Time inbetween classes?

[Insert Catchy name]

What is the fastest you have gone from one class to another?

IE: Basic to Notrox/Advanced, Nitrox /Advanced to Resuce/EMT? 1 day? 1 week? Months?


Ask for the reason I think I want to just jam as many advanced classes out as I can before the summer is over. I'm sure money is the only thing stopping us, but is it reccomended? Instructor and Dive Master of my original class said the sooner the better. Wonder what real life people think.


Thanks, Joe.

 

[stairman]

If you have the money and the drive why not.Cave and/or tech classes should go a little slower.

 

[String]

Id say its DIVES in between courses not time that matter. Experience is whats needed.

 

[Gilldiver]

You can run through them up to Advanced and Nitrox, but then stop - Go diving - Go diving a lot.

Then do some more diving. In as many different places and under as many different conditions as you can. Find a diving mentor who can help you along the way.

If you take as many courses as you can in as short a time as it can be done in, all you are is someone with a lot of certs and no experience. This is the worst and most dangerous time for you. You think you know what to do but have never done it. You have never had the cascade effect of things going wrong. You most likely have never dove out of one environment. To be an experienced diver you need to have been in cold water, dark water, clear water, warm water, shallow water, deep water, still water, surging water.

I can put you on a old flat wreck today in 60' of water, with little entanglement hazard, little if any current and a bottom temp of about 70 and a surface temp almost 80. But it is not a simple Caribbean dive, it is in Long Island Sound. The visibility will be 12 inches and most advanced divers without the experience will have a very hard time at it.

Then you can do the same dive in the winter and get up to 20' of vis but the temp is in the high 30's.

5 miles south of this wreck there is a wreck in 120' with lots of lobster pot lines just waiting to entangle you and with the low vis, can be a killer to any that are not ready. By the standards as an advanced diver you should be ready for both of these dives.

Certs are great, experience is much better.

Get my point?

 

[spectrum]

IMO get certified if not already...

Make several dozen OW dives within your training and comfort to establish a foundation. If you are not prepared to do this you need remedial OW.

Go do AOW (with the exception of SSI as far as I know) it is more about a taste of this and that. It's exposure more than significant training. If you want to learn anything you can't be distracted with OW 101.

Take Nitrox when you see yourself becoming bottom time limited on air or have a dive intensive vacation on the horizon. That means 2 or more dives daily.

Take Rescue anytime allowed by your agency. It's very little about diving and all about what has been gutted from the OW curriculum.

Master diver puts some guts behind the stuff you tried in AOW and fills in the gaps.

Get 100 + dives before starting the pro track.

Some of this will vary with the nuances of the agency and progression of the diver. Experience and mentored diving are the best teachers don't short sheet those options in favor of plastic. It's all about diving so go have fun.

Pete

 

[tschmitt]

I am a newly certified OW diver. My 2 cents is get everything up to Rescue Diver as quickly as you feel comfortable. I took my OW class a month ago, took EANx two weeks later (mostly conceptual and technical info), and EFR shortly after that (good to have diving or not). I am signed up for AOW mid Aug and Rescue in mid Sept. After that I plan to just continue enjoying my new found sport and hobby. You should also have your own equipment at this point.

The important thing to remember is a c-card means very little. Like driving a car, until you've been in a hydroplaning slide or ran a flat tire at 60+mph, driven on black ice, etc. you only know conceptually what to do in those events. I think all of the mentioned certs above are safe when you remember that you are not yet an experienced diver - basically just trained to continue pushing your experience level. I was a swimmer in school and feel very calm and comfortable in the water, which helps.

All the above is using the PADI track - not sure on the other orgs.

 

[Insert Catchy name]

Thanks for the opinions.

Signed up for advanced/nitrox on the same night.

See how that goes then look for more along with diving as much as possible.