Dumb AOW question

[mala]

two ways of looking at it


1- just do the most convienient dives to get the 30m ticket.


2- do a bit extra to give you a good base for future dives.

the full deep course gives you 40m
the full nav course cant be bad
nitrox is always good
night course is nice because some day dives are pretty dark

and 1 other

i'm not into selling courses just for the fun but every course you do will involve some diving with an instructor and you can only be a better diver because of it



after that ...

dive dive dive

 

[jewelofnile69]

Thanks everyone!

OK, another question then....

If you do the drysuit as one of your 5 specialities, do you HAVE to go on to take a full drysuit course (remember I have no idea what that would entail...is it like a day course...2 days?) to be able to dive dry? (Curious because I did a DUI test dive a few weeks ago and it was pretty neat for a gal living in WI and I was actuall WARM....DH and I are looking to do a bunch of Munising, MI shipwreck dives and you can dive dry with a local outfit there.)

Since diving has slowly become a passion, I'm all about getting in the water so I'm all for taking classes. I also believe in doing things 100% if you are going to do something. So I want to learn and understand all I can. Also, as a married couple with no kids (or intended kids) we have the time and money to spend on this love. I don't want to just be the couple that only does dives 1x per year on vacation.

Bill, thanks....I just hope you don't follow that sentence up with...."but there are dumb people." LOL!!

I appreciate all of the help.

 

[JamesK]

By the way, the knots are: two half hitches; sheet bend; and, bow line. Not hard, but some folks just cannot tie a knot if their life depended on it! Especially at 40F and big stiff gloves on.

Bill

By the way, it was not a dumb question.

Hey, if you can't tie a knot, tie a lot.

 

[mala]

Thanks everyone!

OK, another question then....

If you do the drysuit as one of your 5 specialities, do you HAVE to go on to take a full drysuit course (remember I have no idea what that would entail...is it like a day course...2 days?) to be able to dive dry? (Curious because I did a DUI test dive a few weeks ago and it was pretty neat for a gal living in WI and I was actuall WARM....DH and I are looking to do a bunch of Munising, MI shipwreck dives and you can dive dry with a local outfit there.)

Since diving has slowly become a passion, I'm all about getting in the water so I'm all for taking classes. I also believe in doing things 100% if you are going to do something. So I want to learn and understand all I can. Also, as a married couple with no kids (or intended kids) we have the time and money to spend on this love. I don't want to just be the couple that only does dives 1x per year on vacation.

Bill, thanks....I just hope you don't follow that sentence up with...."but there are dumb people." LOL!!

I appreciate all of the help.

no-the drysuit aow is just the first dive and you dont need to do all the dives as part of the aow.

if you buy a drysuit you need no quals.

if you want to rent then they may ask to see a full drysuit spec card.

 

[jewelofnile69]

Hey, if you can't tie a knot, tie a lot.

Exactly. Lucky for me I already know those knots inside and out!

no-the drysuit aow is just the first dive and you dont need to do all the dives as part of the aow.

if you buy a drysuit you need no quals.

if you want to rent then they may ask to see a full drysuit spec card.

Thanks!!!

 

[Hawkwood]

Thanks everyone!

OK, another question then....

If you do the drysuit as one of your 5 specialities, do you HAVE to go on to take a full drysuit course (remember I have no idea what that would entail...is it like a day course...2 days?) to be able to dive dry? (Curious because I did a DUI test dive a few weeks ago and it was pretty neat for a gal living in WI and I was actuall WARM....DH and I are looking to do a bunch of Munising, MI shipwreck dives and you can dive dry with a local outfit there.)

Since diving has slowly become a passion, I'm all about getting in the water so I'm all for taking classes. I also believe in doing things 100% if you are going to do something. So I want to learn and understand all I can. Also, as a married couple with no kids (or intended kids) we have the time and money to spend on this love. I don't want to just be the couple that only does dives 1x per year on vacation.

Bill, thanks....I just hope you don't follow that sentence up with...."but there are dumb people." LOL!!

I appreciate all of the help.

I will just add to what others have said.

Regardless of whether you take the Dry Suit Specialty class, or the Dry Suit Adventure Dive (remember, you now know what the difference is), you will do all of the same class room work (knowledge and video), the same work in the pool, and the same skills in OW. The only "skill" additional to the 2nd dive of the Specialty is to disconnect and connect the dry suit inflator hose underwater. Yup, seems lame, but it is what it is. After that skill is over, a reasonable instructor should give value to your course by working more on buoyancy, etc. with you to fine tune your skills during dive 2.

Some of what you will learn in either way is how to control things in the event the suit "gets away" from you. A good mentor can show you the same tricks, but we don't all have access those folks, hence the instruction.

The classroom portion should add a lot regarding suits, maintenance, etc. to help you in choosing a suit whether renting or purchasing. If you already own your suit...well...hopefully you will get something out of the class regarding maintenance.

Bill

 

[jewelofnile69]

I will just add to what others have said.

