a bit nervous after completing OW

[saintsfan]

I think aow is great for a new diver even though some say you should wait until you have more experience.I took mine as soon as I finished my ow and it really made a difference in my comfort level and I wasnt even nervous during ow.I highly recommend navigation even though its basic,deep just to get a feel for what it does to you and night.

Pay attention to what dives you are offered as part of the AOW. Some of them are less useful than others.

Good luck,

MD

 

[Garyra]

I hope this was a figure of speech. You can drown in 2" of water.

MD

Of course...we always left at least a 400 lbs saftey margin.

 

[MechDiver]

<QUOTE>Pay attention to what dives you are offered as part of the AOW. Some of them are less useful than others.
</QUOTE>

Which dives are more useful? I'm thinking the night, deep, drift and u/w navigator ones would be good. Drysuit, too, since a lot of people dive dry around here.

That sounds like a great list, you've done some homework!

Also, the <Quote> works with brackets [ ] and the slash /. To start a quote you would have: bracketQuotebracket and to end: bracket/Quotebracket. I can't show the brackets themselves because it would create the quote itself.

MD

 

[MechDiver]

Of course...we always left at least a 400 lbs saftey margin.

Figured, but some folks here are very literal

 

[CUunderH2O]

Also, the <Quote> works with brackets [ ] and the slash /. To start a quote you would have: bracketQuotebracket and to end: bracket/Quotebracket. I can't show the brackets themselves because it would create the quote itself.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[Web Monkey]

So far, my favorite has been the SSI Stress & Rescue class (about the same as the PADI Rescue Diver class). It teaches how to recognise and deal with stress in yourself and others, which is something you can use all the time. It also teaches how to handle various Bad Situations, including a panicing buddy. You (hopefully) won't need to use this very often, but it's good to know.

Next in order of how valuable they were (to me) is Nitrox, Deep and Wreck.

It's interesting to note that the drysuit class covers the technical aspects of using a drysuit, and describes how to not kill yourself in one, but it took me over a year to get as comfortable in my drysuit as I was in my wetsuit.

Things like the "Deep" class are helpful in that you get to experience diving deep, learn what to expect, and how to handle it, learn about additional risks, technique, equip, etc. while accompanied by an instructior, however as with the drysuit, it's really a practice-and-comfort-level thing, and you still need to do more dives on your own to get comfortable with it.

Terry

<QUOTE>Pay attention to what dives you are offered as part of the AOW. Some of them are less useful than others.
</QUOTE>

Which dives are more useful? I'm thinking the night, deep, drift and u/w navigator ones would be good. Drysuit, too, since a lot of people dive dry around here.

 

[scubatoad]

I mentioned to my instructor (at the last classroom session of the OW course) that I was interested in Nitrox training and he mentioned that I might consider taking the AOW instead, with Nitrox as one of the items, as it would be much more economical and informative than taking a few individual courses ... just a thought.

 

[Nay]

I just finished my AOW and here are my dives and thoughts:

Underwater Naturalist: really just a dive but it did help register in your head that you don't have to swim non-stop and it kind of got us to hover around and really take a good look at what was around.

Underwater Navigation: I think this one is required for the AOW. I didn't enjoy the dive at all but it makes you do skills you need to know. I would actually like to do it again and try it all again. I can do most of those skills on my own but I want to swim the 100' rope again counting kick cycles and timing myself.

Night Dive: I'd already done one with my DM, but it's good to do in a supervised setting to see how you'll do.

Deep Dive: Most amazing dive of my life! Again, something you can technically do on your own but I waited to do it in a supervised setting in case anything went wrong. Loved the dive!

Wreck Dive: We were supposed to do a Search & Recovery but changed it at the last minute. It was a fun dive, easy dive poking around wrecks in fairly shallow water. I really enjoyed watching a Garibaldi tell my husband whose ocean it was.

In the scope of dive training, AOW is like OW II, but for a fairly new diver, it's great because it's a lot less stressful than OW and you can just enjoy diving and trying new things.

Happy Diving

 

[Nay]

I mentioned to my instructor (at the last classroom session of the OW course) that I was interested in Nitrox training and he mentioned that I might consider taking the AOW instead, with Nitrox as one of the items, as it would be much more economical and informative than taking a few individual courses ... just a thought.

I'm waiting on Nitrox until I can get my breathing rate under better control that it would actually extend my down time. Right now I go thru a tank faster than any no-deco time. Will be taking it though.

 

[CUunderH2O]

Nitrox isn't in the list of options for the AOW cert (http://www.padi.com/english/common/courses/rec/continue/aow.asp), but I'm sure your LDS would be able to add it if there was enough interest. I'm thinking the U/W Photographer would be good; I wanted the Peak Performance Buoyancy, but from what I heard you learn a lot about good buoyancy skills in the photo class.