Where to start

[newmanl]

Aside from the above - courses (FWTW, Intro to Tech gets my vote for your situation), getting out diving more, and a recommendation on an Instructor - all good, but also do what most fail to do - become an informed customer as you should with any service or product.

Unfortunately, not all tech training is the same - there are variations in the content covered as well as the philosophical approach to risk management, and most perspective students don't know enough about what they are getting into in order to ask the right questions (of the Instructor/agency/shop).

Just a few questions, mostly aimed at risk management - you might want to research, and ask about:

- air or nitrox for shallow depths (>30m)? Why?
- Helium starting below 30m or not? Why (gas density, narcosis, work-of-breathing/CO2)?
- standard gas mixes or best mix? Why?
- Will it be 'team diving' (not exclusively the domain of GUE)? Why, why not?
- Are gear checks (head-to-toe matching, dry modified S-drill, gas matching, bubble-checks, wet-check all regulators, wet-check computers and lights, etc.) used for every dive? Why, why not?
- all stage and deco bottles on the left and leash, or left-lean, right-rich - why?

There are a lot of million other considerations - all aimed at making the dive as safe and enjoyable as possible, but hopefully the above will give you some idea of where to start.

Lastly, as you may already know, tech diving requires a significant commitment in terms of time, money and effort. It is worth it for sure, but a good tech program will make you question your leisure activity choices!

Hope this helps.

 

[BoltSnap]

Would you advise learning drysuit diving before i start on intro to tech or an/dp?

Absolutely and you should do few dives with it until you are comfortable with it before you start your tech training.

 

[BoltSnap]

You have JP Bresser there in the Netherlands who is an Instructor Evaluator for GUE. I think that'd be a great place to start

Home

GUE

www.gue-nederland.nl

Welkom

Websit of JP Bresser. A well known underwater filmer and Photographer.

www.jpbresser.tv

Benjamin Ott - GUE Instructor

Benjamin Ott - GUE Instructor. Gefällt 528 Mal. GUE Scuba Diving Instructor

www.facebook.com

JP Bresser is one of the owners and instructors at the school I pointed out above:

scuba-academie

Fullservice duikcentrum, direct aan de Vinkeveense Plassen. Recreatieve en technische opleidingen... Achterbos 22b, 3645 CD Vinkeveen, Netherlands

www.facebook.com

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

The Dutch do it deepest!

You an always tell a Dutchman, you just can't tell him much!

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Ok, in all seriousness, what are your goals? Do you want to dive those 60 meter wrecks?

What is your expected budget for the coming year?

As discussed often in many threads, helium is increasing in price and decreasing in availability. A rebreather is a costly solution, but a significant investment in time/training and money (training/equipment).

 

[Marie13]

Hi guys,

For the past 25 years i've been a recreational diver. I got certified as a PADI dive master and worked for one season in 2007. After that and before that my diving is usually limited to one holiday a year, averaging about 10 dives a year, mostly in the caribean.

Over the years i've seen some wrecks left and right up to 60 meters which i've never been able to reach and tec diving always seems to financially constraining but i am now in a different stage of my life and new possibilities open up. My diving goal for the next 15 years would be to visit some of these wrecks and i am curious as to where to start on this Journey. Any advice? I am not against doing more dives locally (Netherlands) for training as i understand this path is more intensive.

Thanks in advance!

Average of 10 dives a year for 25 years? You need to dive more. A hell of a lot more. Get drysuit certified and go do a bunch of local diving single tank. Find a local dive club and dive with them. Once you’ve got some drysuit dives under your belt - I’d say at least 20-25 - then go do Intro to Tech or similar to learn doubles. Go dive the doubles for a while. At least 20-25 dives. Then take Adv Nitrox/Deco Procedures.

I’m an experienced cold water diver. US Great Lakes and smaller lakes/quarries in the region. I don’t dive tropical at all. The water I dive is usually not much warmer than 40F/4C. I expect you’re going to find the viz a lot different than you’re used to. Wearing a drysuit, heavy undies, thick hood, and dry gloves are probably going to take you a while to get used to. Manipulating bolt snaps, gear, and such, with thick gloves will take some practice. Take some time to get used to diving local conditions before you go tech.

 

[Doby45]

I, Like @Marie13, am all about some thick undies. Not only is it the temp but the duration of the dive.

 

[Thombalabomba]

Ok, in all seriousness, what are your goals? Do you want to dive those 60 meter wrecks?

What is your expected budget for the coming year?

As discussed often in many threads, helium is increasing in price and decreasing in availability. A rebreather is a costly solution, but a significant investment in time/training and money (training/equipment).

So my goals are indeed some wrecks between 40 and 65 meters that i've never been able to reach and i'm at a point in my life where i can afford to put more time and resources into diving which is why i was indeed looking for the next step. Cave diving or ultradeep is not of interest to me, seeing some wrecks or structures that are perhaps more pristine is.

it sounds like i should indeed get to grips with a drysout and then doubles through intro to tech. Indeed i understand that i need to dive more which is the plan, and i am definitely going to the mentioned scuba academie. It is a multi year plan, i dont expect trimix/rebreather for some years but a starting advice on what course to take first etc is what i was looking for

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

So my goals are indeed some wrecks between 40 and 65 meters that i've never been able to reach and i'm at a point in my life where i can afford to put more time and resources into diving which is why i was indeed looking for the next step. Cave diving or ultradeep is not of interest to me, seeing some wrecks or structures that are perhaps more pristine is.

it sounds like i should indeed get to grips with a drysout and then doubles through intro to tech. Indeed i understand that i need to dive more which is the plan, and i am definitely going to the mentioned scuba academie. It is a multi year plan, i dont expect trimix/rebreather for some years but a starting advice on what course to take first etc is what i was looking for

You might be interested in @Dr Simon Mitchell 's paper here: https://gga.kr/wp-content/uploads/2...-Scientific-Diving-Proceedings-2016-simon.pdf

This DAN article Performance Under Pressure - Divers Alert Network is based largely upon it.

I would encourage factoring gas density when choosing gasses, but I do accept the reality that this is a controversial subject. It all depends on the level of risk one accepts and also perceives.

I will say, I think CMAS is insane for doing 60 meter dives on air. I've been to 55 meters on air once (never again) and my buddies and I were narced out of our minds. I signaled "are you okay?" to one buddy. He reacted like a cat watching a laser pointer on the wall. There's no way I would have been able to deal with an emergency. Someone would have died if we had a serious problem at that depth. One of my friends in Europe has a group of friends that dive air until 100 meters. The thing is, the group is getting smaller and smaller over time as people keep dying. Last one was a group of 3 diving to 70 meters on air, one guy, the one who died, got separated from the other two. No one knows what happened to him.

Of course, there will be some who will say that they've done many dives to even deeper on air and nothing happened to them.

I'd recommend GUE fundies as a starting point to ensure that your skills are solid before taking a tech course. Then choose the agency/instructor that works for you. If you go the TDI route, that's advanced nitrox and I'd recommend taking deco procedures separately, though they can be combined. When it comes to tech training, in hindsight, I'm against combining courses. After that, there's trimix.

 

[jadairiii]

I've said this many times, my mix instructor told me to do this in 97 and I waited way too long.

If moving to tech, take a Cave 1 course. It will make all the rest of the tech classes a breeze.