Which training to do first: fundies or drysuit?

[anchochile]

Two of goals as a diver are switching from wetsuit to drysuit for my local Monterey diving, and taking fundies to improve my buoyancy, trim, propulsion, and other basic skills (I do not plan to move in the tech direction, though).

These are both longer-term goals that require a time commitment that is tricky to coordinate on top of having a full-time job and a 1-year-old at home, so realistically I can probably do one of these this year, and the other probably needs to wait till 2021.

Given that, how would you sequence these goals? Take fundies now, in a wetsuit, to bolster my basic skills sooner rather than later? Or would it be better to get comfortable with a drysuit first, so that I can then take advantage of fundies to get my trim, weighting, etc really dialed in with the drysuit?

My diving is about a 50/50 mix between local/cold and travel/warm.

 

[PfcAJ]

Take fundies asap.

Then you'll know what "right" is instead of guessing.

 

[BoltSnap]

Drysuit and doubles first and then do the fundies with tech pass for sure. You will have a much better chance passing the fundies with prior experience with drysuit and doubles. You can actually do the drysuit and doubles together. If doubles isn't of interest, do the drysuit first and have a lot of practice with buoyancy control first and then on to fundies. Fundies isn't urgent for your CA diving where drysuit is more useful first.

 

[Degenerate]

Whatever you do, don't show up at a fundies in a drysuit without having gotten comfortable with it.
You really don't want to spend a portion of your time during the course getting to know your drysuit, there is so much else to focus on and learn there.
Either do it asap in a wetsuit (honestly, your best call) or get a drysuit and get comfortable with it and then do a fundies.

 

[Goingforsound]

I would do fundies first. Fixing your bad habits and getting in trim will ease your learning on the drysuit.

I did the opposite and its not bad but I got really better with the drysuit after fundies (did it wet).

 

[DreadnoughtNH]

Fundies. It will improve both your warm & cold water diving.

Once you are comfortable, realize that warm water diving is way more pleasurable and nix the drysuit training.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Drysuit and doubles first and then do the fundies with tech pass for sure. . . .

You missed where the OP said he isn't planning to go tech.

 

[Lorenzoid]

@anchochile , I took Fundies in a wetsuit, with no intention of going tech--I just wanted to improve my recreational diving. That said, the places I do the vast majority of my recreational diving are warm-water. Later, when I decided to explore the tech path, I took a drysuit course. Since you say your diving is "about a 50/50 mix between local/cold and travel/warm," I would suggest doing Fundies in a wetsuit first, deferring the expense of the drysuit, and allowing you to put your Fundies skills to work at least in warmer waters for the time being.

 

[Kamaros]

I'd say that it depends on whether or not you find the cold is having an impact on your motivation to dive locally or not. If it's a minor annoyance, take Fundies first. If you're freezing at the end of each dive and pondering your life choices, start with drysuit. Note: when I say start with drysuit, I mean that you should ask Beto if he'll do a GUE drysuit primer with you, not that you should do a PADI drysuit specialty. The PADI course will teach you to use a drysuit for buoyancy, whereas GUE teaches that the drysuit should only be inflated to alleviate squeeze, with primary buoyancy compensation being left to your wing. I haven't taken the drysuit primer myself, but the GUE website says that it can "serve as a basic introduction to the GUE system", which can help you to get used to the gear configuration before taking Fundies.

 

[runsongas]

find an experienced buddy and just go dive the drysuit, then take fundies part 1 in the drysuit once you are comfortable with it.