You're a diver now - what's next?

Congratulations! You have passed your Open Water Diver course!

What's next after getting your diving certification?

Getting your diving certification is a bit like getting your driver's license - you're allowed to drive, but you're not perfect yet. You definitely need practice. Before your next course, you should complete at least 20 dives so that you can apply the skills learned in the OWD course, become more confident, and truly enjoy diving.

What dive training opportunities does Tauchsport Pape offer?

• Equipment Rental
• WhatsApp group "Buddylist" to find a dive buddy Inquiry
• Open Pool for independent practice of your diving skills
• Excursions and Dive Trips for all diving levels
• Refresher Courses (If you haven't dived in a long time)
• TSP Dive Team Our dive club offers many exclusive training opportunities and discounts on educational materials and equipment purchases
• Dive Insurance with Aqua med, highly recommended for diving.

Is it sensible to take many dive courses?

Your dive school and instructor might tell you that taking many dive courses and getting certifications will make you a better diver...but unfortunately, that's wrong. It's much more sensible to gain experience, stay active, and then gradually further your education.

Which next dive courses are recommended?

• Perfect Buoyancy (not absolutely necessary but often very helpful)
• Nitrox Diver
• Advanced Open Water Diver
• Deep Diver

With these, you will have all the necessary certifications you need to go diving. If you also complete 100 or more dives, you can dive anywhere in recreational diving.

If you would like to dive with us in cold water or year-round in our lakes, then a cold water configuration (2 separate first stages and a cylinder with a double valve (risk of freezing) and a dry suit is the right choice for you. The topic of dry suits is vast. Initially, or if you are not entirely sure how many cold water dives you want to do, a solid entry-level model, e.g., a suit from Dive System, is sufficient. If you are a passionate cold water enthusiast, then perhaps the Argonaut dry suit from 4th Element is right for you, custom-made and durable. When choosing a dry suit, the saying "buy cheap, buy twice" applies particularly strongly. There are many dry suits on the market with machine-applied seams or cheap plastic zippers that become leaky after only 10-100 dives. If you are unsure, we can show you various models, as well as undersuits and heating systems, so you can make an informed decision.

An introduction and a pool dive are included with a dry suit purchase from us, except for special offers. If you want to delve deeper into the topic, then a dry suit course is recommended. We also offer this without certification, because a certification card is not absolutely necessary.

You are an experienced recreational diver - what's next?

Most recreational divers are content with reaching these levels and doing no-decompression recreational dives, whether on vacation or in our lakes in summer.

Specialty courses sensible or just a money grab?

That depends on you. If you are interested in a specific topic, such as night diving, underwater photography, solo diving, photogrammetry, gas blending, or search and recovery, etc., you can find a lot of information (false or correct) on the internet, or you can book a course on a topic that interests you and learn something from your instructor. 

Nevertheless, there are a few specialty courses that are very informative for divers who want to learn more:

• Science of Diving
• Equipment Techniques/Equipment specialist
• Wreck Diver
• Photo & Video
• Night Diver
• Sidemount Diver

What is a Rescue Diver good for?

The Rescue Diver is a great addition to increase your safety and the safety of your buddies. If you want to pursue a career as a dive professional, it is a necessary step.

I want to become a dive professional, what's the right path?

First, the Dive Guide / Divemaster is on the agenda. As a certified assistant, you can join the Tauchsport Pape team and help with the training of recreational divers, lead dives, and gain your first experiences.

At the next stage, Assistant Instructor, you can already teach some dive courses and take over and help shape large parts of entry-level training.

By achieving the Instructor rating, you can train yourself and complete further Instructor training, e.g., Specialties Instructor or perhaps also Freediving Instructor, etc.

How do I expand the boundaries of recreational diving?

Even as an experienced and highly certified recreational diver or even an Instructor, you have not reached the end of what is possible. Recreational divers usually operate in sunlit tropical seas at depths typically up to 20 or 25 meters.

However, diving is also possible in other places and can be very exciting, for example, if you are the first diver to explore a wreck or the first person deep underground in an underwater cave, or exploring an old mine. Such diving is called "technical diving" or Tec diving. This is possible with good training and proper practice with an experienced Tec Instructor, who should also be a skilled technical diver themselves.

The beginning is usually the Essentials Diver course. This 3-4 day course is not only interesting for aspiring Tec divers but also for recreational divers who want to improve their skills, such as learning to trim precisely, move efficiently underwater, swim backward, hover in place, and turn in place. 

Only a diver who can move safely, precisely, and efficiently underwater is well prepared for a technical diving course (at least, that's how technical diving organizations see it).

The entry into actual Tec diving is the Advanced Nitrox diver course, where you learn to plan and execute decompression dives up to 45 meters and use Nitrox and oxygen for accelerated decompression. This is the so-called Tec-Lite Level.

Next up is Trimix diving, which involves working with gas mixtures that, in addition to oxygen and nitrogen, also contain helium as a third gas, which is essential for deep dives.

The next possible and sensible branch is towards Rebreather diving, which allows for longer, deeper dives and a much more efficient and therefore healthier decompression.

The supreme discipline of technical diving is certainly cave diving or mine diving. When done professionally, this has nothing to do with recreational diving; special equipment and training are necessary, as well as years of experience, especially that of your instructor.

Technical diving in general is a matter of training, practice, discipline, experience, and the right attitude - which we impart in these courses.