Dive Instructor Ranks all PADI Scuba Diving Courses ( + best and worst specialties )
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- čas přidán 6. 02. 2024
- Dive Instructor Katt ranks all the PADI scuba diving courses and specialties. Let me tell you what to not waste your money on
I've been a PADI dive instructor for 11 years and have taught hundreds of students from Bubblemakers to Divemasters. These are just my opinions and a little bit of light hearted fun.
What to watch before you start diving:
What to expect from an Open Water Course: • What to Expect from th...
How to not fail your open water course : • 5 Ways to Fail Your PA...
Dive Training Videos to watch:
For New Divers:
• What to Expect from th...
For Dive Professionals :
• All about the PADI Scu...
PADI = Put Another Dollar In
Right, But I heard a better version "Put All Dollars In"
thank you. i'm gonna get my rescue diver license this year
That will be so exciting!
I am doing my AOW now and think it's indeed epic. The cool thing about it is that if you're not sure which course to take after you can check out other specialties by choosing them as adventure dives within your AOW. I've only done two dives yet: the deep dive and the drift. During the deep dive, I found a fully functional torch. This experience helped me to decide which specialty I want to try next, which is search and recovery. The current was my biggest concern while diving so I went for drift diving. It was a little scary but I learned a lot. I would definitely move the Drift Diver Course to must-dos because you acquire such a valuable skill of dealing with current underwater besides it is so fun and makes you a better diver.
Where are you doing your AOW? Do you get a chance to do a night dive?
@@OceanPancake, in Thailand (Hin Bida, Koh Haa, Koh Bida, Hin Daeng/Hin Muang, Viking Bay, etc.). Yes, but not within my AOW. I will have an opportunity to do a night dive later at the end of the season :)
I think DSD is a great idea. It gets people into Scuba and I've seen a lot of shops that do it for free, or a nominal fee. So great value and so gives people an easy way to find out if they love diving.
My personal priorities were the ones that would allow me to do what I want to do and make me the safest diver I could be doing it. So Drysuit, Deep, Nitrox, Nav and of course Rescue were easy picks. What I did decide from my training was that peak performance buoyancy shouldn't be a separate course, it should be imbedded in Open Water and AOW. If you want to shoot a DSMB, penetrate a wreck, do videograohy or not stand on a sea urchin at night, proper trim and buoyancy are key everywhere!
Oh and Rescue is absolutely both the most epic and a must do!
I'm glad you agree about the rescue part!!! Yeah peak performance buoyancy should be much more focused on during the ow and aow courses
Yeah I agree about the DSD. I did mine in 2012 and I'm a DM now. Without the DSD I would never have done my OWD and most definitely not be a DM right now.
@@lidewijvos so cool how one little dive can change your whole life
How is Zombie Apocalypse Diver not in the epic list??
I also have a suggestion for renaming shark attacks into "shark taste tests" or STTs.
HHaha wooops. I went with the standard specialities. Need to redo it with the super duper ones😂
STTs. Roger.
ZAD criteria should be met with OWD as zombies don’t swim
a Divemaster here: In my humble opinion, Basic Open Water, Advanced Open Water, Enriched Air - Nitrox and Rescue Diver are the certs all divers will benefit from. I agree, also, that if you want to dive in a drysuit, you should get instruction. if your basic open water instructor isn’t teaching new divers the skills to give a new diver the best possible buoyancy to prevent damage to the u/w environment, that diver is being underserved. the idea of obtaining a c-card to dive off a boat or drift dive (to me) is ridiculous. I began diving in 1983, and in my experience, instruction was more comprehensive back in those days.
What about the PADI Deep Diver Course? I already have experience diving up to 40 meters, so would this course be necessary?
You need to have it if you want to dive to these depths onboard of a commercial / tourism vessel. They need to see your certification
Good video!
IMHO if you dive in cold water Dry Suit Diver Specialty is a MUST do. Don’t even don a dry suit if you are not certified (or going through the certification course). Linnea Mills paid with her life for trusting the wrong instructor and dive shop. Her dry suit squeezed her to death at Lake MacDonald in Montana.
