Scuba Maintenance Skills Playlist 🛠️ th-cam.com/play/PLZdtanQPFyhyuW8pQ0XwVvSAdfIdKZmvr.html Make a Save a Dive Kit 🛟 th-cam.com/video/DdaLBHrO9n0/w-d-xo.html Reef Fish ID Book 📚 amzn.to/41CM2bT How to Launch a DSMB ⚠️ th-cam.com/video/bUOp0kEt0nM/w-d-xo.html Why Everyone Should Get Advanced Open Water (AOW) 🤿 th-cam.com/video/s59X8I1Nmrs/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for the how to launch a SMB because I'm getting one in a couple of days and also going to be using it in a couple of days 😅 and if you're wondering the brand because I know you would like to know it's from XS scuba. But thank you so much for the video!😊
I always thought that Enriched Air (Nitrox) certification should be a mandatory part of Open Water certification. If “mandatory” is too strong of a word, then it should at least be marketed as a highly desirable option and integrated with Open Water certification. I believe it’s that useful. Thanks for another great topic!
@@amadeuss3341 well you are right but I kind of do really want it because I'm wanting to go on more longer and deeper dives. But still it's not worth it for everyone. And that's okay you do you.
Excellent I pretty much agree with everything you said ! I think the big problem here are the agencies. PADI as an example want to charge for anything and everything (Put Another Dollar In). Much of the speciality information should be in the core classes. As an example in the advanced class the dives should be set not choose any first dive from a speciality. Example Items for Advanced: Nitrox, Deep, Navigation, Buoyancy, Night/Limited Visibility (possibly a different one). This approach should be taken for Rescue Diver, Master Diver, Dive Master and Instructor. Example, Dive Masters and Instructors should know the information from Self Reliant Diver. Master Diver should include the full speciality courses for the items I listed under Advanced Open Water. Note these are items off the top of my head. If I thought about it seriously it might change some.
I think you make good points. On one hand I appreciate how PADI and other agencies have made it easier and more approachable to get into diving by shortening the courses and all that. On the other hand I don’t like sacrificing learning to get people out faster when there are safety items involved that may get cut, to include some “advanced” things you learn in specialties or other ConEd.
I had a very sobering experience at my first night dive. Basically I didn't have a backup light , and the one i had was some cheap crap. So at one point i decided to turn the light off and see how underwater world look at night, after i finished admiring the beauty I pressed the button and nothing happened, torch was toasted 😂😂😂 I Basically hijacked a camera from one of the divers that had a video light on it , and used it to get back 😂😂😂
That’s a little scary for sure! I do love a night dive with no lights just for the look, but not to try to actually dive that way. Glad you were able to borrow someone’s rig!
Thanks for this list. I do my try scuba class on sunday. If it goes as expected, then i start my open water certification class a couple weeks later. I was looking at various classes. The advanced class was the next logical step. I also thought the search and navigation class would be useful for my work clearing hazards from waterways. We are often in murky waters. Your video confirmed this choice.
wish there was a list like this for the SDI courses too. Im going back and forth between the padi and sdi shops here. Im doing my open water with padi but likely will also get it crossed over to sdi. Im trying to talk to people who have gone through both locations to hear first hand experiences.
The courses will be similar. If you google enough you can find comparisons on what PADI calls a speciality vs SDI. Otherwise go with what reviews you can find on the local shop in my opinion 🤙
In the netherlands we have a strong ebb and flow current in the ocean, so strong that it could drag you away if you dont dive on the spring tide (happens twice a day no matter the season;p) you could have a very hard time getting out of the water, trying not to end up in the boat routes or even getting back to shore. So i think having the currents specialty is more of a necessity than a novelty (depending on where you live ofcourse)
Definitely depends on where you live, but I also think drift diving certification can be stuff you learn from someone teaching you the dive site. I’m not sure it’s necessary to pay for the class honestly. It’s not horrible to take and isn’t a bad decision, but you may spend your money elsewhere for more advantage in my opinion. Definitely depends on where you live though!
Multilevel diver I thought that one was gone already, never did it. Although I do have “the wheel” lying around which was used to plan those before the eRDPml. I agree with most of them, not sure if underwater naturalist is a nice to have. Tagging along with the right people will teach you the same and maybe more.
Yeah it’s still for sale on the PADI site, which is insane haha. Thanks for sticking to the end of the video by the way! I hear you on naturalist, but I do think if you have a strong interest and find the right instructor it can be worth taking. That whole middle category of “nice to have” was kind of centered on that idea though. If you are interested, it’s nice if you find a good person to teach you. Otherwise, do your own research and you’ll learn anything you’d find from an average instructor that doesn’t truly specialize in the category.
Haha so no joke, I considered adding that but it’s in the free diving side of PADI I believe and not on their “specialty” list I was looking at online when filtering what classes they’re currently selling the material for on their website. There’s a filter for “specialty” and none of the free diving stuff was under it 🤷♂️
Haha I actually plan to write my own distinctive for a similar-ish course sometime in 2024! I have it written mostly already actually 😅 Side note - I do think I’ll do a video on fun distinctive specialties I can find some day.
