Can you do them back to back just like PADI OW and AOW?

Hi Trace,

Although I have an IANTD trimix certification, I'm not sure it's all
that important. By comparison, most of what I've learned that is worth
knowing, I've learned from GUE training. Doing the IANTD trimix class
was mainly just a matter of doing the dives.

This is only my opinion of course, but I honestly think that, for
someone as experienced as yourself, doing trimix 1 and trimix 2 is a
waste of time and money. There is nothing particularly hard about
these courses *if* you have excellent buoyancy skills.

I did IANTD trimix (trimix 2) about a 1-1/2 years after I completed
GUE Cave 2 / NSS-CDS full cave and my trimix instructor accepted this
as equivalent training. So fortunately, I was able to skip a whole
bunch of unnecessary intermediate steps.

In the IANTD trimix class we mixed gas everyday and did the dives, so
it was good experience, but I really learned to dive from GUE.

Having watched a couple of Tech 1 classes, I would say, almost
universally, that GUE is teaching the stuff that the other agencies
are not, and, on the whole, it is the really the important stuff. GUE
tech training focuses on the skills and procedures, not the gases,
which, in my opinion, is how it should be. Other agencies focus
unnecessarily on the gasses, while GUE completely simplifies and
demystifies this, again as it should be in my view. There is nothing
particularly difficult or complicated about using helium.

If you are going to take Tech 1 with Andrew, Bob Sherwood and MHK, and
you take this training to heart at all, unless you know a really
exceptional trimix instructor for any other agency, I think you are
going to be very disappointed. Other agencies tech programs just don't
compare. Of course it's your money and time.

Frankly, I wouldn't worry about having a tech or trimix card. It's
probably not going to be much of an issue. At this level, it's your
skills, knowledge and experience that matter the most.

Best,

-bob