“Plan your dive & dive your plan.”
in some dive sites, dry suit is a must
What dive course or specialty would you skip? And what is your favourite? All these rankings are strictly for fun and just my own opinion!
Make sure to tailor your diving courses to what you need and your strengths and weaknesses! Happy bubbling :)
I actually took them Adventure Diver Course for financial reasons. I am also the type of person who likes to take on new challenges slowly and during the pandemic it worked out great for me!!
I'm glad to hear that! What adventure dives did you do
Search and Recovery, Peak Performance Bouyancy and Underwater Navigation. All important to dive in the NY waters of Long Island.
I would reccomed taking the basic up to Master diver! If your diveing at least 10 times a year.
I have taken most of the courses and i learned something,! but i am all about learning as much as i can.
If anyone is serious about diving, look at technical agencies such as GUE or TDI. I did my cave training with TDI and they have high standards that a recreational diver can adopt. GUE famously offers "Fundamentals" in which you get a rec pass (single tank), tech (twins) pass or fail (which is very possible). All that nonsense offered by PADI, SSI, etc. is not sufficient and I can immediately tell the difference when I'm diving between recreational and technical divers.
Master Scuba Diver is a complete waste of money. It is just a certificate of recognition that you have completed 5 specialties, which you’ve paid for separately. The MSD is literally you giving padi money for them to give you a pat on the back.
I’ve done all of mine through SSI, so I am not thoroughly familiar with the PADI system, please correct me if I am wrong. One of the common differences that come up through post dive chats is the PADI depth allowance of AOW with the single dive to 30m within the course. Some of the dive sites near me will only accept a separate deep certification for anything below 60 feet, (everything locally deeper than that is also cold water). What are your thoughts on the differences between the programs, and do you feel that people are adequately prepared to dive to 30m by the PADI AOW program?
Unfortunately I think any divers preparation and ability is very strongly connected to their instructors care and focus!
@@OceanPancake AND practice!
What are your opinions on Tec Diving Courses? Where would you categorize them on your chart?
Cant wait my fist class is Sat.
What about Tec 40 / 45 / 50, Trimix, Cavern, Cave, and the most important - Mermaid ?
I've never done any tec. So can't speak of it.. I missed mermaid! Like a rookie!! (Obviously epic though)
@@OceanPancakeIf you ever revisit this list, you should definitely put the TEC courses on the Epic tier, though with the disclaimer that they are not for everyone, nor should anyone be told that they are a must have to enjoy diving. But for anyone who's willing to take the challenge and accept the risks and the discipline required, they definitely open up a completely new level of diving.
Personally I'm a Padi OWSI (although not an active one at the moment), a Padi (back then it was DSAT) Tec trimix 65 (or normoxic) and a TDI full cave and sidemount diver.
As for people complaining about Padi being not "good enough" an agency, I think it mostly depends on the instructors, especially so in the technical and pro -levels. The ones I was taught by, I hold in high regard. And I suppose they taught me well enough that none of the GUE-divers I do my TEC stuff with are complaining about my diving skills🙂...and yes, I've also done the GUE fundamentals 🙂
Talking about fundamentals, my main complaint about Padi is that there's a relatively sharp divide between rec and tec. What I mean by that is that for example advanced propulsion techniques required in tec levels like frog kicks, helicopter turns and backfinning are not even mentioned until they are required from you when you enter a tec course. Although I agree that they should not be required at open water level, but giving the students a clear path what to work on their diving later would benefit anyone even if they never venture into tec. I've had a habit of explaining and demonstrating my OW students some of these more advanced techniques even though they are not required to pass the course, and I've seen many of them starting (or at least trying) to utilize them to some degree from the start. One can't practice something one doesn't know exists.