Another timely upload as my friends and I are deciding our adventure dives for AOW! Here’s what we have and our thought process. We have night and PPB. The former because my friends are interested and it’s best to have an instructor guide us for the first time. The latter because I personally struggle with it due to weighting and breathing so it’s good to work on it for an entire dive instead of working on it under the guise of a fun dive as we’d probably have exploring the dive site on the back of our minds. As for the third one, we’re split 😂 between underwater naturalist, drift and search & recovery. For me, I think these adventure dives should be something that - unlocks a different experience to you, like you said - helps you in your diving career - you’d benefit from having an entire dive and instructor dedicated to it, instead of something that can be learnt on a fun dive with a quick intro - something that may not commonly be offered as a specialisation With that, I am deciding between naturalist and search & recovery. I am quite interested in conservation and would like to know how underwater ecosystem works. Plus, I’d like to know what i’m looking at underwater 😂 Granted you can learn that online but I always put that off 😅 and somehow naturalist isn’t a common specialisation in SEA, at destinations that are easy to get to (1 flight in and you’re ready to dive) Search & recovery could be useful in finding trash and I see that it’s a component for the divemaster courses. Drift, now after seeing the video and hearing from others, sounds like it could be picked up on a quick orientation. However, it does look scary. Then again, I don’t know whether diving in high current benefits my diving experience. I know you can see different things like sea fans but don’t know what else would there be to feel like it’s a different, better experience Thanks for letting me ruminate in your comments section! 😅
Haha this is great, no worries at all. Ok so if it was me, I’d take S&R unless you have a SUPER good instructor for underwater naturalist. I’d ask them their experience and what you’ll learn, that kind of thing as a bit of an interview. If they don’t seem as hyped to tell you about the flora around your dive sites as you are, look for another instructor or take S&R. S&R can help you gain confidence with navigation (and locating items of course too) giving you a specific task with navigation versus just doing squares and such in the underwater nav course which is more structured navigation for learning versus practical navigation for a specific purpose. Drift I would truly not worry about. Yes, high drift can be scarier at first, especially if it’s not planned and you come across it during a dive, but I think you’ll be alright haha.
Hey, thanks for the guidance! I think having that interest sort of sets an expectation too and if the instructor doesn’t share that passion, it could be more of a let down. Definitely would be more than satisfied if I had a marine biologist who’d talk my ear off like you mentioned in the vid haha 😂
Wow! I’ve never heard of a river having anyone really gatekeeping at all. Is there just one entry point or something? 🤔 This is good to know! I’d slightly revise my list then.
@CircleHScuba the funny part is, drift diving is not requested in the river Rhein, which has a sometimes a huge drift, but mostly not dangerous. It’s a river in canton Ticino, which needs drift diving certification, I guess because it’s a tricky one, I was never there, but a dive center located in Zurich and Winterthur, said so. You can do your drift diving certification in this river. I guess one reason could be: the river is in the mountains very wild so many rocks etc. I guess I would change it like this: if you plan to dive in a river drift diving certification could be useful and in some rivers in Switzerland it's requested. So a smart idea, if you visit Switzerland, get drift dive certificated. 😁 I guess one poit which is important: where did you do your certification, like attitude diving it's possible to do in lake Konstanz, because it's high enough but still low enough to dive without. But I would never do it there, because I would get certificated, where I find it useful. So I would never do a deep dive certification in a Pool, because to me it would be useless. 🤣 I understand if you live where the sea or like isn't deep enough and I really want to get certificated. So if you would do ever a part two, then I would recommend to add, where a certification could be useful even the certification isn't much useful. So like: if you ever travel to Austria, go get attitude diving in one of those beautiful lakes, so you got the chance to see beautiful lakes in the montains. Or get in a swiss river drift dive certificated, and enjoy being drifted. Then you could recommend places for night and deep dive certification, I saw a clip at dive talk, there was a place where the view was amazing even deeper then 50m because it's so clear, so a place to enjoy the deep dive. So it would be amazing to do such a list. Because then you would get a benefit not just a certification. 👍👌
That’s a really good idea. I wonder if I can find a good list of the best places for certifications haha. I went to Titisee in Germany a few years back and that mountain lake was SO beautiful. I’d love to dive in the mountains up there!
@@CircleHScuba an idea would be to ask your followers, if they would recommend places, secoundly if the list would be a serie of videos, it would keep on growing, because there would be more viewers and more recommendations. ☺️
Yeah, I actually wanted to use the actual tier chart too originally but I dropped that because I couldn’t find an image of every certification card and photoshopping 31 of them when it may look slightly off bugged my OCD and perfectionism 🤦♂️ I tried doing more of the general grouping but yeah, it’s hard to list 31 and not have a good visual 😢
Thanks! Gosh, that flu was very rough this year. I’m still dealing with a fairly bad cough that’s having me sip tea off camera between the edits haha. Hopefully my voice going out in some of the clips wasn’t too horrendous sounding 😂
Great video👌👌 11:17 , but what is your sidemount wing doing flapping high above and behind your head? I'm not familiar with Apeks rig as I have an Xdeep stealth tec, but there must be a way to trim it down with bungees across your chest/abdomen or whole harness sits way too high on your back. Probably both. Unnecessary flapping creates huge amounts of drag and can become a snag hazard. Also maintaining trim if air need to be added to the wing must have been bloody difficult 🤔
Yeah so actually the screw that bolted that part of the wing down fell out on that dive! After the dive my team told me and we fixed it.😅 Glad you enjoyed the video too! 😎
Thanks! So someone else mentioned SSI as well. I can look into it for sure. I’m not currently a SSI instructor and yes, many of them do cross over but I know some go by different names and there are some other differences as well. I’m just not sure if people would like me ranking courses I’ve never taken from an agency I’m not an instructor in 😬 What do you think?
@@CircleHScuba i would love to see that video ;) I know there are some differences but if you could look into it i would be very appreciated. Happy new year to you 🎊👌
Most divers take AOW so they can dive a bit deeper to better sites and not to be introduced to some specialty courses. This is the necessary evil to dive deeper. Unfortunately it’s not just PADI who force this on divers. My first true open water dive after OW cert was from a boat to a wreck and second dive was a drift dive. I listened to the DM and learned everything I needed to know in the briefing. Sure no wreck penetration but that is where I agree specialist course required. Great videos, keep it going 🙂
Thanks Albert! In my video on why I think people should take advanced, it’s not just about going deeper but I say it’s a good way to see what kind of diving you want to do by doing the first dive of a few specialties, versus having to pay for the full specialty outright or just trying the style of diving uncertified. That’s more what I was alluding to. But yeah, of course the extra depth rating is a reason for Advanced too. Pretty sure I call that out in the video I left in the end of this video, but that’s why I didn’t dive super deep into it in this one 🤓
I am currently going through open water one more open water for my certification. I only plan on doing advanced open water and nitrox As I only plan on doing this recreationally, I don’t plan on going to professional route. Would you say that these three courses would be a great foundation
Those are great for every diver in my opinion. After that, I’d explore more if it becomes of interest to you. But they aren’t as necessary if you’re not going to do the type of diving. Like if you want to explore wrecks I’d take that course, caves or caverns absolutely take the course. But some others, as I ranked and discussed in the video, are more just for fun and some learning that you can probably pick up on your own. Congrats on going for open water!
