Training can you do too much too soon?

[Melanie White]

We are open water certified
Next month going to Cozumel
We are doing Advanced open and Nitrox
And considering adding deep diver I think it only requires 3 dives because they can count the one from Advanced
Do you think this is too much to soon
I dont think it is because I will be doing it with instructors
And after getting the cards I still plan to keep most dives under 100 feet and build it up with more experience
Any advice
Thanks

 

[boulderjohn]

I think that is a doable progression, especially since in Cozumel most of your first dives are going to be a bit on the deepish side.

 

[KevinNM]

You can but I don't think that is it. Diving under the supervision of a decent instructor is a reasonable way to gain experience. Advanced OW isn't really very advanced.

 

[Melanie White]

You can but I don't think that is it. Diving under the supervision of a decent instructor is a reasonable way to gain experience. Advanced OW isn't really very advanced.

I know that but we have to do Advanced open first
Then Nitrox at the same time
And will do deep diver next since they can count the one from Advanced then only like 3 dives that are deeper than 100

 

[tbone1004]

what they said.

In my opinion, and this is blunt and rather offensive to most, but there are two kinds of diving. Supervised, and unsupervised. Most divers are trained to be supervised divers.
In the case of unsupervised divers, the "training progression" is largely irrelevant because they aren't really teaching anything new. Certainly not anything in-depth enough to matter and you're still under supervision of someone who is in control of the dive.
AOW is really experience in other kinds of diving, vs expertise in that kind of diving. PADI even says so in their course description. There is nothing "advanced" about the diving your doing, it is truly just giving you experiences in 5-different kinds of diving.
Nitrox isn't actually a "training course" more like validation that you can read a chart on the wall and maybe do some basic 4-function math taught in 3rd grade. Not a whole lot to it.
If you're trying to be a truly unsupervised diver, those courses don't really do a whole lot of anything for you other than allow you on a boat. I see no problem with taking those courses relatively early in your diving career as long as you are smart enough to realize that there is nothing in those courses that actually make you an "advanced diver", merely one that has been exposed to a few different types of diving

 

[boulderjohn]

As Kevin said, AOW is not that difficult--you are really doing just dives you would otherwise do with some extra learning attached. I think it would be good to make drift diving one of your choices, since that is what you will be doing there.

Nitrox has no dives, so it is just some useful learning.

As I suggested earlier, one of the concerns people have about diving Cozumel as new divers is the depths of the first dives, so I think doing the deep dive specialty makes a lot of sense. Some of my favorite dives there are in the 100 foot + range.

 

[Melanie White]

As Kevin said, AOW is not that difficult--you are really doing just dives you would otherwise do with some extra learning attached. I think it would be good to make drift diving one of your choices, since that is what you will be doing there.

Nitrox has no dives, so it is just some useful learning.

As I suggested earlier, one of the concerns people have about diving Cozumel as new divers is the depths of the first dives, so I think doing the deep dive specialty makes a lot of sense. Some of my favorite dives there are in the 100 foot + range.

Thank you
Where we are going Nitrox requires 2 dives with Nitrox but I'm cool with that I'm hoping those 2 can count towards deep diver also

And yes you cant change them on Advanced I asked
they do
navigation
deep
buoyancy
drift
and boat

 

[caydiver]

Not sure if you can double up Nitrox and deep but as long as you have enough time, it will be fine. If you have a good instructor you learn much more than the course mandates, you learn little things that will just make you a better diver. One of the best divers I have ever been in the water with was our NAUI Advanced. Big guy who never wasted a movement in the water. To this day 20+ years and many courses later I still try to emulate him in the water. Sounds silly but he just really looked like he belonged.

 

[TMHeimer]

what they said.

In my opinion, and this is blunt and rather offensive to most, but there are two kinds of diving. Supervised, and unsupervised. Most divers are trained to be supervised divers.
In the case of unsupervised divers, the "training progression" is largely irrelevant because they aren't really teaching anything new. Certainly not anything in-depth enough to matter and you're still under supervision of someone who is in control of the dive.
AOW is really experience in other kinds of diving, vs expertise in that kind of diving. PADI even says so in their course description. There is nothing "advanced" about the diving your doing, it is truly just giving you experiences in 5-different kinds of diving.
Nitrox isn't actually a "training course" more like validation that you can read a chart on the wall and maybe do some basic 4-function math taught in 3rd grade. Not a whole lot to it.
If you're trying to be a truly unsupervised diver, those courses don't really do a whole lot of anything for you other than allow you on a boat. I see no problem with taking those courses relatively early in your diving career as long as you are smart enough to realize that there is nothing in those courses that actually make you an "advanced diver", merely one that has been exposed to a few different types of diving

Agree with all except about most divers being trained to be "supervised" divers. Agree with many that say basic OW cert. is the bare minimum training to dive unsupervised. Also that starting out with very conservative (and pretty shallow) dives is advisable. Regarding the OP's course proposals I think it's OK, as long as basic dive skills are now present. For example, I think it is best for every diver to get Rescue certified as soon as possible--just at least to have the knowledge of specific procedures. OTOH, if you're having big problems with equipment, buoyancy, etc., it is still too soon to even take AOW. One such case was during the Nitrox course I took back in '06 when we still were taught tables. Frustrating when the instructor had to review in detail the Air tables for one student.

 

[boulderjohn]

Not sure if you can double up Nitrox and deep

For PADI and most agencies, dives are not required for Nitrox, which makes it difficult to argue that you can't double up. I guess it depends upon the agency.