I also think that going TEC does not mean that you have to become this grumpy creature thinking he/she is better than everyone and recreational is just for noobs. I just came back from Thailand where we did two weeks of relaxing shallow reef diving (although on sidemount) but the dives before that were caves in France. Any diving is good diving.
Sorry about this incoherent babble of loosely related topics. Btw, I like your videos. Just subscribed 😃
...and generally I agree on your list 👌
...and I sure have to do the mermaid course myself 😄I have a dive buddy I used to dive mines in Finland with that nowadays posts pictures of himself mermaiding in the Ojamo mine lake if he's not doing some crazy 100m deep rebreather dives there (I'm nowhere near that level as a teccie). And this guy is a big viking like bearded fellow which truly makes those pics epic! 😂
PADI's tech courses haven't historically been well regarded in the tech community. Lack of instructor QA/QC and poor materials are the main problems. PADI recently revamped their tech curriculum again recently with the materials being pretty good. The problem is still the hit or miss nature of instructors, so you need to research your instructor.
PADI doesn't have an official cave course, there are some instructors that can issue a Cave Diver distinctive specialty. Almost always issued as a secondary card, with the primary card being issued by a more respected tech agency.
On the SSI side of the house, Navigation, Night, Deep and Diver Stress and Rescue and Science of Diving are all prerequisites for Dive Guide, (first level of SSI professional diving)
It's quite similar. But science of diving is more taught in the divemaster rather than a prerequisite. Have you done them all?
@@OceanPancake Still need night and deep.
@@MikeDodds those are my two favourites!
@@MikeDodds, niiice, have fun! Where are you gonna do them?
@@egoryushchenko1784 My wife and I dive together and she administers home hemodialysis for her mom 5 days a week so unfortunately we can’t go any more than one day away. We live in central Indiana so all of our diving has been in quarries in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. We will do the deep check dives at either Gilboa in Findlay Ohio or possibly Pennyroyal in Hopkinsville Kentucky. We also went through the Perfect Buoyancy class and got dry suit certified. The water at 100 plus feet in Ohio and Kentucky stay in the mid 50s at their warmest. I also recently completed my sidemount rig and I want to take a class for that too…. (Way more info than you asked for!!!). 😂
so when i go push an old lady and steal her purse im just “testing to see whats in her purse” by what your saying
Diver Against Debris Speciality.. i am not familiar with Padi courses or their cost but rhis should be free course available to Padi divers along their journey . Its essential we are all aware , we will pick up the rubbish , Padi should pay forward... "Is it free"?
Definitely think that dive against debris should be incorporated in all diving courses. It is really important to ensure you know how to safely remove trash without endangering yourself though. Personally, I've never done this course so am unsure of cost and exactly what it covers.
@@OceanPancake good reply .... We all need to pull together and PADI, SSI, SDI Bsaq etc should pay forward and offer this integrated or as a free stand alone. I am sure a free stand alone with cert would be an excellent marketing move with a very supportive uptake. Keep going with the excellent content , really enjoying it ...
IMO For mere closed circuit mortals, Rescue, Deep, and a quality Navigation course are ESSENTIAL.
Yes navigation is important if it wasn't focused on enough during thr aow !
in some rivers in Switzerland drift diver is required, so if you want to dive in Switzerland in all rivers, it's a must do. At River Rhein you don't need this certification, but there are some you must have. Often you could do it there. To me a certification makes more sence when I can see and feel the benefit, so, I would do attitude diving in the Moutains, night dive I would love to do in the ocean, not in a lake where I may couldn't see anything.
Just as you said about photographer, some specialities makes more sence doing it at the right place.
Ooh that's good to know. I haven't been anywhere where drift divier is required. So crucial to do your research and tailor your specialities to your diving
@@OceanPancake I would love to meet you in Switzerland, lake Zurich it's nice to dive, but visibility isn't great, but I know a great place, lake Konstanz the visibility is quite good. I know if you can dive in the sea, you may don't like to dive in a lake.
:)
Did you ever thought about to do a tour i Europe, I'm sure there are fans here who would love to get the chance to meet you.