Now regarding digital or physical cards. I prefer a plastic card personally but I don’t have one yet. I only have a digital one from PADI (Open water) got certified a few months ago. Now my question is, can I Print a copy of my digital card and laminate it? will that suffice as a physical card? (Cost effective) only because physical cards are expensive.. Or do I need to actually buy a physical card if I want one?
Good to know, not trying to cheat the system necessarily but if it will truly be accepted as a physical copy that would be great. Unless Ofcourse I wanted a really cool design on my card then I’ll buy one. But right now if I can just print my digital one and that would be accepted as a physical card that would be awesome
@ryanball4799 yeah they just need to know the numbers basically and/or will just look it up. Having the physical card/printout is nice but not always needed
Agree and don’t agree…. It’s not a complete course on its own… could be added with drift diving, DSMB to make one course. Example on a boat the during the dive the sea started having larger waves. One diver couldn’t get on the boat because they didn’t understand sea swells and the rise and drop of the ladder on the boat and was knocked unconscious by the ladder. Was the divers first boat dive. Agree as a single not needed… all my drift and multi-level diving has been boat and DSMB is useful with drift diving…..
Drift diving is not a must but boy... While i was in egypt, the guides are like "jump on my command" when the boat is moving. Imagine not having to go back the same way you started - just come straight to a boat from the beginning ;)
For rebreather, most (should be all), will not sell you a complete rebreather without that specific units certification card. For example, if you buy a rebreather from me, I will not ship it to you, it’s going to your instructor. For my students, every night durning the class, I keep a part of your rebreather so you do not have a complete unit until you are fully certified.
That sounds appropriate to me! For PADI's specific rebreather certifications, I wasn't sure if people go after them after they've been certified on a unit or not. I feel like at that level you probably know how to make the decision, but I would recommend it versus not to err on more training isn't ever bad. Regardless I knew you definitely had to be certified on the unit first, just wasn't sure on the agency certs for this video's purpose of ranking specialties.
Eh... if you can't trust them overnight, I'm not sure that is someone that should be trusted with a CCR at all. I can understand if you have a period of time between classes where they might get the idea to go dive it, but if they can't control themselves overnight...
Interesting content, especially for me as a beginner diver. Could you tell me who is the instructor from Curacao that you referred to, or is there a video in which you have such recommendations? Thanks
I believe that was for underwater fish ID or naturalist? The shop is Ocean Encounters, by far the best dive shop I’ve ever gone through. Megan is the instructor that’s a marine biologist
Guys listen up i just bought a new drysuit as a new drysuit diver. i did a dive in a 5 meter deep pool and i got told multiple things to know such as sqeeuz and how to inflate and deflate. he said my trim was perfect for a new drysuit diver i new most of the things i just gotta make dives in the open water. so i went diving without specalt with a experienced drysuit diver 2 years experience. He said that i should train on deflating my air out of my suit which should go easy. That was the only thing should i still do the certification since its allot of money?
Are you aware of all the emergency procedures? For example, what do you do if you invert underwater, your feet pop out of your boots and you are now head down in the water without being able to use your fins?
I’d get certified, yes. As Tobias said, there are emergency procedures that you should learn and practice, and doing that with someone who’s been diving a couple years versus an instructor that can help rescue you is a bit of a difference. A drysuit is an expensive piece of kit. The class is a small cost in comparison. I get that courses can be costly, but if you’re spending so much on gear, why would you not spend that small percentage of the gear on learning the safety aspects?
I think if you “know everything in terms of safety” that’s a pretty bad way to look at things. I’m more a fan of “I’m always learning” type of approaches personally. I mean, it’s up to you but I would get the certification if I was in your situation.
@@CircleHScuba look i have the same personality net week i am about to have a chat with my instructor to ask if i do need a course if he says that i dive perfect with it than i dont need to but when i did the course that doesnt mean i wil 100% know how to dive with a drysuit practice makes better with or without
Thanks so much! Honestly it was rough recording, had tea off camera. But I’m getting there! Next couple videos may be like that as my voice isn’t lasting with the coughing I’m still doing, but I’m over the flu otherwise! Thanks so much!
Well, the title says it, haha. I ranked the PADI ones. I’m a PADI instructor, so I can’t speak too much to the others. Some are similar or have equivalent requirements as PADI ones. Ocean diver I’ve not heard of, master diver I assume is similar to master scuba diver maybe? Since I’m not an instructor with other agencies, I stuck with PADI link the title says 🤙
Well, I’m a PADI instructor and this video was for the PADI specialties haha. I could look up the SSI ones but I’m not an instructor there so I don’t feel like I could speak to all of them. Generally every agency offers pretty much the same specialties though, they just give different names sometimes
@@CircleHScuba you know I'm actually thinking about taking extended range once I get comfortable with the max depth that I can go . And that's going to be after my nitrox course . And then I'm going to take a cave diving course and then a reck diving course and then I'm going to take a dive with all of those incorporated but they're still like two courses that I'm going to have to take but whenever I join the US costs guard they're going to pay for my dry suit and full face mask courses because they're going to give me a full face mask and a dry suit with my name on it:) by the way the max depth that I can go is 60ft and I'm still young but old enough to take SSI
@@CircleHScuba Sorry, that was a typing error on my side, trying to be witty about some agencies. I was amazed when I learnt that PADI rewrote the definition of AOW to limit dives to max depth of 100ft, unless you do another speciality course. I'm "advanced" certified with another agency and could proceed with the particular dive planned for 120ft (130ft being certification max), while my friends who are certified with PADI AOW, but without deep diving speciality, had to sit out. One guy said if he knew this in advance, he'd have trained with NAUI instead.
