ADVANCED CLASS...HERE OR COZUMEL

[Coztick]

I will suggest doing AOW after Cozumel and instead, concentrate on developing the skills you just learned. AOW will get you nothing extra on Coz.

 

[rongoodman]

I would suggest doing a Nitrox course before you go.

 

[Lorenzoid]

If you consider yourself a vacation-only diver--that is, you find your "local" (Colorado?) diving to be too unpleasant or inconvenient--then by all means do your AOW in Cozumel. Sure, it sacrifices some of what would otherwise be enjoyable vacation dives, but if you can't stand to dive locally, why force yourself? It will take roughly two days out of your vacation. If the question is more along the lines of whether it's important to have an AOW cert in Cozumel, the answer is no. The bottom line is to take AOW when and where it's going to be reasonably convenient and enjoyable for you. Remember, scuba diving is supposed to be fun.

 

[halocline]

I don't understand the sentiment of sacrificing vacation dives by doing the course in Cozumel that a few people have posted. If anything, it should make diving on the vacation more fun. If it doesn't, you don't have the right teacher. There are lots of very good and very experienced instructors in Cozumel. You can get recommendations from the Cozumel forum here on SB.

I absolutely agree that you should take the class where you want to dive. If that's not in Colorado, so be it. If you do want to dive at home, it's worth getting some training in the environment that you want to dive in. Whether that's AOW or something else doesn't really matter, maybe a drysuit course at some point?

One other point, PADI designed AOW to immediately follow OW. It's a common statement that divers should wait a while and get more experience before taking it. I'm not sure that's true; I think it varies from individual to individual. With a good instructor, you'll benefit quite a bit in terms of forming good dive habits. If you do decide to take it in Cozumel, I would definitely do it at the beginning of your trip, leaving the rest of the trip to practice what you just learned while it's still fresh.

 

[NorCalDM]

I don't understand the sentiment of sacrificing vacation dives by doing the course in Cozumel that a few people have posted. If anything, it should make diving on the vacation more fun. If it doesn't, you don't have the right teacher.

The reason I wouldn't do it on vacation is I want to just dive and if I'm flying some place for a dive specific vacation I don't want to spend my dive time on five training dives that I can do at home with an instructor that I know.

 

[Neilwood]

Personally, having had the choice of doing AOW on holiday or separately, I would always pick doing it on its own. You can better focus on the skills and learning rather than getting distracted by holiday stuff or the unusual fish etc.

 

[islanddream]

We did our AOW in one day in Cancun since we didn't plan on doing any diving in Arizona where we lived at the time. We did the e-learning at home and completed our skills in Cancun. (We knew an instructor who used to be at a shop in Cancun. We were vacationing in Playa del Carmen with family so it wasn't a difficult issue to get to Cancun.) Because we had been diving for several years prior to doing AOW, we already had done boat dives, night dives, drift dives, etc. We did navigation and a deep dive to complete the requirements for AOW.

We love Cozumel and dive their often. We always stay at The Blue Angel Dive Resort and have gotten to know "Chicago" Matt who is an excellent instructor. If you haven't gotten any recommendations on where to do your AOW in Coz, then you might want to check Matt out. I don't think you can go wrong getting your AOW in Coz. Have fun and enjoy!

 

[scubadada]

Where will you be doing the majority of your diving, local or Caribbean? I might choose to do AOW where you will dive. AOW is only 5 dives, it would not be difficult to fit it into your Cozumel stay and would probalbly minimally affect your dives. I agree, get nitrox ahead of time, class is online and then go to LDS for follow up and analyzing a couple of tanks.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

We did our AOW in one day in Cancun since we didn't plan on doing any diving in Arizona where we lived at the time. We did the e-learning at home and completed our skills in Cancun. (We knew an instructor who used to be at a shop in Cancun. We were vacationing in Playa del Carmen with family so it wasn't a difficult issue to get to Cancun.) Because we had been diving for several years prior to doing AOW, we already had done boat dives, night dives, drift dives, etc. We did navigation and a deep dive to complete the requirements for AOW.

We love Cozumel and dive their often. We always stay at The Blue Angel Dive Resort and have gotten to know "Chicago" Matt who is an excellent instructor. If you haven't gotten any recommendations on where to do your AOW in Coz, then you might want to check Matt out. I don't think you can go wrong getting your AOW in Coz. Have fun and enjoy!

@islanddream. You did 5 training dives in a single day? Under PADI? If so, that is a standards violation, and not a small one.

EDIT: Okay, I reread what you said. You stated you did boat, night dives, drift dives, etc. prior. What instructor signed off on your adventure dives? (boat, night, drift, etc.) This is screaming standards violation and I am hoping I'm misunderstanding you.

 

[jonhall]

So, I just received my OW cert and am very excited. I have an 8 day trip planned to Cozumel in the beginning of April. My question is: since I am going to be paying for dives there already, would it be better to get my advanced while I am there. The other option would be to get it done earlier here in chilly Colorado. Thanks for the help

Same situation with me, although I have been diving for awhile. I never felt the need to get AOW but, now that my dive buddy is back (from a health issue) we plan to get it next month while in Playa del Carmen. Being in Indiana, quarries are a popular dive/training site. As my LDS even suggested, if I plan on diving exclusively in the warm, clear waters of places like the Caribbean, get the AOW there. My feelings exactly!

In the past, I also did not want a "fun" dive on a trip being replaced by a training dive. The dive shop we plan to dive with will do the AOW dives as part of their regular dives. They (Dressel Divers) also are in Coz. They advertise the AOW course being free.

As for book work, I found the online coursework to be a little more expensive than dive shops charged, but see advantages to taking it that way. Haven't decided which way to go about it yet for myself.