Modern technology and advancements in scuba diver training have seen many a scuba diver certified with the minimum of time and effort. In as little as four days, you can become a certified PADI Open Water Diver! This is great news for people looking to take up the sport and get out diving with their buddies but…do they have all the knowledge and experience to be safe and confident in the mix of underwater environments out there? Do you know how things really work? Could you help a diver in distress? Have you ever dived an underwater shipwreck?
With enough training, you could be getting more out of every dive and diving more:
Improved Safety
Examples: Advanced Open Water, Rescue Diver and Emergency Oxygen Provider
Dealing with emergencies and good practice are certainly covered in your dive courses. A few scuba divers enjoy a long career in the shallows without any serious incidents on a simple Open Water certification. But even more divers enjoy the benefits of good training; having gained the knowledge and skills to dive the many fathoms of the underwater world in comfort. These divers understand that their continued training was what they needed to enjoy the sport thoroughly and safely.
Greater Confidence
Examples: Advanced and Rescue, Navigation Specialty, Deep Diver, Boat Diver, Drift Diver, Equipment Specialist, Peak Performance buoyancy and Solo Diver.
Nobody likes to feel anxious, especially when diving. All trained scuba divers who have been through a PADI Rescue Diver course will know that panic is any divers worst enemy. Continuing education courses allow you as a diver to make rational, informed decisions about situations, both underwater and on the surface. Any Advanced Open Water diver will understand better their air consumption rate at different depths and a Rescue Diver will know how to keep themselves and others calm when faced with adversity.
Specialty courses come into play here as well. Underwater Navigating with greater confidence and ease will improve every dive and enable you to better enjoy the experience. Deep and Boat diver specialty ratings keep you knowledgeable and on Que when diving those scenarios. You’ll want to know how to dive in a current, plus drift diving is loads of fun!! An Equipment Specialty certified diver will understand their equipment requirements, giving them confidence in knowing it will work when required. Any diver with a Peak Performance Buoyancy rating will glide through the water with ease and know how to manoeuvre themselves underwater with style.
Diving by yourself is not recommended but the Solo Diver Specialty will prepare you if you do get separated from your buddy. You will be confident you’ll know what to do should the situation arise.
Understanding the Underwater World
Examples: Advanced Open Water, Underwater Naturalist Specialty, Project AWARE, Underwater Archaeology, Wreck Diver and Research Diver Specialties.
Entry level divers can miss out on so much of what’s going on around them; a scuba instructor will tell you how much they see their beginner students missing out on. Knowing where to look and how to behave to bring around the interesting species is only the beginning. Understanding historical dive sites and their significance brings about great satisfaction for many. You’ll want to know how everything interacts and how to find out the details about things you discover on your many underwater adventures. Investing in diver training will get you informed and motivated!
Dive Skills for Different Conditions and Environments
Examples: Advanced Open Water, Drift Diver Specialty, Deep, Night, SMB Diver Specialty, Wreck, Solo etc.
Safe diving comes into play again here for obvious reasons. Be prepared for the thrills of Drift diving and diving at Night. Learn safe techniques for planning, executing and enjoying the many varying environments to be enjoyed. Navigate and understand an underwater shipwreck, launch an SMB or try a Solo Diver specialty. Plus, did we mention all dive courses are a bucket load of fun?!
Better Equipment Selection and Knowledgeable Operation
Examples: Equipment Specialty, Sidemount, Dry Suit, DPV, Enriched Air Diver, Emergency Oxygen Provider, Search and Recovery, Underwater Photography/Videography Specialty courses and Technical Diving.
Take a load off when it comes to equipment selection and operation by taking a course in how your new dive gear works. Knowing your gear and correctly diving it will take the hassle and stress out of the whole game. Take a DPV for a spin, get yourself a nice warm Drysuit, get into Sidemount diving and become a Technical Diver with well-honed underwater Photo and Video skills!! Enriched Air makes for comfortable diving and even extends your no-decompression limits. Take a PADI Equipment Specialty and learn about your Scuba gear, what makes it work and what is needed to keep it working the way it is supposed to.
MORE FUN!?!
Examples: Every dive course ever conceived.