@epicoutdoor5795 ah ok, yeah the extra deep certification adds the extra depth. I’ve been fine with it personally as I don’t think you need to rush to 130 feet anyway. As it is, people get advanced right after open water and no other diving in between sometimes. I’m ok with an extra class for the last bit of depth just to try to force some diving in there 😅 But also can totally see your point too
@@CircleHScuba I also see your point - first do no harm and protect lifes should always be top priority - but feel this restriction place uneven burden on different people. I'm from South Africa, where AOW costs 125% of the minimum monthly wage. In USA and Australia a basic AOW without liveaboard doesn't even cost half the country's minimum wage. To do OW, AOW and Deep Diving Speciality would require almost three months' salary, or a year's savings if you had to buy also food and pay rent.
Distinctive specialties like that will have to be for another video. They’re not official from PADI, they’re from instructors who write their own specialties and then submit them to PADI for approval :) I do think I’m going to make a video on fun distinctives though!
You do have it in the standards, but there’s not a full class dedicated to it. Depending on the instructor (usually the shop too), they may take a lot of time in open water or less. Usually due to the cost of class being lower, people keep classes shorter too, and agreed - it’s a shame
Sorry, I normally subtitle all of my videos and then use translation software to translate to about 25+ languages but this one is so long I had trouble with it.
Sorry, the most worthless HAS to be “boat diver” certification. While my certification class in the 80s included multi level, refreshing on it could hold value. And checking that your computer is giving you sane information seems to have value. But boat diving?? that has to be a worthless class.
Some people learn and dive I places with purely shore diving... But even then, I'm sure you can find a DM that will brief you and supervise you for a dive or two.
I agree. I’m semi-new. 52 dives in the 1st 52 weeks (just marked my 1st year anniversary 🎉) & all but 4 were from boat, many with same boat/crew/DM and they always go through instruction & check our gear/gas just before releasing us to our big stride, or back plunge. I can’t think of anything else that might be in boat dive, except maybe the ‘ok’ signal once above water to boat kinda thing, or how tag lines are used… or possibly getting fins off to pass up or how to secure. I’ve been SSI until now, though & it isn’t offered (that I’m aware of 😬🤔). Next month we go to the keys and are working on our 1st PADI course~ Deep Dive. Working on the online coursework for our trip now & will finish once in the keys (going through Conch Republic this trip). I feel like the variety offered through PADI is good for people like us that like to do the wet part of coursework on trips & PADI is everywhere!!
Hey buddy, here's some constructive advice in regards to your audio. The "S" sound is terrible. You need to put some serious time in to fix the issue. It's irritating to say the list. I watched the first three minutes of the video, but I couldn't take it any longer, I had to cut it short. Good info, though. Wish i could hear the rest of the video without that piercing "S" sound. Good luck.
Why in every footage you see divers with snorkels? if you really want one, put it in your BCD, but hell no, don't put it on your mask while diving. There is no other sign than sais "I am a PADI fanboy" or "I just did my OWD".
I’m pretty certain just about every major agency requires them for open water, so not sure where the “PADI Fanboy” comes from 🤣 I mean, really unless you’re told otherwise, you learn to have one in open water with every major agency so unless you’re taught to remove it or decide to on your own, you’d probably have one? I see mixed groups regularly on dive trips with some have snorkels some not, some with snorkels and hundreds of logged dives, some without and only 10 dives. I think it’s just a choice you make. I personally prefer no snorkel and one in my pocket. This kind of response bothers me though because I think people get too judgemental about gear config when it’s not that big of a deal for normal recreational diving.
It’s not a specialty class per PADI, that’s why I didn’t put it into the list and said it’s part of that core tree, in which their flow chart does put it at the last stop for recreational diving before moving to tec or pro levels
Scuba Maintenance Skills Playlist 🛠️ th-cam.com/play/PLZdtanQPFyhyuW8pQ0XwVvSAdfIdKZmvr.html
Make a Save a Dive Kit 🛟 th-cam.com/video/DdaLBHrO9n0/w-d-xo.html
Reef Fish ID Book 📚 amzn.to/41CM2bT
How to Launch a DSMB ⚠️ th-cam.com/video/bUOp0kEt0nM/w-d-xo.html
Why Everyone Should Get Advanced Open Water (AOW) 🤿 th-cam.com/video/s59X8I1Nmrs/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for the how to launch a SMB because I'm getting one in a couple of days and also going to be using it in a couple of days 😅 and if you're wondering the brand because I know you would like to know it's from XS scuba. But thank you so much for the video!😊
You’re welcome! Good luck, hope it’s helpful!
@@CircleHScuba thank you.
I always thought that Enriched Air (Nitrox) certification should be a mandatory part of Open Water certification. If “mandatory” is too strong of a word, then it should at least be marketed as a highly desirable option and integrated with Open Water certification. I believe it’s that useful. Thanks for another great topic!
It’s definitely useful and important!
And I'm doing it well I'm doing it through SSI but still they're both technically the same thing 😂
Not everyone needs it. I have a friend who is doing shallow reef dives all his life and that's all he wants.
Good point Amadeus
@@amadeuss3341 well you are right but I kind of do really want it because I'm wanting to go on more longer and deeper dives. But still it's not worth it for everyone. And that's okay you do you.
Shoving your hand into the scooter blade is known as a chum stop. 🤣
I think it’s nuts but some are made that way as the emergency protocol 😱😂
Excellent I pretty much agree with everything you said !
I think the big problem here are the agencies. PADI as an example want to charge for anything and everything (Put Another Dollar In). Much of the speciality information should be in the core classes. As an example in the advanced class the dives should be set not choose any first dive from a speciality. Example Items for Advanced: Nitrox, Deep, Navigation, Buoyancy, Night/Limited Visibility (possibly a different one). This approach should be taken for Rescue Diver, Master Diver, Dive Master and Instructor. Example, Dive Masters and Instructors should know the information from Self Reliant Diver. Master Diver should include the full speciality courses for the items I listed under Advanced Open Water. Note these are items off the top of my head. If I thought about it seriously it might change some.
