes while I was trying to get the bag neutral during my SS.

Edit: While some people are against specialties, it is never a bad thing to have a good instructor by your side while you are being exposed to new environments/skills.
 
specialities really are more of a prestige then anything as MOST of them are things you can realy learn with a good dive partner. I have yet to figure out ones like Boat diver, Fish ID., Peak performance buoyancy and a handful of others. Granted they do get you an opportunity to get some sort of help from someone you know is experienced (Or at least we hope that they are as good as they say)

But at the cost the courses come in it is not exactlt cost effective for one to pay say 150 dollars localy (And far more near the salt water) to find a great dive partner and just let him work with you in a controlled shallow environment.

Doing the math on this you can take a diver down to 20 feet with a more experienced diver for say 5 dollars an air fill (Yes there are a few great shops who dont rob you). With this in mind you could self master this in less then 20 dollars worth of air, have a great time with a dive partner and log more then the 3 dives per day rule that you would get in a certification class.

Now Boat diver is one I still scratch my head on as why would I pay some one 150 dollars to let me go to a remote location with the emphasis on the boat dives themselves when I can spend that same money on a boat dive that the focus is a spectacular wall dive or coral dive?????

Fish ID is one that I am shocked at even charging remotely the price asked as in most cases you can buy a good book on fish and do the same in your leasure.

Specialties do have a few classes worth their weight in gold though such as Nitrox. With the refreshed feeling I get post dive (As well as so many other divers who claim the same) it is worth the cost for this course.
 
It boils down to the fact that the PADI (and many other agencies) utilise a modular system of education.

The entry-level OW course provides core diving skills, nothing more. It doesn't provide any specialist activity-based knowledge or skills. The AOW course develops those core skills, whilst also allowing divers to research potential diving activities that they may have a future interest in.

The modular system allows divers to branch in different directions, as suits their interests. It also enables the diver to access focused training on specific activity or location based subjects. In some cases, it allows developmental or remedial training in the core skills that the diver concerned may prioritise highly.
 
Devon its true that its a modular system in which is designed to get people to dive more and broaden their perception of diving. I no doubt am glad that these specialties exist because it does cause divers to excel sometimes just by looking to achieve a new level of diving.

What my point was though is people view it as a knowledge building and through it a better diver view. This is only partialy correct because certain specialties like the ones I mentioned above only get you to pay someone a large sum of money to accomplish the same thing for a whole lot cheaper.

If you look at my certs youll see I have quiet a few. I enjoyed every class and am not going to down play the great time and experiences I have gained from them. But when you look at the finacial side of things it trully is more economical to find a good dive partner and just go dive and have fun. I have masterd buoyancy and yet never spent a dime on the cert other then the one dive given to me in AOW.

Depending on who you ask also there are tons of divers out there who are just amazing with their abilities and the dives they can do yet only have an open water dive certification. There are probably thousands of open water only divers who have in excess of thousands of logged dives and they see no need to spend money to get a cert that reenforces their abilities.

Again I am not down playing the specialties and appreciate what they are designed to do and thats encourage divers to stay diving and continue to learn more about diving. I may even get a few more certs myself before its all said and done its just with the U.S. in the financial rut its in 150 dollars can pay some bills or even provide up to 30 tank fills depending on where you go and that in itself is money well spent :)

Anyway just my 2 cents is all!
 

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