Posted by Chuck Tribolet on January 10, 2003 at 06:59:32:
In Reply to: If you had the chance to do it again, Nitrox, Re-breather, Eanx, Other posted by Art Francis on January 09, 2003 at 19:55:43:
I dive a rebreather for photography, but I would
NOT use one to do the Doria. I'd get proper open
circuit TriMix training. I'd get it from GUE.
Don't dive a rebreather unless you have a real good
reason to dive one. They are expensive, more
maintenance work, and introduce four (SCR) or five
(CCR) new ways to make yourself dead. If you do
get rebreather trained, understand that you are
a born-again newbie starting over from square one,
just out of OW1. Dive that way.
For rebreather instruction, find an instructor
who actually dives that unit on a regular basis.
Esp. on the Dolphin (which is NOT suitable for
the Doria) there are a lot of 10-dive-wonder
rebreather instructors.
Nitrox is a prereq to rebreather. Open circuit
trimix and rebreather are parallel branches on
the education tree and would come back together
as trimix rebreather only after you have a good
deal of experience on both.
I wouldn't do any of this from PADI or NAUI except
Nitrox, and then only of that's what the Nitrox
instructor was affiliated with. The better
Nitrox instructors seem NOT to be afiliated with
PADI or NAUI.
Chuck