I think you make good points. On one hand I appreciate how PADI and other agencies have made it easier and more approachable to get into diving by shortening the courses and all that.
On the other hand I don’t like sacrificing learning to get people out faster when there are safety items involved that may get cut, to include some “advanced” things you learn in specialties or other ConEd.
I had a very sobering experience at my first night dive. Basically I didn't have a backup light , and the one i had was some cheap crap. So at one point i decided to turn the light off and see how underwater world look at night, after i finished admiring the beauty I pressed the button and nothing happened, torch was toasted 😂😂😂
I Basically hijacked a camera from one of the divers that had a video light on it , and used it to get back 😂😂😂
That’s a little scary for sure! I do love a night dive with no lights just for the look, but not to try to actually dive that way. Glad you were able to borrow someone’s rig!
Thanks for this list. I do my try scuba class on sunday. If it goes as expected, then i start my open water certification class a couple weeks later.
I was looking at various classes. The advanced class was the next logical step. I also thought the search and navigation class would be useful for my work clearing hazards from waterways. We are often in murky waters. Your video confirmed this choice.
Amazing! Good luck, you’re going to have a blast!
@@CircleHScuba thanks. My only concern is my over sensitive sinuses.so I'm hoping it won't become an issue.
wish there was a list like this for the SDI courses too. Im going back and forth between the padi and sdi shops here. Im doing my open water with padi but likely will also get it crossed over to sdi. Im trying to talk to people who have gone through both locations to hear first hand experiences.
The courses will be similar. If you google enough you can find comparisons on what PADI calls a speciality vs SDI.
Otherwise go with what reviews you can find on the local shop in my opinion 🤙
@@CircleHScuba thanks again for the great advice and help.
Anytime!
In the netherlands we have a strong ebb and flow current in the ocean, so strong that it could drag you away if you dont dive on the spring tide (happens twice a day no matter the season;p) you could have a very hard time getting out of the water, trying not to end up in the boat routes or even getting back to shore. So i think having the currents specialty is more of a necessity than a novelty (depending on where you live ofcourse)
Definitely depends on where you live, but I also think drift diving certification can be stuff you learn from someone teaching you the dive site. I’m not sure it’s necessary to pay for the class honestly. It’s not horrible to take and isn’t a bad decision, but you may spend your money elsewhere for more advantage in my opinion.
Definitely depends on where you live though!
Multilevel diver I thought that one was gone already, never did it. Although I do have “the wheel” lying around which was used to plan those before the eRDPml.
I agree with most of them, not sure if underwater naturalist is a nice to have. Tagging along with the right people will teach you the same and maybe more.
Yeah it’s still for sale on the PADI site, which is insane haha. Thanks for sticking to the end of the video by the way!
I hear you on naturalist, but I do think if you have a strong interest and find the right instructor it can be worth taking. That whole middle category of “nice to have” was kind of centered on that idea though. If you are interested, it’s nice if you find a good person to teach you. Otherwise, do your own research and you’ll learn anything you’d find from an average instructor that doesn’t truly specialize in the category.
@@CircleHScuba same with the photo and video imho. With the release of the DUP specialty those should be removed at least the photo one.
You need to add Mermaid certification from PADI to the must-have list!
Haha so no joke, I considered adding that but it’s in the free diving side of PADI I believe and not on their “specialty” list I was looking at online when filtering what classes they’re currently selling the material for on their website. There’s a filter for “specialty” and none of the free diving stuff was under it 🤷♂️
@@CircleHScuba fine, fine, i will settle for Zombie Apocalypse Diver cert.
Haha I actually plan to write my own distinctive for a similar-ish course sometime in 2024! I have it written mostly already actually 😅
Side note - I do think I’ll do a video on fun distinctive specialties I can find some day.
@@CircleHScubalooking forward to it!
Another timely upload as my friends and I are deciding our adventure dives for AOW! Here’s what we have and our thought process.
We have night and PPB. The former because my friends are interested and it’s best to have an instructor guide us for the first time. The latter because I personally struggle with it due to weighting and breathing so it’s good to work on it for an entire dive instead of working on it under the guise of a fun dive as we’d probably have exploring the dive site on the back of our minds.
As for the third one, we’re split 😂 between underwater naturalist, drift and search & recovery. For me, I think these adventure dives should be something that
- unlocks a different experience to you, like you said
- helps you in your diving career
- you’d benefit from having an entire dive and instructor dedicated to it, instead of something that can be learnt on a fun dive with a quick intro
- something that may not commonly be offered as a specialisation
With that, I am deciding between naturalist and search & recovery. I am quite interested in conservation and would like to know how underwater ecosystem works. Plus, I’d like to know what i’m looking at underwater 😂 Granted you can learn that online but I always put that off 😅 and somehow naturalist isn’t a common specialisation in SEA, at destinations that are easy to get to (1 flight in and you’re ready to dive) Search & recovery could be useful in finding trash and I see that it’s a component for the divemaster courses.
Drift, now after seeing the video and hearing from others, sounds like it could be picked up on a quick orientation. However, it does look scary. Then again, I don’t know whether diving in high current benefits my diving experience. I know you can see different things like sea fans but don’t know what else would there be to feel like it’s a different, better experience
Thanks for letting me ruminate in your comments section! 😅
Haha this is great, no worries at all.
Ok so if it was me, I’d take S&R unless you have a SUPER good instructor for underwater naturalist. I’d ask them their experience and what you’ll learn, that kind of thing as a bit of an interview. If they don’t seem as hyped to tell you about the flora around your dive sites as you are, look for another instructor or take S&R.
S&R can help you gain confidence with navigation (and locating items of course too) giving you a specific task with navigation versus just doing squares and such in the underwater nav course which is more structured navigation for learning versus practical navigation for a specific purpose.
Drift I would truly not worry about. Yes, high drift can be scarier at first, especially if it’s not planned and you come across it during a dive, but I think you’ll be alright haha.