I took Open Water. Scuba Diver Limits your Training to 40ft? Open Water increases it 60. And set the foundation for more Advanced Courses. I'm thinking about AOW later this year. I would like to go into Search and Recovery
AOW is definitely worth it to improve your skills and to expand on your diving!
SCUBA Diver: 12 metres. Open Water SCUBA Diver/one star diver: 18 or 20 metres, depending on agency. Advanced Adventure Diver/Advanced Open Water/two star diver: 30 metres. Full deep cert: 40 metres. Some agencies also have a 35 metre option.
I highly recommend doing all your diving in metres and bar. You can do many the calculations in your head which makes it a lot safer. You'll also find that as soon as you escape the USA bubble, no one else uses PSI and feet.
@@psarmstr I'm US. PADI Open Water Certified
Overall a ok job on the Video.
I have been teaching Scuba for 38+ Years (SSI) 30 years (SDI/TDI). Im in Colorado, USA
I tell my students that most of the classes are great to take, and we talk about them. All agencies have specialty classes - most of the classes are designed to teach and make you a better diver. However, there are some classes that are just about money… (Not bashing any agency).
Let’s start with an SSI Advanced Diver. It is more of a recognition level is ANY 4 specialties and 24 dives. It is automatically issued.
Master Diver is also a recognition level from SSI, you have to have advanced, Stress & Rescue, the First aid set of classes (First aid/CPR/AED/O2), and have 50 dives.
On to the specialty classes
Epic
Deep, Night/Limit Visibility, Nitrox, Navigation, Stress & Rescue (Rescue), First aid/CPR/AED/O2 (Many names),
Must do
Perfect Buoyancy (This is a pet peeve of mine --- The industry as a whole sucks on this…. Partly because the Open water classes don’t generally have time to work on this skill. The old adage of just adding more weight instead of teaching them correct buoyancy techniques. The dive guides is the islands are just as bad!!! Lucky, the industry is trying to correct this problem.)
Equipment Techniques (This teaches more about how to fix minor problems that normal divers can fix, - Mouth pieces, hoses, straps, some computer batteries, etc. - It does not teach them how to service their gear).
Special interest - Good to have
Disabled Buddy diver (special training with diving with disabled divers), Ice Diver, Self-reliant (solo) diver, Tec classes --
Professional levels
Dive Guide & Dive Master (the information in these classes is great and most people will benefit from taking the classes for what they will learn. Also, in order to be a professional you have to carry insurance and pay dues to the agency.)
Why not/May want.
Any of the marine ecology classes, Boat diving (teaches more about etiquette on boat diving), Science of Diving, Wreck, Drysuit, Altitude Diver,
Photo/video classes…. The right instructor will make this class.
Waste of time and money
Drift diving, Trash pickup diver (you made a good point of you dive pick up trash). Computer diver,
Adventure diver - tease of a few specialties.
One thing I would say is if you don’t know what the specialty is - you may not want to talk about it and place it in wrong category.
Great breakdown of all the courses! Just shows how much education is available and we can all keep striding to be the safest and best diver possible
Bubble Maker 10-12?? Isn‘t it 8-9 as from 10 kids can do the Junior Open Water Diver?
When i got certified in the 80's Padi was all about numbers !
So i went Naui and never looked back.
There rrvord st that time was in the toilet.
Not sure what they are now.
Just getting back into diving. Live in a ssnd pit state with big ponds on either side.
Don't like what the water does to your equipment here and swiming with prehistoric critters isn't my cup of tea either. Still hsve my Sherwood Magnum Blizzard and freedom bc from 88.
I went with Sherwood because i figured anyone asks me if i want to go diving ------- I'll just say -------, SHERWOOD 😂.
Ordered a Scuba Pro full face mask and waiting for it's arrival.
Found out too late that my blizzard would work with this mask after i found a beautiful G-250 SP second stage.
Now doing the upgrade to the barrel.
May I give a BIG shout out to SASS in Battle Creek Mi.
