Tek diving - which agency

[James Price]

Hi

  I am looking into moving towards gaining some tek diving qualifications, currently I am certified to dive to 40m and use nitrox from 21% upto 40% through padi ( rescue diver ) . My main reasons are that I would like to use staged decompression and use higher nitrox blends for these deco stops, I like wreck diving and so these along with advanced wreck skills and possibly a deeper depth rating would help me get the most out of my diving. But I cannot decide which agency would suit me better as both tdi and iantd offer courses which cover these things, later I would want to progress onto using a rebreather ( probably inspiration ) though again this can be gained through either, is there anyone out there with any feelings on the subject ? If so any help would be apreciated.
  I know there is also DSAT though it seems a little more limited in the choice of courses on offer.

thanks
James

[Juz]

<font color='#32CD32'>In my opinion, and I'm sure most would agree, the agency is far less important than the instructor.

I'd suggest you speak to people who are local to you to find out who they used - there must be some on here.

Me - I'm South so can't help. I'm told Andy (Dalesdiver) is very very good - only ever heard good things in fact.

Juz

[Conor]

Hi

I'm curious which cert has got you the 40M max depth, is that from the EANx course? or have you done Deep as well?

Honestly just curious as I'm in a similar position myself (in fact doing my TDI basic Nitrox on Thrusday).

Cheers

Conor

[James Price]

I have 5 specialities including nitrox, deep and wreck, the deep speciality takes me to 40m, I have spoken to a centre near me that conducts tdi training and have been told as I have padi nitrox then they would accept that as equivelent to the tdi basic nitrox, so I could move straight onto the advanced nitrox course if I wished. Just thought I would mention - you said you had similar qualifications to me and were about to take the tdi basic nitrox ( might save you some hassle )

[Conor]

Thanks for that.

Similar, but not the same , opted to do the TDI Nitrox course instead of the PADI. All I can say about TDI is that I like the style of their manuals so far, but I think most on this board will say that its the quality of the instructor (not the agency) that determines which is the better line to follow.

Good luck

Conor

[James Price]

I totally accept that, I had a very good instructor throughout most of my padi training and it made the whole thing a lot more enjoyable.
&nbsp; I think what I am looking for is not only the quality of the courses but also where they are recognized, I just came back from a diving trip to key largo in Florida and over there it seemed that IANTD was known everywhere but if you mentioned TDI then you were greated with confused looks in some places, do you what I mean ?

[Fathoms Down]

I went the TDI route myself &nbsp;

One piece of advice I would give is if you want to do staged deco then do the Advanced Nitrox and Deco Procedures courses together as not only will this save you money but doing one without the other is pretty pointless &nbsp;

[Finless]

I am sure people get too fixed on the &quot;certified max depth&quot; - your experience and actual diving is what should be determining what your max depth is and not a cert card.

For example, as I got more experienced and started diving a bit deeper I found I was pushing my safety margins diving a 15+pony and so moved to a twin set. Then I found that to get any bottom time I needed to do some deco and so I started looking at adv nitrox and deco courses.

It just sounds as if there is a tendancy to let your diving be lead by the cert level rather than finding the diving you are getting into warrants more skills than you have.

Also, ta for the chance for me to talk abt me again - one subject I love.  

[Conor]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (jam56 @ Mar. 29 2004,16:04)]  I think what I am looking for is not only the quality of the courses but also where they are recognized,

I see your point.

THe more experienced guys will give you an official answer, but I guess my 2p would be that, although they may not know a particular agency, they will be able to find out the equivalence of your qualifications quite easily. Its probably best to get the best training you can....don't know if that makes sense?

[Conor]

Finless,

good points, I think I agree that the diving you are doing should determine the training you require, but I think we were just discussing what the certs were, rather than the motivations behind doing them, if that makes sense?