Hey, thanks for the guidance! I think having that interest sort of sets an expectation too and if the instructor doesn’t share that passion, it could be more of a let down. Definitely would be more than satisfied if I had a marine biologist who’d talk my ear off like you mentioned in the vid haha 😂
Megan in curaçao at ocean encounters haha. She’s awesome
Drift dive, is recommended in Switzerland, so there are some Rivers, they wouldn't allow you to dive there without this certification.😮
Wow! I’ve never heard of a river having anyone really gatekeeping at all. Is there just one entry point or something? 🤔
This is good to know! I’d slightly revise my list then.
@CircleHScuba the funny part is, drift diving is not requested in the river Rhein, which has a sometimes a huge drift, but mostly not dangerous. It’s a river in canton Ticino, which needs drift diving certification, I guess because it’s a tricky one, I was never there, but a dive center located in Zurich and Winterthur, said so. You can do your drift diving certification in this river. I guess one reason could be: the river is in the mountains very wild so many rocks etc.
I guess I would change it like this: if you plan to dive in a river drift diving certification could be useful and in some rivers in Switzerland it's requested.
So a smart idea, if you visit Switzerland, get drift dive certificated. 😁
I guess one poit which is important: where did you do your certification, like attitude diving it's possible to do in lake Konstanz, because it's high enough but still low enough to dive without. But I would never do it there, because I would get certificated, where I find it useful. So I would never do a deep dive certification in a Pool, because to me it would be useless. 🤣
I understand if you live where the sea or like isn't deep enough and I really want to get certificated.
So if you would do ever a part two, then I would recommend to add, where a certification could be useful even the certification isn't much useful.
So like: if you ever travel to Austria, go get attitude diving in one of those beautiful lakes, so you got the chance to see beautiful lakes in the montains.
Or get in a swiss river drift dive certificated, and enjoy being drifted.
Then you could recommend places for night and deep dive certification, I saw a clip at dive talk, there was a place where the view was amazing even deeper then 50m because it's so clear, so a place to enjoy the deep dive.
So it would be amazing to do such a list. Because then you would get a benefit not just a certification. 👍👌
That’s a really good idea. I wonder if I can find a good list of the best places for certifications haha.
I went to Titisee in Germany a few years back and that mountain lake was SO beautiful. I’d love to dive in the mountains up there!
@@CircleHScuba an idea would be to ask your followers, if they would recommend places, secoundly if the list would be a serie of videos, it would keep on growing, because there would be more viewers and more recommendations. ☺️
Could be nice if you used the actual tier as you went through each but thanks for the video
Yeah, I actually wanted to use the actual tier chart too originally but I dropped that because I couldn’t find an image of every certification card and photoshopping 31 of them when it may look slightly off bugged my OCD and perfectionism 🤦♂️
I tried doing more of the general grouping but yeah, it’s hard to list 31 and not have a good visual 😢
PPB could be place in a must have i think
Great to see you feeling better! Thx for the summary and recommendations.
Thanks! Gosh, that flu was very rough this year. I’m still dealing with a fairly bad cough that’s having me sip tea off camera between the edits haha. Hopefully my voice going out in some of the clips wasn’t too horrendous sounding 😂
Great video👌👌 11:17 , but what is your sidemount wing doing flapping high above and behind your head? I'm not familiar with Apeks rig as I have an Xdeep stealth tec, but there must be a way to trim it down with bungees across your chest/abdomen or whole harness sits way too high on your back. Probably both. Unnecessary flapping creates huge amounts of drag and can become a snag hazard. Also maintaining trim if air need to be added to the wing must have been bloody difficult 🤔
Yeah so actually the screw that bolted that part of the wing down fell out on that dive! After the dive my team told me and we fixed it.😅
Glad you enjoyed the video too! 😎
Great video 😊 love your videos!
Can you do the same video for SSI certification? Some certification are the same but some are different
Thanks!
So someone else mentioned SSI as well. I can look into it for sure. I’m not currently a SSI instructor and yes, many of them do cross over but I know some go by different names and there are some other differences as well.
I’m just not sure if people would like me ranking courses I’ve never taken from an agency I’m not an instructor in 😬
What do you think?
@@CircleHScuba i would love to see that video ;) I know there are some differences but if you could look into it i would be very appreciated.
Happy new year to you 🎊👌
Most divers take AOW so they can dive a bit deeper to better sites and not to be introduced to some specialty courses. This is the necessary evil to dive deeper. Unfortunately it’s not just PADI who force this on divers.
My first true open water dive after OW cert was from a boat to a wreck and second dive was a drift dive. I listened to the DM and learned everything I needed to know in the briefing. Sure no wreck penetration but that is where I agree specialist course required.
Great videos, keep it going 🙂
Thanks Albert! In my video on why I think people should take advanced, it’s not just about going deeper but I say it’s a good way to see what kind of diving you want to do by doing the first dive of a few specialties, versus having to pay for the full specialty outright or just trying the style of diving uncertified. That’s more what I was alluding to. But yeah, of course the extra depth rating is a reason for Advanced too. Pretty sure I call that out in the video I left in the end of this video, but that’s why I didn’t dive super deep into it in this one 🤓
Thanks a lot. Your knowledge is very usefull for me. I do appreciate your videos to the max. Kind tegards from Switzerland. Andrea
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed them.
Bitteschön
I am currently going through open water one more open water for my certification. I only plan on doing advanced open water and nitrox As I only plan on doing this recreationally, I don’t plan on going to professional route. Would you say that these three courses would be a great foundation
Those are great for every diver in my opinion. After that, I’d explore more if it becomes of interest to you. But they aren’t as necessary if you’re not going to do the type of diving.
Like if you want to explore wrecks I’d take that course, caves or caverns absolutely take the course. But some others, as I ranked and discussed in the video, are more just for fun and some learning that you can probably pick up on your own.
Congrats on going for open water!
