Returning after 20 years, how far can I go in a year?

[aquacat8]

Man if I had it to do over again I would go with one of the more techy agencies instead of doing a repeat, even though I’m just a recreational diver... I learned more about buoyancy and trim just watching those guys gear up and head off to the caves. I’m not cave diving, but I’d sure love to have the stone cold confidence and aplomb of a cave diver when I’m in open water.

 

[CT-Rich]

If you enjoy taking classes, go at it and have fun. If you are just interested in getting back in the water, start with getting re-certified OW and proceed from there. It sounds like you never really got any real experience when you were originally certified, so I would look at it starting with a clean slate. Study the things you’ll get value and enjoyment from and don’t sweat the small stuff.

 

[MichaelMc]

To answer one of your questions, if you're diving a few times a week for your learning, have a pool and your own gear, are coordinated and a good learner, have good instructors handy, and a good source of dive buddies, you could get very good as a recreational diver in a year. Plotting out the exact path would be very hard. Best to see how you can practice and learn the best at each point. I would check to see how far you have to go to get access to good technical quality instructors, that could limit how efficiently you could progress.

Throwing class names out could be: Nitrox, Refresher/ tech agency OW, high end buoyancy/trim, Nav, Night, tech agency rec/fundies class, Rescue, Deep, self sufficient/solo diver, Intro to tech. But you would likely benefit from a 5 to 1 ration of your own dives to practice and fine tune each of those, plus pool practice. After you have a base, photo with a simple camera, if interested, could be good to give you a buoyancy and trim critical task, and a fun way to share your adventures.

Welcome back to diving, it is really fun!

 

[BAMA6977]

I'm from Pensacola so here goes. Don't limit yourself to PADI courses, there are other agencies that have better path to more advanced diving. Two best dive shops for training and gear are MBT and Dive Pros (has Pool). Recommend start recert with OW->AOW->NITROX->Then get several dives->Rescue Diver->Dive your ass off->Check out "Below 130" if you want to train for Tech Dives. There is great diving in this area on boats or some easy shore dives. Bottom line you get to be a better diver by diving!! Oh by the way, I'm one of those Colonels that was certified in 1996, took years off, then started back. PM me if you need more info.

 

[ColonelPanic]

Thanks, y'all. This is very helpful.

I did -not- get a lot of experience before. My goal for this next year will be to become a diver capable of making most / all "recreational" dives on whatever dive trip I might take. I'm not headed for instructor as a goal, but I can see where trying to be one would definitely improve one's skills. I'm also not trying to get a bunch of courses crammed into a year, but would like to get as much out of the time I'll have as I can.

Also looking forward to being a part of this forum. Anyone remember rec.scuba?