Great people. Kim and her husband. ( sorry but my memory is getting bad ,, but he has a twin brother who used to hard hat commercial dive.
Great people great friends.
Excellent servise from
SUB AQUATICS SPORTS & SERVISE !!!
Hi Kim 👋.
You know who it is. Boat racer. 😊
Just came to me. RICK 👋
agreed with most things..couple i would change would be drift as a must do, even epic. basically all the diving I do is drift (in Galapagos islands) and Im surprised about how poorly ppl handle current. On that same note id say DSM diver is a MUST for drift diving, boat diving, CCR (rebreather) and a bunch other types of diving. Deploying a SMB is NOT nearly as easy as ppl often think and, again, im absolutely shocked on how many experienced advanced divers are completely unable to deploy a marker. This skill is essential on my experience.. and lastly id say PPB is a must do, if not epic course. This ofcourse depends on your instructor, but overall a proper and thougtfull PPB course can help new divers master bouyancy (best case scenario) or at least stop diving as a sea horse!
Concerning Altitude Diver: I dont's see it as must do. I live in Switzerland where basically every Lake is an Altitude Lake. You learn the Altitude Theory already in the Open Water, altough you don't get the Specialty. Computer does the rest. So all you learn in the specialty is theory that can be broken down to 2 sentences and the order to set your computer properly. And then 2 Fun dives with an instructor, which is always nice. So to me it's not more than nice to have.
Really good tier list! Finally one that is in the proper tier format! Thanks! Now Comments & changes:
Open water - should have simply been "must have", basic training cannot be epic, it devalues the epic'ness of the other classes.
Photo/Video and Night - all should go to Why Not - those are specialities, for some more interesting, for some not, no harm done in doing them, you actually get some value and new knowledge, but otherwise they are not necessary.
Peak buoyancy - ... why not is the highest possible tier. But I can tell you why not - because buoyancy is a core skill you need to get good at during OW and then to be working on it all the time, yourself and hire instructors to help you develop, why pay fees for a "certification" in a core skill??
Naturalist & Fish ID - is NOT a must do!! Its a why not at best if you feel like it. But again, why do you need a certification in being a "naturalist"?
Full face mask - that's a must-do If you want to use a FFM, but otherwise its a Why Not if you want to expand your skill set range.
Multi-level - its skip. I mean, we have computeres these days, no one's using diving tables. So a Meh at the very very best.
Sidemount was the most epic course for me so far (yes, better dan rescue and the DM course). I highly suggest that anyone at least tries it once. I now prefer sidemount over backmount and the majority of SM divers do😅
When do you do sidemohnt? Do you find it's more expensive?
I was not aware that PADI had so many courses.
10 year olds can get certified junior open water diver
Ys
cheap oilless compressor 9l, water/oil seperator with micron filter 50m hose. cheap regulator
battery and inverter
easy safe diving down to 30m.
all the diving/compressor stuff lands on around 200 dollar battery depends on your choosing my pack with inverter coast 900 and good for 2 ppl for 3-4 hours (can then only go 15m unless 2 oilless compressors)
well above 2k hours diving so far.
"scuba" is cheap if you want it to be
I think it better to separate cards into "Access" "Good training, worthless card" and "Worthless"
Access cards being cards required to access certain types of diving, these are things like OWD, AOW, drysuit, etc. Worthless being obvious. But the "Good training, worthless cards" are for things where the training is valuable but there is no reason to pay PADI for the card as no one is going to ask for the card. A good example of this is the Sidemount Diver card, no one is going to ask you for the card.
Another great examples are the photography and videography courses, in fact in this case the person teaching doesn't need to be a professional diver, it is probably a good idea for they themselves to be one for insurance reasons, but what matters is the quality of the work the person is able to produce and their ability to teach.
Now I should mention there is no universal rebreather certification, the units are all so different that the certifications are unit specific, even within brands like someone that is certified on a KISS Sidewinder can't take rent a KISS Classic without taking the class to crossover.