Now regarding digital or physical cards. I prefer a plastic card personally but I don’t have one yet. I only have a digital one from PADI (Open water) got certified a few months ago. Now my question is, can I Print a copy of my digital card and laminate it? will that suffice as a physical card? (Cost effective) only because physical cards are expensive.. Or do I need to actually buy a physical card if I want one?
I’d say printing and laminating is perfectly fine to be honest
Good to know, not trying to cheat the system necessarily but if it will truly be accepted as a physical copy that would be great. Unless Ofcourse I wanted a really cool design on my card then I’ll buy one. But right now if I can just print my digital one and that would be accepted as a physical card that would be awesome
@ryanball4799 yeah they just need to know the numbers basically and/or will just look it up. Having the physical card/printout is nice but not always needed
Agree and don’t agree…. It’s not a complete course on its own… could be added with drift diving, DSMB to make one course. Example on a boat the during the dive the sea started having larger waves. One diver couldn’t get on the boat because they didn’t understand sea swells and the rise and drop of the ladder on the boat and was knocked unconscious by the ladder. Was the divers first boat dive. Agree as a single not needed… all my drift and multi-level diving has been boat and DSMB is useful with drift diving…..
Sounds like the crew didn’t brief y’all properly if that happened with the ladder 😬
Drift diving is not a must but boy... While i was in egypt, the guides are like "jump on my command" when the boat is moving. Imagine not having to go back the same way you started - just come straight to a boat from the beginning ;)
For rebreather, most (should be all), will not sell you a complete rebreather without that specific units certification card.
For example, if you buy a rebreather from me, I will not ship it to you, it’s going to your instructor.
For my students, every night durning the class, I keep a part of your rebreather so you do not have a complete unit until you are fully certified.
That sounds appropriate to me! For PADI's specific rebreather certifications, I wasn't sure if people go after them after they've been certified on a unit or not. I feel like at that level you probably know how to make the decision, but I would recommend it versus not to err on more training isn't ever bad. Regardless I knew you definitely had to be certified on the unit first, just wasn't sure on the agency certs for this video's purpose of ranking specialties.
Eh... if you can't trust them overnight, I'm not sure that is someone that should be trusted with a CCR at all. I can understand if you have a period of time between classes where they might get the idea to go dive it, but if they can't control themselves overnight...
Interesting content, especially for me as a beginner diver. Could you tell me who is the instructor from Curacao that you referred to, or is there a video in which you have such recommendations? Thanks
I believe that was for underwater fish ID or naturalist?
The shop is Ocean Encounters, by far the best dive shop I’ve ever gone through. Megan is the instructor that’s a marine biologist
@@CircleHScuba awesome, thanks a lot. just returned from Curacao, but next time will be sure to check out Ocean Encounters & Megan.
@Alex-xf8pl it’s an awesome group. Jeremiah is the owner and Pol is the head manager still I believe.
Guys listen up i just bought a new drysuit as a new drysuit diver. i did a dive in a 5 meter deep pool and i got told multiple things to know such as sqeeuz and how to inflate and deflate. he said my trim was perfect for a new drysuit diver i new most of the things i just gotta make dives in the open water. so i went diving without specalt with a experienced drysuit diver 2 years experience. He said that i should train on deflating my air out of my suit which should go easy. That was the only thing should i still do the certification since its allot of money?
Are you aware of all the emergency procedures? For example, what do you do if you invert underwater, your feet pop out of your boots and you are now head down in the water without being able to use your fins?
I’d get certified, yes. As Tobias said, there are emergency procedures that you should learn and practice, and doing that with someone who’s been diving a couple years versus an instructor that can help rescue you is a bit of a difference.
A drysuit is an expensive piece of kit. The class is a small cost in comparison. I get that courses can be costly, but if you’re spending so much on gear, why would you not spend that small percentage of the gear on learning the safety aspects?
@@CircleHScuba that is what my instructor said to me aswel i should train more often because i know everything in terms of safety thats what he said
I think if you “know everything in terms of safety” that’s a pretty bad way to look at things. I’m more a fan of “I’m always learning” type of approaches personally.
I mean, it’s up to you but I would get the certification if I was in your situation.
@@CircleHScuba look i have the same personality net week i am about to have a chat with my instructor to ask if i do need a course if he says that i dive perfect with it than i dont need to but when i did the course that doesnt mean i wil 100% know how to dive with a drysuit practice makes better with or without
Nice to see that you’re feeling better 🤙🤙🤙
Thanks so much! Honestly it was rough recording, had tea off camera. But I’m getting there! Next couple videos may be like that as my voice isn’t lasting with the coughing I’m still doing, but I’m over the flu otherwise! Thanks so much!
Is Cmas brove available in your country?
I’m not sure. I’m in the US, and I’ve heard of CMAS but mostly just online, haha. Never met anyone here in the US with theit cert. why do you ask? 😊
@@CircleHScuba I have just wondered😊
cant wait to watch this👍👍
That’s so kind of you, how did you like it?
what about oceandiver and masterdiver thats non padi
Well, the title says it, haha. I ranked the PADI ones.
I’m a PADI instructor, so I can’t speak too much to the others. Some are similar or have equivalent requirements as PADI ones. Ocean diver I’ve not heard of, master diver I assume is similar to master scuba diver maybe?
Since I’m not an instructor with other agencies, I stuck with PADI link the title says 🤙
What about all the courses that you can take for SSI?
Well, I’m a PADI instructor and this video was for the PADI specialties haha. I could look up the SSI ones but I’m not an instructor there so I don’t feel like I could speak to all of them. Generally every agency offers pretty much the same specialties though, they just give different names sometimes
@@CircleHScuba you know I'm actually thinking about taking extended range once I get comfortable with the max depth that I can go . And that's going to be after my nitrox course . And then I'm going to take a cave diving course and then a reck diving course and then I'm going to take a dive with all of those incorporated but they're still like two courses that I'm going to have to take but whenever I join the US costs guard they're going to pay for my dry suit and full face mask courses because they're going to give me a full face mask and a dry suit with my name on it:) by the way the max depth that I can go is 60ft and I'm still young but old enough to take SSI
@Raybriernza please do not spam comments about your posts in my community. If you want to make meaningful contributions I appreciate that
That’ll be great GM!
