Would advanced courses make sense for me?

[JoergGermany]

I live in Germany and I am neither keen of diving in indoor pools or lakes or cold, dark lakes, nor in diving in a wet- or drysuit. I only dive on vacations, so far I was diving in the US, Thailand, Colombia and the Philippins. In future I will probably dive more often, but not more than one vacation per year. This means I will never reach a certain experience level and that's fine because I enjoy long dives where I see colourful things.... so I am not fond of diving very deep. My deepest dive was about 30m but I enjoy 15m more. My buoyency is ok for someone who dives only occacionally.
I once met a lady who was liscensed as "master- instructor of instructors -superwomen", or smilar. But she also dove only during vactions. I would not want to go that far, because I believe everything you do not do on a regular bases you will forget. So my question is, will I benefit from learning more than my PADI Open Water Diver and if, how far makes sense? Because I do not like all the little steps PADI offers, I like more CEMAS where you can make bigger steps. So I want to decide where I want to go and then do it within one vacation, so the others I can just focus on enjoying the dive instead of going from one mini course to the next mini course....
What is your experience? Which courses are beneficial and which one over the top for only-once-a year- leissure divers?

 

[DanBMW]

Most of us do not know what we don't know. To be a good diver, use less air and not damage the underwater environment, proper buoyancy is one of the best skills you can learn. No matter how good you think you are, a good cavern class will improve this skill and I'd highly recommend it.

 

[arew+4]

I am not a card collector, after 30+ years 500+ dives I have only my OW, and AOW cards. I only got the AOW because some operators were starting to require it for certain dives, also live aboard operators often require it, and I plan to do a few of them in the coming years.

Never say never, some day you may want to become a cave diver, deep wreck diver, or what ever. Do the AOW. It will open up some opportunities you may not foresee wanting to do today.

 

[Germie]

I would say, do aow and nitrox. Then you can go to 30m, and even if you don't want to do, or it is not needed on a specific dive, some operators only take divers with aow.
For example, I have booked a divespot on Malapascua which is not that deep (18-20m, so fits in the ow standards), but they want you to have at least aow, or you need to rent a private guide.
Officially all ow certs are to 40m, so you can build experience on your own, most divecenters (as they also want to earn money and sometimes are responsible) require certs over ow.

With aow and eventually nitrox you can do all dives you want. Then you can 'officially' do a night dive for example, even if this is only 5m. I would not advice you then to do 5 specialties to become 'advanced', but only do an aow course of 4-5 dives, cheapest, fastes and easiest way to get the ticket to 30m and nightdiving. Navigation and deep are then required, most times night diving is choosen and then 2 other 'experience' dives like boat, search and rescue, or anything that can be done easy by the divecenter or instructor.

 

[KatieMac]

So my question is, will I benefit from learning more than my PADI Open Water Diver and if, how far makes sense?

To some degree, yes. There is some learning that happens in AOW although it doesn't replace experience. Mostly, you should get AOW to keep your options open. Where you dive, which dives you can participate in, which liveaboards you can go on ... you may be limited with only OWD.

Take the AOW.

 

[Belzelbub]

I would say that, without a doubt, Nitrox makes sense. No dives required, it's just academics. Allows you to use Nitrox. I'm of the belief that this should be included in OW, but unlikely that will happen anytime soon.

AOW, or equivalent, can make sense, but likely only really beneficial if the dive OP you use require it. This seems to be an increasing trend. Nitrox may be in the same category as well. Many ops are requiring Nitrox as it makes it easier to schedule. They can do a shorter surface interval without making the subsequent dive(s) too short.

Apart from that, don't take courses just to take courses. If there is something you want to work on, there is probably a specialty for it. One thing I'd add. If you can find a good instructor, a Rescue course is most likely worth the price of admission.

 

[boulderjohn]

I got certified for one purpose. My wife and I took a vacation in Cozumel and loved it. We decided we would go there for a week every other year. I am not good sitting on a beach, so I got certified so I could do a couple dives every other year. If you had told me then that I would some day be diving in a drysuit in deep mountain lakes and instructing students on diving to 90 meters with trimix, I would have laughed out loud.

One thing I did back then was get my AOW certification pretty quickly. It had an immediate impact on my diving. It taught me some important skills and kept me from developing some bad habits. I am for that reason not in the camp of those who say you should wait until you have become an advanced diver on your own before you take the AOW course and don't learn anything from it. I never understood that point of view. It seems to me like saying people should learn calculus on their own before taking a calculus course.

 

[KenE]

OW, AOW, and Nitrox then spend your money diving! Can't get any better if you are not diving! Move onto to bigger things when the need for a specific dive requires it. Other than that, just enjoy the diving!

 

[Jai Bar]

Advanced courses are not only for diving deeper. You can be the superwoman master of instructors' instructors and still enjoy diving in relaxed vacations.

You expand your knowledge far beyond the reaches of OW/AOW, you get perspective, practice rescue, more theory, and much better skills and ability to help others. You may become more independent in your vacations, and as a whole, I think you will enjoy more your dives, which in turn motivates you to dive more.

I was in a similar state of mind some 20 years ago, was content with my ** certification, and have been a vacation diver for many years. Then a couple of friends asked me to join for DM course "to fill the ranks" as they were missing some participants. So I joined, and I enjoyed so much the course, the contents, the experience that I kept learning, and never regretted it.

From occasional vacation divers, we became avid, frequent divers: Wife and kids as well. We also enjoy teaching, or the looks of wonder when someone puts the head underwater for his first time intro dive, but mostly we prefer diving together in vacations and every weekend.

So yes, I'd recommend expanding you're knowledgeable and experience, I think it is enjoyable and makes you a much better diver.

 

[TMHeimer]

I would say to take what courses you need to take to be eligible to take a rescue course of some kind. I'm surprised no one has said this yet since pretty much everyone on SB when asked will say "Everybody should take Rescue". Lot's of stuff in that course that all divers should know, particularly how to bring someone safely to the surface, what to do then, and what to do with a panicked diver.