Any qualified scuba divers out there?

[kaivalagi]

Good man, soon all your holidays will be based around diving lol

I can highly recommend Fiji, if you want to dive with anything from nudibranch to humpback, it's all there!

This is where I was diving from mostly when there (http://www.owlfiji.com/), just to give you a glimpse...unfortunately this particular dive shop is currently not open, the owners are currently back in Germany, I was gutted when I was just over there this summer....

Where ever you go you could also combine the diving with the next PADI course....e.g. do an advanced PADI at the same time, deep/night/drift dives etc

[yorkie_chris]

I'd say get the badge collecting out of the way before your holidays so you can spend the time actually diving.

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by rictus01

Oh and Chris, whilst I applaud you frugalness, Diving isn't one of those activities you want to "have a go yourself" with kit wise, even dry suits are live saving kit both thermally as well as buoyancy wise, you mess around with that kind of thing at your own (and maybe buddies) peril.

Cheers Mark.

Hey Mark,

A few hundred hours later, I'm still a tight cnut, I'm still not drysuit qualified and I'm still not dead

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by keith_d

No, next ride out we need to plan a trip to Brussels:

http://www.nemo33.com/en

Don't really see point of that place unless the girls in belgium are particularly fit and swimming laps over the top of you.

Come to dotty that's a deeper diving pit Bit colder but it's a sight closer.

[kaivalagi]

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

I'd say get the badge collecting out of the way before your holidays so you can spend the time actually diving.

With an adv course you'll get to do night dives, drift dives and/or deep dives...things you can't do with PADI OW.

It's a three day course with a day of theory at most from what I remember, most of the important stuff was done in open water. Rescue diver and after are lots of theory.

But I guess it depends whether you plan on doing the wider variety of dives in the longer term or not as to whether it's worth doing anyway

[yorkie_chris]

I did AOW and it was a total waste of fookin time for what I do.
However I know some dive centers in foreign places are bothered that you've got a badge.

So I say, get the ticket over here, then you can spend your holiday doing the night dives etc.


Fook all to stop you doing a drift dive as an OW diver btw! Or a wreck dive or..... any of the others, they are just included as "experience dives" in AOW

[kaivalagi]

Guess it does depend on how strict the dive center is you're doing dives with....if you feel comfortable with doing drift, deep or night dives without any previous instruction on them then go for it, it's just that there is more to consider than the open water course covers off...

To be fair though most if not all of the holiday dives you'll do are normal ones covered by open water tuition, it's just if you go looking for the more demanding stuff they might insist on you having the related qualification...

Personally I think if you've got some common sense about you then you'll be fine regardless, much like most things in life, each to their own though

[yorkie_chris]

If you're wanting a badge to get.... I would say investigate bsac sports diver instead of PADI AOW.

Covers a lot more useful stuff, it's roughly equivalent of padi rescue.

-DSMB (essential skill, should be taught in OW...)
-rescue skills

Gets you nitrox and drysuit tickets without paying out bullsh*t-munching "speciality" course fees.



p.s
does AOW actually "qualify" you for drift, night, wreck etc? I don't think it means owt, except that you've done one "taster" of the relevant discipline.
For example, drift dive.... AOW doesn't cover firing a DSMB (fookin mental...).... so you're not qualified for a drift dive then are you, or a wreck dive...

[Kenzie]

Can padi cross over to bsac?

Sent from my Kindle Fire

[yorkie_chris]

Yes