That's a great way to separate! Makes complete sense. No one would ask for a boat diving card either. Thank you for your indepth thoughts on this. Think they're really valuable for all divers :)
I found Master Dive to have been my favorite course of course I went through Naui not Padi
Hi, i am full cave diver and normoxic trimix technical diver. First of all you need to find as good teacher as you can find, owervise it's just badges and cards. Epic courses: deep, rescue. Must: ow, aowd, wreck, ean. Depending on conditions there your prefer to dive: dry suit, ice, drift. Other courses just skip.
Good summary! I couldn't agree more, the instructor really makes the experience. My Rescue course was so well done I truly believe it set me up for success for my professional career and allow me to spot so many potential issues before they even arose! I still have dreams of people yelling "pizza" (we didn't yell help in public locations to not cause a panic).
@@OceanPancakethat pizza stuff is really funny, didn't know that. I forgot to say about sidemount: I love it a lot, my usual configuration is sm 4 tanks, but don't try it with people who don't dive sm all the time, or it should be total waste
When do you dive with the sidemounts? @@user-np7cy8jn5j
@@OceanPancakeI don't get a question. After what? Rescue, sm, intro to tech and so on
@@user-np7cy8jn5j where do you do your dives with the 4 tanks I mean
I have followed you thru several different names. WHY? You seem to be a good diver , fun , sexy, passionate.!
Rebreather course, I wouldnt have it in epic and would move it to meh. Obviously must do if you want to use a rebreather but 99.9% of divers wont get to the point of using a rebreather- youre looking at a minimum 10k aud to be set up, youre paying $300-$500 aud to rent one.
aow should be after at least 50 dives not 8 it would give it more credibility. perfect buoyancy should be #1 after ow. i wish the dive guide would tell people when they step off a boat improperly for there own safety. dsmb is not as easy as it looks and if your in open water you should carry a dsmb and practice releasing it for your own safety.
I think all these extra "specialties" are all BS. Nothing but ways to bilk people out of their bucks. I've had my OW since 1974. I was an Army brat, and was taught by Army divers. Class work/theory/charts. Pool work and then an open water dive, and I was good for 130fsw. We didn't have BCD's and computers back then. It was a lot more physically demanding. Hundreds of Olympic pool laps surface swimming, lots and lots of subsurface laps, treading water with weights overhead, donning and doffing and good old fashioned drown proofing. That's all that is really needed. The rest is just common sense, ie, don't kick up the silt when you penetrate a wreck, take one fin off and grab the ladder when the boat is on its way up. Just common sense stuff. But the next logical step for an additional certification would be deco dives and navigation etc. But paying for a certification that says you know how to get back on a boat is ridiculous.
Bubblemaker is 8 and up, not 10.
So dog bite incident? lol
Depending on the situation :)
But shark bite incident for sharkies
Most dog attacks happen because ppl behave like idiots and most likely do not bite you for diner but to show their boundaries.
How on earth would you say that navigation is MEH? I wouldn't take any advice from an instructor that admits they have taught courses that they have no experience in. Stop rating courses that you have absolutely no idea about.
I think that navigation should properly be taught in the open water course, advanced course and some aspects in the rescue course. If those have been properly covered, I don't think a separate specialty is required. :)
Master is just spend money for a bage waste of money
Advanced was disappointing, was billed as a multiple cert course. Not nearly enough time for each subject tho.
Dive against debris as why not??? Boat dive as skip... Don't see your logic, honestly most of padi courses are a total skip.
Must: OW and nitrox.
Why not (depends of what you want from scuba, for many 18m is plenty, for other the ones I'm listing as why not are musts as well): AOW, deep, wreck, divemaster and above, emergency, rescue. For technical diving there are better agencies than padi and with cheaper progression.
All the rest is just Padi sucking money out of you, especially peak buoyancy which is only needed if you had crap instructor which should have his credentials reviewed as he/she wasn't able to teach you the absolute basic... Like buoyancy...