@@CircleHScuba yes but you can call me Gavin because GM stands for my first initials of my first name and my last name okay thank you.
👍😎🇵🇭🤿! Very well said!👍👍
Thanks Joseph!
What about a dive certification agencies tier list?
Ranking like, open water versus advanced versus rescue? Or agencies?
@@CircleHScuba Sorry, that was a typing error on my side, trying to be witty about some agencies. I was amazed when I learnt that PADI rewrote the definition of AOW to limit dives to max depth of 100ft, unless you do another speciality course. I'm "advanced" certified with another agency and could proceed with the particular dive planned for 120ft (130ft being certification max), while my friends who are certified with PADI AOW, but without deep diving speciality, had to sit out. One guy said if he knew this in advance, he'd have trained with NAUI instead.
@epicoutdoor5795 ah ok, yeah the extra deep certification adds the extra depth. I’ve been fine with it personally as I don’t think you need to rush to 130 feet anyway. As it is, people get advanced right after open water and no other diving in between sometimes. I’m ok with an extra class for the last bit of depth just to try to force some diving in there 😅
But also can totally see your point too
@@CircleHScuba I also see your point - first do no harm and protect lifes should always be top priority - but feel this restriction place uneven burden on different people. I'm from South Africa, where AOW costs 125% of the minimum monthly wage. In USA and Australia a basic AOW without liveaboard doesn't even cost half the country's minimum wage. To do OW, AOW and Deep Diving Speciality would require almost three months' salary, or a year's savings if you had to buy also food and pay rent.
You forgot ‘underwater magician’
Distinctive specialties like that will have to be for another video. They’re not official from PADI, they’re from instructors who write their own specialties and then submit them to PADI for approval :)
I do think I’m going to make a video on fun distinctives though!
Informative video, it’s just tooo long…
I agree honestly. So many specialties and I wanted to say something about each but gosh, there’s SO MANY! Haha
The fact that buoyancy training isn’t part of open water cert is the biggest sham I have ever seen.
You do have it in the standards, but there’s not a full class dedicated to it. Depending on the instructor (usually the shop too), they may take a lot of time in open water or less. Usually due to the cost of class being lower, people keep classes shorter too, and agreed - it’s a shame
No Turkish subtitles?
Sorry, I normally subtitle all of my videos and then use translation software to translate to about 25+ languages but this one is so long I had trouble with it.
what ON EARTH is that on 11:10 ??
you need to fix ur sidemount wing as ASAP.
Yeah, had a bolt back out at the top. Fixed it after that dive 😢
Sorry, the most worthless HAS to be “boat diver” certification. While my certification class in the 80s included multi level, refreshing on it could hold value. And checking that your computer is giving you sane information seems to have value. But boat diving?? that has to be a worthless class.
Definitely not worthwhile lol. Multi level, today, is the most worthless imo
Dsmb deployment
Some people learn and dive I places with purely shore diving... But even then, I'm sure you can find a DM that will brief you and supervise you for a dive or two.
I agree. I’m semi-new. 52 dives in the 1st 52 weeks (just marked my 1st year anniversary 🎉) & all but 4 were from boat, many with same boat/crew/DM and they always go through instruction & check our gear/gas just before releasing us to our big stride, or back plunge.
I can’t think of anything else that might be in boat dive, except maybe the ‘ok’ signal once above water to boat kinda thing, or how tag lines are used… or possibly getting fins off to pass up or how to secure.
I’ve been SSI until now, though & it isn’t offered (that I’m aware of 😬🤔).
Next month we go to the keys and are working on our 1st PADI course~ Deep Dive. Working on the online coursework for our trip now & will finish once in the keys (going through Conch Republic this trip).
I feel like the variety offered through PADI is good for people like us that like to do the wet part of coursework on trips & PADI is everywhere!!
Hey buddy, here's some constructive advice in regards to your audio. The "S" sound is terrible. You need to put some serious time in to fix the issue. It's irritating to say the list. I watched the first three minutes of the video, but I couldn't take it any longer, I had to cut it short. Good info, though. Wish i could hear the rest of the video without that piercing "S" sound. Good luck.
Ah wow in all the videos I’ve done no one has said that. Thanks, I wonder if my newest videos have that problem?
Okay i'm disagreeing with a lot of what you're saying so far
Please feel free to share your opinion, I’m open to opinions :)
What are you disagreeing with or what suggestions would you have?
Why in every footage you see divers with snorkels? if you really want one, put it in your BCD, but hell no, don't put it on your mask while diving. There is no other sign than sais "I am a PADI fanboy" or "I just did my OWD".
I’m pretty certain just about every major agency requires them for open water, so not sure where the “PADI Fanboy” comes from 🤣
I mean, really unless you’re told otherwise, you learn to have one in open water with every major agency so unless you’re taught to remove it or decide to on your own, you’d probably have one?
I see mixed groups regularly on dive trips with some have snorkels some not, some with snorkels and hundreds of logged dives, some without and only 10 dives. I think it’s just a choice you make. I personally prefer no snorkel and one in my pocket.
This kind of response bothers me though because I think people get too judgemental about gear config when it’s not that big of a deal for normal recreational diving.
I stopped using mine as soon as I finished my ow. Had to buy one when I started my dm. Only used it assisting on confined water
Master scuba diver is not a core class
It’s not a specialty class per PADI, that’s why I didn’t put it into the list and said it’s part of that core tree, in which their flow chart does put it at the last stop for recreational diving before moving to tec or pro levels
Great vid! Getting controversial at 10k 😅🫠
Big feels on the lake Travis comment. Nice use of “beer can” instead of “adult toy”
🤣🤣🤣
Only true Lake Travis divers know the island I’m talking about 😂
Easter egg shoutout to where I was certified!
Pay And Dive Immediately
That’s one I haven’t heard yet. Usually we say “Put Another Dollar In” haha