Offshore

I am currently an avid, although less active than I'd like, OC diver who is looking to slowly "dip my toes" into rebreather diving. I must admit that a large portion of this interest is pure academic / experiential curiosity; I have always loved science and technology and would love to learn more about how rebreathers work and have the option to dive them with their own advantages. Right now I am accepting it will be a good amount of time before I even think about investing in a CCR and training, mostly because I do not see being able dive a CCR often enough in the near future to make the investment worthwhile or to be able to be able to do the dives of dives that I currently do comfortably on OC.

Meanwhile, I had a thought about possibly taking a step in the right direction by looking for a course on the Draeger Dolphin, which seems to be a popular enough unit to be available for use / rental in several locations (please correct me if I'm wrong), and even have a PADI course covering them (although I'd likely consider a course by IANTD if it's more thorough and easier to find an instructor in the NYC area).

I know in its own right that the Dolphin only has a fraction of the advantages that a CCR would have over OC, but wonder if starting with this simple step will be a good way to learn and possibly practice a few rebreather skills and have an additional option for how to dive in places I travel that may have a Dolphin available for hire? The optimist in me even thinks that I may learn to like diving a Dolphin in its own right (much like how I originally took a cave diving course just to be a better diver, but ended up loving cave diving in its own right), most likely as a quieter way of doing shallower reef dives.

What might be some advantages and disadvantages to this approach? (Besides the obvious "if I'm not going to own a unit and dive it at least once an X, why bother?") Is there much I would learn and enjoy in the Dolphin course that I may not have already picked up by reading Bozanic's book (which I found quite educational) or by going to local pool demos of CCRs (which gave me a sample of the "silent and free" feel of Rebreather diving that differs from OC, but does teach me enough to certify my use on any kind of RB anywhere and leaves me curious to learn much, much more).

Is there any kind of SCR or CCR training that might also meet this ease of "learn it, and many places you may go you can rent it" infrastructure that seems available to recreational vacation divers, or is even the Dolphin something that only makes sense to learn if you will own and frequently dive it?