Advance Diving Course

[scuba_gal]

Hallo everyone,

I'm very new to this SRC. Hope you all wont laugh at me if I post any stupid question.

I take my diving in May 2005, at Rendang. It was a indeed a very beautiful place.

My friends and I have plan to go carins this year for another dive.

And I was told that I should take up my Advance before I go there.

Where can I find any ideal package? My basic cert is from NAUI. If I take thru Padi, will I need to change my diving card after I complete?

Or anyone of you is also planning to go for advance soon??? or have just finish, let me know how good is that package you have chose.

[kelstorm]

u can keep ur Naui OW and still get Padi AOW... difference certification levels.

[bawater]

Whichever advanced you choose, you will be issued that course card & cert after completion.

Going from one course to another be it Naui,Padi or SSi you may need to show your previous level card(open water diver) and maybe answer some simple questions. Like remembering how to hook up your BC.

There are so many dive centers around , but choose an advanced course conducted somewhere near like tioman will give you better confidence levels because the water is clear. Its good that when you learn it's in water that you can see what you're doing.

Depending on your dive center, your advance will include :

-basic search and recovery procedures

-night dive

-multilevel or deep dive

*-Underwater Navigation

*-Drift dive

I did the last 2 in basic but it may be in the advance Padi course.

[hammerhd]

bro wat u mean by the ideal package?

Cheap??

Remember if u pay monkeys u get bananas

Good??

Wat is the standard u want?

Cheers

[kelstorm]

From what i know,

Most dive centres will conduct the following for advance:

1. Deep Dive

2. Nite Dive

3. UW Navigation (slightly different from OW)

the other two might be two of the following;

1. PPB

2. Drift

3. Multi-level diving

4. Search and Recovery

Also, when u see the price, enquire wat u are paying for... do u need to pay extra for the rental of equipment? Are the manuals rental or given to u?

It is probably difficult for ppl to tell u which DC is good.. ppl tends to be bias towards their own dive centre where they learnt from. More imptly, wat is the difference of $50 if your safety is compromised? I had bad experience wif a dive centre and since then, nvr dive wif them again. Also, going diving wif a huge grp would mean that less attention will be paid to you, which means, the instructor would not be able to advise u how to improve ur diving skills...

[scuba_gal]

Thanks... thanks everyone. I wil slowly do my research n c how.

[arcanehacker]

...

Remember if u pay monkeys u get bananas

...

.. sounds wierd.. why pay monkeys to get bananas..

[kschew1498]

Wah....Bro Kelstorm....very prompt in replying things related to diving huh

[kelstorm]

wah.. dun like that say leh...

[hammerhd]

if u pay the monkeys u get bananas loh

[hammerhd]

he is the diving guru here wat:P

[kelstorm]

he is the diving guru here wat:P

no need to tripod me lah.. me aint no guru on diving.. just want ppl to know wat they are looking out for...

[hammerhd]

ok ok then diving directory

[kelstorm]

dun try to earn posts like that leh... ok.. me guilty as charged.. haha

[scuba_gal]

Then is there a need to have a certain number of dives b4 i can take my AOW?? Cos i went to another forum webpages, there is this guy/gal saying that is the requirement needed. Is it true?

[hammerhd]

not really but it is recommanded to go for a couple of leisure trips b4 u take ur AOW.

Imagine u have to dive in the night with poor bouyancy.

here is actually a few diveshops that do 2 in 1 trips.

OW + AOW in 1 trip.

Btw where is our dive directory??

"DR Kelstorm, where are you??"

[scuba_gal]

oh ok.

Then I shall do some planning for this coming long weekend.

Thanks

[scuba_gal]

Btw, anyone planning to go Aur/Tioman for a dive during this coming long weekend?

[FionaFiona]

if u pay the monkeys u get bananas loh

sorry to dilute this thread, but i think what he is trying to mean is :

"If you pay peanuts/bananas, you get monkeys"

its used to describe situations where you get what you pay for.

If u pay little (bananas/peanuts), you get equivalent value's worth (monkeys).

if u pay a person low salary (He paid me peanuts!), you get rubbish work.

Monkeys dun give you bananas when you pay them (with wat?), it dun make sense.

[hammerhd]

i know abt tat it is just a tongue in cheek thingy.

[kelstorm]

not really but it is recommanded to go for a couple of leisure trips b4 u take ur AOW.

Imagine u have to dive in the night with poor bouyancy.

here is actually a few diveshops that do 2 in 1 trips.

OW + AOW in 1 trip.

Btw where is our dive directory??

"DR Kelstorm, where are you??"

totally agree.. it is good to go for a least a leisure before considering taking ur AOW.

To avoid any bias-ness in recommending dive centres, I will not be mentioning any dive centres here even though i had blacklisted some due to experience with them and their practices.

As for doing both courses in 1 trip, this issue had been debated for a longest time.. check this out... Views on taking OW+AOW together

My stand on these is that, i dun recommend it. Reason being that it does not produce a reasonable diver in time and it shouldnt be a diver churning factory. Unfortunately, usually such packages benefits both new divers and dive centres as they are very attractive to a non-diver coz in terms of financially and time saved. I just think that seriously, how much can u really absorb in terms of theory. Ok, me slightly slow and need time to understand the theory. But if u understand the theory and dun put it to use, it is useless and i cannot imagine how a newbie diver can from zero knowledge, get an advance diver certification after just one weekend.

Like wat hammerhd had mentioned, buoyancy control is impt.. Personally, i would hv expected u to be reasonally comfortable with reasonable buoyancy control if u are certified as an advanced diver.

Do not because of couple of hundred of dollars, u opt for the fastest way. Rem, while diving is relatively safe, there is still an element of risk. You should depend on yourself first before relying on your buddy. Diving requires experience. Certification only allows u to be more exposed to more areas of diving and knowledge.

Honestly, I would rather follow a OW water diver who had over 200 dives under his/her belt than an factory churned out package newbie advanced diver any time. But that is just me.

Dive safely and have a safe diving experience.

[hammerhd]

Just to add on. It will be good to tak ur leisure trip with some other DS so u can assess them if they are good. At least it expands ur contacts right?