So, I've been diving for two years now and my trip last week to Sipadan

[PhatD1ver]

was a wonderful experience. First, if you get a chance to go to SeaVentures and stay, it's spartan, but the food is good, the staff are A+, and the house reef is literally the best I've dove in my travels (which include Anilao, Puerto Galera, Kenting, and Saipan among them).

But more to my real point is that I decided I wanted to spend this trip training, specifically to get started into Tec training with Tec40. I'm still short of 200 dives, but I've followed a pretty reasonable progression of training (yeah, I'm lucky, I can afford to pay for it), and people can knock on PADI, but the step-by-step progression I've followed has slowly over 145 dives prepare for the classes I took which were Tec40, Self-Reliant, and Cavern.

But, lest you think that they were taught in typical 'resort' fashion, I'll be clear, I studied and swam my butt off. I was held to high standards for my diving, my planning, and my underwater awareness of gas, time, and depth. Toughest week of my life, and made OW and AOW feel like a cake walk.

But my instructor was a great guy, very patient, challenged me, pushed me, and was very frank in his assessments and debriefs.

I guess I throw this out there because I've always been the kind who believes you need to always be learning, always improving, and that diving is really a 'serious' hobby/sport/pastime.

I'm a former military aviator, and I guess that part of me thinks that at every opportunity I can learn new technical skills, I can make my recreational diving experiences that much better.

The other thing I learned though is that although I 'thought' I was a well trained diver, there were some critical 'holes' in my diving skills that needed filling, and where I'll continue to practice and train as I go forward. And for newbies starting out, I'd recommend you go thru your OW manual and really push your instructor to give you your money's worth and expand your knowledge as much as possible.

Sure, you can get certified, and be safe enough to flop off a boat in Cozumel or Honolulu, but there are wonders along a wall like I dove at Siapdan at 30-40 meters that you won't be prepared for (or the potential risks) if you don't grow with your hobby.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[beester]

Just some honest questions:

- What's the difference between PADI TEC40-45 and 50 (obviously the different depth rating but regarding curiculum)?
- I gues TEC40 is a bit like advanced nitrox/decompression procedures in other agencies and TEC50 the basic normoxic trimix course. Why the inbetween step?


Good that you've had a good training experience and your instructor "found some holes"... now stop training and keep diving (regularly). I might read it wrong, but looking at your profile I see A LOT of courses. Courses are great building blocks, but you should always remember that a course/training is a protected environment, and after taking some of those you need to go out and just dive and gain experience with what you've learned. You have all the tools available now (adv nitrox, rescue, limited deco, etc) to just go out and have nice dives. Do that instead of doing more training for the next 100 dives (just an arbitrary number).

YMMV of course based on where you are located, if you have access to dive-sites.

GL

 

[PhatD1ver]

So, I'm sure Andy Davis will correct me if I mess up here, but let me see if I can do it.

Just some honest questions:

- What's the difference between PADI TEC40-45 and 50 (obviously the different depth rating but regarding curriculum)?

Okay, the three courses are actually ONE long series to achieve Tec level qualification. Unlike the TDI course which focuses on the theory over progressively practicing deeper and deeper dives (at least, that's the way a friend of mine was being trained at exactly the same time I was, but she was in Indonesia).

But Tec 40 qualifies a diver to dive past the basic 30m recommend limit for recreation and enter the first step into tec diving. A diver who completes Tec40 can plan and execute dives to 40m on AIR, and utilize EAN up to 50% for conservatism (not accelerated decompression). And decompression time is not supposed to be in excess of 10 minutes. So the basics being that you can stay at 40m long enough to go into deco for 10 minutes. But the entire dive is planned on AIR, and EAN is used not to speed up decompression, but to make it more conservative. This is the bridge from rec diving to tec diving. In my opinion, it is actually a good step. The student learns all the fundamentals, and the course is intensive enough to see if a student really wants to dive tec, or if they are just hunting another certificate that they can use to get them into trouble. Because you learn enough to do that very easily.

Tec45/Tec 50, and Tec65 all take that basic knowledge an extend the students abilities again in stages as below to bring a diver to a full technical diver competency:

Tec 45, full accelerated deco allowed; depth to 45m, using EAN and O2 (up to 100%), and one deco stage cylinder.

Tec 50, again extends the training for a diver to make multi-stop decompression dives using air, EANx and oxygen with up to two gases for accelerated decompression. Down up to 50m, 2 or more stage cylinders.

There are a lot of rec divers I think that look at 40m and consider that very DEEP. I know I did. I know that after Tec40, I still think of it as VERY deep. You are a LONG way from the surface and fresh air, and you can't just bolt if you get frisky.

I remember when I first was diving to 30m, how I felt like I was reaching the outer limits. Then I did the DEEP specialty, and my instructor did an experience dive on Dive 4 to 40 meters (no deco). The difference between the two is more than a tiny bit noticeable. I'd been near 40 before entering a couple wrecks in Coron, but actually diving to 40m, and feeling the affects of narcosis, recognizing them, and then simply ascending to 30m and feeling how my head cleared showed me that PADI and the other agencies aren't trying to be jerks limiting rec divers to a 30m recommendation. The risk is just so much less staying safely in that range. (and let's be honest. Short of a hanging reef, or wrecks, there isn't anything at 40m to see that you can't find between the surface and 30m (okay, maybe the sharks hang out lower sometimes and would be worth it).

Point here is that getting qualified to go to 40m doesn't mean that's where I'm going 'just for fun'. If there isn't a purpose, a plan, and buddy that can be my right (or left) hand man to execute the dive, then it isn't happening. Doesn't mean I won't work hard on the skills in the water at shallower depths that make diving that deep safer.

Tec65, this is the actual basic trimix course, extends bottom time to 65 minutes, unlimited accelerated decompression, using full trimix decompression diving.

Beyond this is still an advanced course in trimix use that basically completes the formal training for technical training and deep trimix decompression.

- I gues TEC40 is a bit like advanced nitrox/decompression procedures in other agencies and TEC50 the basic normoxic trimix course. Why the inbetween step?

I guess it is because there is a body of divers (like me) that would probably be (or should be) satisfied with technical training where I can simply dive deeper, longer on wrecks and some locations (like the Turtle Tomb at Sipadan that technically, I'd still need Tec 45 training and basic cave to dive back into the second cavern), without learning to use other gases (that cost more).

Now, I have a dream to dive the wrecks in Chuuk, a couple of them within the range that I would need Tec50 or Tec65 training. As I've noted, for now, Tech40, and probably Tec45 in the next few months will fill my interim needs as I spend probably another year practicing and training (which is what you recommend) before I move on to Tec50/65.

Good that you've had a good training experience and your instructor "found some holes"... now stop training and keep diving (regularly). I might read it wrong, but looking at your profile I see A LOT of courses. Courses are great building blocks, but you should always remember that a course/training is a protected environment, and after taking some of those you need to go out and just dive and gain experience with what you've learned. You have all the tools available now (adv nitrox, rescue, limited deco, etc) to just go out and have nice dives. Do that instead of doing more training for the next 100 dives (just an arbitrary number).

YMMV of course based on where you are located, if you have access to dive-sites.

GL