Recommendations on courses?

[NW Dive Dawg]

I would recommend that you add the SDI SOLO diver course....Even if you never actually plan to dive SOLO..... it will help to instill the importance of self reliance, confidence and redundancy.........All if which are beneficial in ANY diving scenario...

 

[Ukmc]

Nitrox will count towards AOW.
buoyancy is good - although good ow class may take care of everything you will practice in there.
rec wreck - not very helpful
Nav - is very helpful but you will probably not use it for a while if you will plan to start out on guided dives.
Night and Limited Viz - very helpful for the beginner
Deep - kind of helpful…
I would consider Fish ID /marine ecology - very helpful for the beginner if you have this interest.
Dry suit - if cold
Stress and Rescue - very important but I would not do it as a beginner
Search and Recovery - good course if this is your cup of tea…

 

[SlowAndSteady]

Is it better to do nitrox as a separate certification or try to add it on to something else like AOW?

 

[Belzelbub]

Is it better to do nitrox as a separate certification or try to add it on to something else like AOW?

I don’t believe it makes a difference instruction-wise. Not all agencies treat AOW the same, though.

PADI treats AOW as a course. You select a number of specialties to sample, but if you use Nitrox as one of them, I believe it’s the full course.

SSI, on the other hand doesn’t have a course called AOW. You get an AOW card (or e-card) as recognition of completing 4 specialties. So EAN would just be one of the 4 specialties.

In either case, it may cost less if you take EAN as part of a bundle, but otherwise it shouldn’t make a difference.

 

[lowwall]

Is it better to do nitrox as a separate certification or try to add it on to something else like AOW?

You need an actual certification. Doesn't matter when you do it, but it's a no dive course so kind of defeats the purpose of AOW.

 

[TMHeimer]

I agree with adding Nitrox. Night has been suggested, but I would take that only of you intend to dive at night (I took it as a "check off" list course and really haven't used the "skills"). It was suggested you reverse your order list--- I assume you didn't have it in any specific order. Otherwise, your list is exactly what I would do.

 

[tursiops]

I would recommend that you add the SDI SOLO diver course....Even if you never actually plan to dive SOLO..... it will help to instill the importance of self reliance, confidence and redundancy.........All if which are beneficial in ANY diving scenario...

There is a 100-dive pre-req for SOLO. It will be a while before he can do that.

 

[KenE]

I highly suggest bouyancy first, then navigation. I would skip wreck and do night/visibility. You will be better trained to handle sudden loss of vision. This can occur in ocean when algae bloom comes in with tide or cave when silt is kicked up. Then I would progress to deep and the stress will be much less as you will have had the limited visibility training. I would then go on to rescue after that. This progression provides the training for safe diving, all other specialties are nice to have but not really in the progression to safer diving.