Most of the specialities if you do some research and study you'll get the same or more than from the course like in everything related to conservation and similar.
Enriched air course, very over priced. complete rip off.
Mine was around 350$ I believe. But that did include 2 dives
The SSI Nitrox level 2 class is $175. Level 2 allows you to dive up to 40% nitrox. It’s all classroom, no dives. Don’t be afraid to look at classes outside your “home” certifying agency.
@MikeDodds I paid about 320€ did course online then met instructor for about 2 hours to ensure I understood what I had read. Measured the o2 level of my tank used charts to look at dive time at planned dive depth and went for 1 dive.
@@joeholbrook7560 oh yeah, that does seem a bit of a rip off :(
I'm a PADI Master Scuba Diver. Big time meh.
How did you reach that level? Did it take a long time?
@@OceanPancake I did it in six months but I recommend you take a year to do it. I did it too fast
@@OceanPancake I’m now a PADI dive master.
Total hokum.... Anyone who puts a buoyancy cert as a must do isn't training their students well enough. Full stop. New paragraph.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that all people should have amazing buoyancy right off the bat. And that some people wouldn't benefit from working on their buoyancy with an instructor. But having to be sold a course and a certification to work on it?! Totally unnecessary. If one wants to work on their buoyancy as their OW instructor didn't do a good enough job when they were originally certified, then find a better instructor and pay them to help work on it. One does not need to pay an additional premium to a certifying agency just for a certification. Same goes for night, and nav.
And UW Photography... This more than anything does not need a certifying agency to get involved. Ever. As you pointed out, find someone who is highly regarded in the field, that also does courses, and take the course from them. But there does not need to be a certification coming off the back of it.
Also, if you are putting Dry Suit in the Must Do, then Full Face Mask is the same. But obviously (as you pointed out) they are only Must Do if you intend to do that type of diving. Although, if people are coming to diving from seeing it in the movies, try watching a movie this day and age containing SCUBA where the protagonist isn't wearing an FFM... (Sanctum, Deep Blue Sea, 47m Down, 47m Down: Uncaged, The Deep House, Deep Fear, The Dive... To name a few...) So some people may see this as standard SCUBA these days...
Underwater photography is 100% based on the talent and teaching ability of the professional diver and photographer. Also agreed.
I've personally not encountered any full faced diving (living in tropical locations and recreationally diving) so definitely don't have the background to comment on it as much
Just wrote a massive comment about peak performance buoyancy and it disappeared. Grr. Anyway, to paraphrase.
While it should be focused on in OW courses, many dive shops do not. Whether they don't care or there isn't enough time as divers are limited by their holiday. While hiring out an instructor simply to boost your buoyancy would make sense I've never seen this done. Dive shops tend to only get behind that if there's a "course" attached. In terms of your 5 aow dives, I would definitely recommend doing peak performance buoyancy in those to truly master and focus on those skills!
Omg, so good. Thank you for the film recommendations
@@OceanPancake background info or not. It's a specialist piece of kit that can easily get you killed, just like a drysuit. So in that vein, if someone intends to use it, get the cert. if not, its a meh. (as is a drysuit.) Especially if you might like to hire one sometime. And in that respect a DPV could fall into that category. Get instruction from a professional with lots of experience using one, no need for a cert. Unless you may want to hire one.... Then get the cert.
@@OceanPancake I agree, PPB should be one of the five essential elective "Adventure Dives" in AOW, unless deemed by the instructor as not necessary. (Big difference between an OW diver with 50 dives taking their AOW to one with 5.)
For me the "musts" in AOW should be:
Deep (Already is)
Nav (Already is)
PPB (Should not be optional as diver choice - instructor choice only.)
After that it should be diver/location/condition dependant. But I'd only recommend to only choose from the following:
Drysuit, Night, Drift and Wreck.
Anything else either requires proper specialist training, a full cert, or isn't worth bothering with...
PADI courses are a waste of time.
Which ones do you do?
Why ????