Advanced OW, before or during a liveaboard trip? And two other liveaboard questions on the GBR.

[Murilo Scarpa Sitonio]

Hey everybody! I would like to thank in advance those who help me with these questions.


Between the months of December and February I'm going to do a backpacking trip in Australia and I intend to dive on the GBR.

I've never scuba dived, but I live in a city with several beaches, and my idea is to take an OW course such some other dives to get with as much experience as possible in Australia. With that said, some questions arose:

1) Which liveaboard do you recommend for someone with little experience: a) Pro Dive (in the Outer Reef - 3 Day Great Barrier Reef Liveaboard Dive Trip Cairns - Pro Dive Cairns Scuba Diving - Australia) in Cairns or b) Adrenalin (3 Day 3 Night Eco Liveaboard - Adrenalin Snokel and Dive) in Townsville? I think I will go with Pro Dive, because I have read in some places that the Yongala dive site is recommended only for experienced divers. I'm travelling on a budget so I did not consider the Cod Hole nor the Coral Sea, but I'm open to other suggestions.

2) At some point or another, I'm going to do the AOW too and I thought about taking the course in this liveaboard, because it would come much cheaper. Do you guys find an interesting option or do you think it will make liveaboard less fun?

3) I also read in some places on the internet that if you have more time and manage to negotiate the liveaboard direct in the city (rather than booking in advance on the internet), you are likely to find cheaper prices. This is true? Or how often can you find such cheaper prices? I'm afraid to get in town and find no liveaboard available in a couple of days.

Thank you very much!

 

[Kimela]

Speaking to question #2, if you can get the AOW cheaper then I'd go for it with a very important caveat - just because you have the AOW certification doesn't mean that you have the experience that one assumes goes with an "advanced" certification in anything. Doing the dives that go with the certification instruction is great experience. You'll learn something with every dive, and even more with a good instructor to watch and evaluate your buoyancy and skills. Just please, please, please use caution and resist the urge to let that AOW c-card tell you you're ready for more than you really may be.

 

[MargaritaMike]

Just please, please, please use caution and resist the urge to let that AOW c-card tell you you're ready for more than you really may be.

What she said.

Cheers - M²

 

[WetPup]

1. Yongala is deeper than what an OW certification technically allows. The dive shop will require you to complete a deep dive with an instructor if you want to dive on the wreck. It will cost a bit extra, but would allow you to dive on the wreck. The conditions on the wreck can be really hit and miss. Sometimes it's a really easy dive, sometimes there can be a ripping current. Unless you think you'd be comfortable in a strong current, I'd suggest that it may be worth holding off on diving the Yongala. I personally think that the Yongala is a better dive than the places that Pro Dive visits, but the Pro Dive sites would probably be more suitable for your experience level. You need to make that judgement call for yourself.

2. You can do your AOW on the Yongala liveaboard. They always have an instructor on board (the captain of the boat is an instructor, so he doubles up sometimes if necessary).

3. You can sometimes find cheaper prices for the Yongala liveaboard a couple of days out if they're struggling to make minimum numbers. That being said, if you try that and they still don't make numbers, the trip won't run. That's a risk you have to take, and it does happen.

 

[Murilo Scarpa Sitonio]

I appreciate the caveat!

So you guys think that it is an interesting option do the AOW course during this liveaboard?

And what about the other questions, any advices (if you have been in the GBR)?

 

[Ricardo V.]

Murilo,
I would recommend you get certified first, then the answers to your questions will all resolve by them selves.

Do your research, find a good dive shop, sign up with an instructor that can help you and just get properly certified. Once you go through that experience and provided you enjoyed it, go practice some more and then, the answers to your questions will come to you... just like that.

Cheers,

Ricardo

 

[stuartv]

Personally, if I have the option to do training in advance of a vacation, I will. I would rather use my vacation time to do the dives I want to do rather than doing training dives.

There are, naturally, factors that would influence that plan. For example, if the diving where I lived was too inconvenient, I might wait and do the training during the vacation.

In your case (the OP), it sounds like you live where diving is convenient and at least somewhat comparable to the diving you'd do on vacation. If that is the case and it were me, I would do my OW at home. I would try to get a few dives in at home. I would research the local options for my AOW course to find an instructor that I think would do a good job. Your experience taking your OW course should help with that. Then, I would do AOW at home before going on vacation.

Doing it at home gives you the opportunity to "do it right". You're not rushing through anything because you have limited time to get through the classroom parts during your liveaboard schedule. You're not using vacation time for training dives. And your selection of an instructor is not forced upon you by your liveaboard's staff roster.

And, you might learn some stuff during AOW that will provoke you to buy or change some of your gear. Doing it at home means you then have time to get yourself and your gear totally sorted out so that when you get on the liveaboard you can be diving well and safely and doing the dives you want to do right from the start, instead of spending dives doing training, mucking around with getting your weighting sorted out, etc..

Personally, I would also go ahead and take a Nitrox class before the liveaboard so that, if your liveaboard offers Nitrox, you can take advantage of its benefits.

Prepare well and in advance, and THEN go diving on vacation. Don't let lower prices lure you into accepting lower quality (of instruction or of vacation time). That's what I prefer to do, anyway. YMMV.

 

[jlcnuke]

I did my AOW course in Florida, while visiting there for work. It went like this:
Enroll in class. Get book. Do bookwork. Prepare for classroom portion and first three dives weekend #1 and last two dives on the boat weekend #2.
Weather makes diving weekend #1 a no-go. Reschedule classroom for weekend #2 Saturday and dives 1-3 Sunday, last two dives on the boat weekend #3.
Weather screws up weekend #2 diving. Reschedule classroom for weekend #3 Sunday morning and dives 1-3 Sunday afternoon, with last two dives on the boat weekend #4.
Do classroom and first three dives weekend #3.
Weather results in small craft advisory, cancelling boat dives weekend #4. Weekend #4 being the weekend following the end of my work trip in the area. Thus, I had that weekend to get it done or I was paying for another trip down there by myself to finish it up. As a result, ended up doing the last two dives in springs instead of off the boat (with fish identification replacing wreck for my last dive). I would have much rather done the deeper diving (went over 60, but not to the 90 ft dive sites the boat could have taken us to) and wreck diving personally.


All this is to say: what happens if you're halfway through the course and something messes it up while on vacation? I'd now prefer to do classes where I'm relatively assured there is little/no chance that a delay would be a major inconvenience.

 

[Aquapro Dive Services]

I agree with Murilo. First get your OW, and the best way to do this is take the theory and confined water in your home town prior to coming to Oz. Then take your 4 OW training dives here. This is called a referral and you can do a 3 day 2 night here in Cairns on any of the live aboards to complete your OW course.

You can then chose to stay on board and take your Advanced. Otherwise take them both together as full courses. Lots of options. PM me is easiest if you want a bit of advise as whats available in Cairns (e.g. E-learning, referrals etc).

If you are set on Pro Dive (very good company) then go Cairns as its vastly different from Townsville as far as facilities and boat goes (courses and trips every day, more modern facilities and better Reef (in my opinion and have done both). Sorry WetPup not dissing your hometown in any way.

Yongala is long way from cairns as advised above, but a great trip. You will need to be Advanced or OW with 6 logged dives and take the Deep Dive as WetPup says.

 

[RainPilot]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Two duplicate threads have been merged. Please remember that only one thread per topic is allowed, to avoid cluttering the Board. If anyone needs to edit their posts due to this change, please PM me and I will help you. Oh and enjoy the liveaboard OP, totally jealous.

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