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Ed writes:

>I got certified 2 years ago and have been diving since then, with the
>exception of the winters that are pretty harsh here in the 
>Northeast.  Most of my diving has been in Florida and in the Caribbean.  
...
>So I have decided to take up new challenges and become a better diver.  >As
part of that Iill be diving more often in NJ and NY (the colder the >water,
the higher the seas... the better *grin*). Iill be taking a Nitrox >course in
April.  Then, may be by the end of the year, Trimix.

Two cents worth  - there's lots of great wreck diving in NY and NJ, and to do
it safely requires mastering some specialized gear, such as drysuits, double
tanks, reels and lights, uplines, and techniques, such as wreck penetration,
decompression, etc.  You need to be very comfortable with this before diving
deep, either on air or on mixed gas.  In the case of air, you will be narced
when you start to go deep, and you will rapidly lose the ability to deal with
unfamiliar equipment, or with skills which you haven't learned until they are
almost instinctive.  In the case of gas, there is a lot of extra equipment to
deal with and relatively little margin for error in planning and execution, so
skills that are not overlearned are likely to suffer when task loaded.  Either
way, you should have mastered basic wreck diving skills before progressing to
deep air or gas.

I'd suggest doing fifty or so wreck dives in full wreck gear just to get used
to all the equipment (a good rule is never to dive with more than one new
piece of gear).  Taking a wreck course here can help.  Then start to work your
way into deep and decompression diving.  At this point a deep air and
technical nitrox course can improve your decompression safety and get you
through your first deep dives under supervision.  Then spend a season or two
(and a hundred or so dives) mastering these skills.  There are plenty of
wrecks in the 130-200 fsw range to practice on - you won't be bored!   Once
you are really comfortable with decompression and deep diving procedures, and
if you still want to go deeper, consider trimix.  

By the way, although I have criticized IANTD on this forum, I think they do
offer excellent training courses.  You as a customer are responsible for
ensuring that you get the most out of your training.  I suggest that the best
way to do this is to master the skills of each level of training before
proceeding on to the next, and to use technology which is appropriate for the
level of diving you are doing.  You may not be unsafe if you jump right into
trimix (assuming you have the minimum qualifications), but you will be safer -
and get more out of the course - if you spend a year or so mastering tech
nitrox and decompression diving skills.  

John
Heimannj@ma*.nd*.gt*.co*

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