Combined AOW/Nitrox/CPR/Rescue/DanO2 Course

[texarkandy]

Being only OW Cert & having no dive shop in my local area, I've been getting the idea lately it would sure be nice to be able get all this training in one shot, esp. as I plan to get it all eventually anyway - even if it took two or three weeks -

Is there any reason this would be a bad idea?

[Bigg_Budd]

Dude... do you have a lot of free time? That would be an EPIC class. Probably 800 pages of text, 7 days of classroom, and about 10 checkout dives. Not to mention the rescue scenarios. You'd need to sleep for 3 days to recover.

In all seriousness, AOW needs to be taken seperate from Rescue. They are both courses that require your full attention. Especially Rescue...

I'm pretty sure Rescue/CPR/Dan O2 can be taken together, if you have a shop that's certified to train in all areas.

[texarkandy]

Well, Bud -
I wouldn't expect all the class material presented consecutively & then all the in-water consecutive - the courses would be presented one at a time - a person would just take the time off & sign up to do the whole thing -

I'm guessing there's quite a bit of the reading that could be done up front before the class begins.

I don't know exactly, but maybe something like:

Day 1: AOW Class
Day 2: AOW Dives
Day 3: AOW Dives
Day 4: Nitrox & CPR
Day 5: Rescue Class
Day 6: Rescue Class
Day 7: Rescue Pool
Day 8: Rescue Pool
Day 9: 02 Provider
Day 10: Rescue Open Water
Day 11: Rescue Open Water

Maybe with a day or two off in there somewhere for rest/reading?

As to time off - I am fortunately in a position where I could make the time off (& might even be given it by my employer) - it would be worth it for the convenience of getting all the training done without interruption

(No, I'm not a cert card collector or intending to go into Scuba as a profession - I have a personal reason I want this training/knowledge)

It would be worth it to me to just do it all in two or three weeks rather than making multiple trips 150+ miles (one way) over the whole spring/summer.

Perhaps there are others out there like me who could make the time & for whom it would be worth it?

(I suppose I could get with a shop to do it privately, but that would cost a fortune for just myself rather than a class)

[WaScubaDude]

A private instructor may be the way to go as 1 student taking all these classes would be good money. A shop instructor has to pay a cut to the shop, or visi-versa.

[Damselfish]

It's somewhat common to combine Nitrox and AOW. It's also somewhat common to schedule Medic First Aid and Rescue together, but perhaps you could find suitable CPR/First Aid classes locally someplace other than a dive shop and take care of that at home. You will generally do a lot of the reading before the class, so that's not so much of an issue (at least timewise) but it's a lot to absorb. "Classroom" for AOW and Nitrox tends to be pretty light. AOW dives will probably, for better or worse, not be overly trying if your skills are in reasonable shape at this point (?). Rescue is a bunch more work between class/pool/dives and you really want to be confortable in the water and with your bouyancy control. Some time to sleep would indeed be good.

One concern would be how well you'd absorb all the material crammed into a short time. I'm sure you'd "pass", but there's much to be said for giving stuff time to soak in so you actually remember it. The other problem might be scheduling. If you are thinking of a trip to some major dive area, you can often get any class they offer pretty much any time or at least within a few days (since they are catering a lot to people there for a week) so it might be easier to compact things. But if you are simply thinking of going to some typical LDS and staying in the area, it will be much harder to do that. Most LDSs schedule classes around peoples work schedules so a lot will be offered on the weekends, with maybe a night or 2 during the week - just because you can take the time off, most other people can't. Most instructors teaching locally also have day jobs, another reason classes are scheduled this way. And unless a place has their own pool they have to work around when they can get pool time. So you'd have to get extremely lucky finding a place that has all this scheduled convieniently, or get a private class for at least part of it. Maybe arrange for a private AOW before a scheduled Rescue class.

[texdiveguy]

I once observed a young fellow come into our LDS , cut a deal and in 3 months go from O/W through O/W Instructor.... lots of silly bounce dives and 20 minute long certf. dives,,pretty much a joke!

In the case of the OP in this thread what you are asking is possible with the right instructor and schd..

[texarkandy]

Originally Posted by Damselfish

...... The other problem might be scheduling. If you are thinking of a trip to some major dive area,

Not anytime soon - unless East/Central Texas & Central Arkansas a "major dive area"

[texarkandy]

Originally Posted by texdiveguy

I once observed a young fellow come into our LDS , cut a deal and in 3 months go from O/W through O/W Instructor.... lots of silly bounce dives and 20 minute long certf. dives,,pretty much a joke!

In the case of the OP in this thread what you are asking is possible with the right instructor and schd..

Not interested in instructing (or collecting cards), but was wondering if there was any reason why doing AOW/Nitrox followed quickly by Rescue/O2 would not be advisable.

[texarkandy]

Originally Posted by Damselfish

Rescue is a bunch more work between class/pool/dives and you really want to be confortable in the water and with your bouyancy control. Some time to sleep would indeed be good.

What work is there between class, pool, & dives in Rescue? Is there reading in-between?

Good point on the bouyancy control - mine's pretty fair - how good should it be before taking Rescue?

Originally Posted by Damselfish

One concern would be how well you'd absorb all the material crammed into a short time. I'm sure you'd "pass", but there's much to be said for giving stuff time to soak in so you actually remember it.

Having taken quite a few "courses" in my life, I've personally found the "intensive" ones tend to stick better - where you focus 24/7 on the subject/activity - maybe that's just me though.

Originally Posted by Damselfish

Most LDSs schedule classes around peoples work schedules so a lot will be offered on the weekends, with maybe a night or 2 during the week - just because you can take the time off, most other people can't.

I was thinking possibly such a class could be put together with college students, teachers with the summer off (if there is such a thing anymore!), people with liberal/flexible time-off policies like me, and maybe the "independently wealthy"

Originally Posted by Damselfish

Most instructors teaching locally also have day jobs, another reason classes are scheduled this way.

Yeah, I'm guessing this is probably also a big reason such a major course is not available.

Originally Posted by Damselfish

Maybe arrange for a private AOW before a scheduled Rescue class.

Realistically, I'll probably try to arrange for an AOW/Nitrox course & then a Rescue/O2 course

[No Misses]

There are several "Career Developement" Dive training operations. One of them is Pro Dive, in Fort Lauderdale. Thier training schedule looks like what you want. Here is the link to the schedule http://www.prodiveusa.com/2008forms/2008schedule2.jpg