Regardless of whether you take the Dry Suit Specialty class, or the Dry Suit Adventure Dive (remember, you now know what the difference is), you will do all of the same class room work (knowledge and video), the same work in the pool, and the same skills in OW. The only "skill" additional to the 2nd dive of the Specialty is to disconnect and connect the dry suit inflator hose underwater. Yup, seems lame, but it is what it is. After that skill is over, a reasonable instructor should give value to your course by working more on buoyancy, etc. with you to fine tune your skills during dive 2.

Some of what you will learn in either way is how to control things in the event the suit "gets away" from you. A good mentor can show you the same tricks, but we don't all have access those folks, hence the instruction.

The classroom portion should add a lot regarding suits, maintenance, etc. to help you in choosing a suit whether renting or purchasing. If you already own your suit...well...hopefully you will get something out of the class regarding maintenance.

Bill

Thanks much, Bill! Great info!


So, we went and signed up for AOW the 2nd weekend in August. So we are set for that. Then we are going to look at a few of the other specialty classes and almost for sure dry suit. We don't have our own but there is definitely a possibility of rental in the near future.

---------- Post added ----------

Here are the dives we'll be doing for our course:

1. Peak Performance Buoyancy
2. Underwater Navigator
3. Search and Recovery Diver
4. Deep Diver
5. Wreck Diver

 

[TSandM]

There aren't too many cards you will/may have to USE in your diving career. The dry suit card is one of them, because if you ever need to rent a dry suit, shops may not agree to do it unless you have the card. (Found that out the hard way, when I ripped a seal on a trip, and the shop wouldn't rent me a dry suit because I got certified in one, and never got the card. They WOULD rent a women's small suit to my husband, though, because he had the card . . . ) Ow, Nitrox, and in some places AOW are the others.

I don't know why your LDS limits the dives they offer, but it may actually be in your best interests. If you look at AOW as skills reinforcement and refinement for the relatively recent OW diver (which is at least how the PADI class is designed), dives like the Peak Performance Buoyancy dive are very useful. Underwater photography probably won't be anywhere near as much, because the brand new OW diver often doesn't have the DIVING skills to take good photographs.

Your list is actually a good one, so long as the "wreck dive" isn't swimming around a 10' dinghy in the bottom of a lake . . .

 

[boulderjohn]

By the way, the knots are: two half hitches; sheet bend; and, bow line. Not hard, but some folks just cannot tie a knot if their life depended on it!

That is astoundingly true.

When i was a teenager, I spent summers working at a Boy Scout camp, where I had to teach those three knots and more. I don't remember ever having any trouble getting a Boy Scout to learn them. In contrast, I have on several occasions spent a simply incomprehensible amount of time teaching those three knots to AOW adult students.

By the way, I am trying hard to remember a time when I have had to tie any of those knots under water except when teaching a class, and i am coming up empty.

 

[jewelofnile69]

There aren't too many cards you will/may have to USE in your diving career. The dry suit card is one of them, because if you ever need to rent a dry suit, shops may not agree to do it unless you have the card. (Found that out the hard way, when I ripped a seal on a trip, and the shop wouldn't rent me a dry suit because I got certified in one, and never got the card. They WOULD rent a women's small suit to my husband, though, because he had the card . . . ) Ow, Nitrox, and in some places AOW are the others.

I don't know why your LDS limits the dives they offer, but it may actually be in your best interests. If you look at AOW as skills reinforcement and refinement for the relatively recent OW diver (which is at least how the PADI class is designed), dives like the Peak Performance Buoyancy dive are very useful. Underwater photography probably won't be anywhere near as much, because the brand new OW diver often doesn't have the DIVING skills to take good photographs.

Your list is actually a good one, so long as the "wreck dive" isn't swimming around a 10' dinghy in the bottom of a lake . . .

When we did our DUI test dive you either had to have a card or go with an instructor...which meant waiting. I would have prefered to have been certified. That sounds like a fun experience you had...not. I shot our LDS a message to find out what the "wreck" is. Most the LDS' around here seem to limit their dives to these 5. The one we are working with said we can request to do others if the entire class wants to (and it looks like it will be our group of friends mainly). But to be honest, I'm ok with these. I'm presonally not a fan of night diving so I'm totally ok with not having that as one.

That is astoundingly true.

When i was a teenager, I spent summers working at a Boy Scout camp, where I had to teach those three knots and more. I don't remember ever having any trouble getting a Boy Scout to learn them. In contrast, I have on several occasions spent a simply incomprehensible amount of time teaching those three knots to AOW adult students.

By the way, I am trying hard to remember a time when I have had to tie any of those knots under water except when teaching a class, and i am coming up empty.

LOL, I figured as much...I just think that part sounds kind of fun. I know those knots very well from rigging and rope bridges in the Army...but I'm worried I won't be able to do them with gloves so I'm going to practice. But you are right, why would you use them unless that is your line of work?

------

Any advice on the 5 dives? Or anything I should specifically be aware of? I've done a few 80-100 foot dives in Bonaire (granted, my bottom time was very minimal mostly exclusive to the Hilma Hooker and Invisibles) but is there something specific involved with this? We should have our materials in about 3-5 days so I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to read up on them. Thanks for all of the responses!