Aow=bs

[caseybird]

I just knew when I posted this that there would be a LOT of people responding who got their AOW immediately after their OW simply by writing a check for two or three hundred dollars and an afternoon with an instructor.

Do you KNOW this or are you just being arrogant and opinionated? And before you say "I know this guy who..." make sure your criticism applies to ALL those who took the time to answer your mean-spirited post sincerely.

Steve Scotto

 

[STOGEY]

Not all dives go without problems. But almost all dives good or bad are still worth it.

 

[Sas]

And what if your buddies don't know what they are talking about?

JT

That is why I said 'helpful' if you reread my post. It was meant to imply that you had buddies that DID know what they were talking about.

Also, Garrobo, my AOW involves 24 dives and 4 specialties so hardly an 'afternoon' in the water, I won't actually finish it until October (started in March). Even so I agree that it is not necessarily going to make me a great diver - but I am continuing to practice all the time and I hope that is what will make me a good diver eventually. I have a bunch of friends with AOW who think it means they are advanced, which is what I get annoyed at. False sense of security...

If your Nav course is done well you should find it very rewarding if you have little exposure to compass navigation. We conduct it very thoroughly in limited visibility water, in combination with hard surface (towel over head) drills. It's one of the more difficult specialty classes.

Ok that sounds good then! From what friends have told me it was not that difficult and was just basic compass navigation, which I am comfortable with. However they were using a different instructor. However, I have been pretty happy with the instructor I have (teaching extra stuff, etc) so maybe I will get a lot out of it

 

[Tigerman]

1. Being seasick doesnt really have anything to do with dive experience. It might not even have to do with boating experience...
2. So what if he want to dive a thicker suit? Hell need more lead, whats it to you? Is diving some "who use the least lead" contest?
3. Number of dives doesnt nessesarilly say anything about how good a diver you are
4. PADI AOW isnt meant to make you a über-diver, its meant to introduce you to different types of diving and give you the knowledge to do those types of dives as safely as possible.

Then again... Its easy to forget how badly we sucked ourselves, isnt it?

 

[Byte Me]

I think some people sign up for aow right after basic because it gives them a structure to keep learning when they may be unsure of their new skills.

Ya, I find it hilarious to read here how some folks are viewed as "card collectors" yet in the same breath - in some other thread - those same people berating the card collectors then turn and spit venom at agencies for the lack of training in the OW or AOW classes. You can't have it both ways.

As for me, I've got less than 20 "official" dives but I'm taking PADI rescue next weekend before a trip to Playa. I'm partly taking it as a chance to get back under water before the trip, to get used to all the new gear I've collected in the "off season" (some of us have off seasons ). I'm partly taking it because I know there is a ton more I need to know. I give a ***** about the cards, I just want to get as much out of this sport as I can and have fun doing so. Part of that for me is knowing my limits and knowing what to do if something happens.

The gross generalization made by OP, to me, smacks of the attitude which would more likely turn people away from diving rather than taking the opportunity to help someone out who sounds like they could have used a hand or a bit of advice.

 

[fisherdvm]

. I can also tell you from experience that it is way harder to dive with too little weight than with too much, so the ONLY option is starting with too much weight.

I respectfully disagree. Two or three pounds overweight is fine.... But not giving enough instruction for them to get cutting edge weight balancing is inadequate instruction. I simply see instructors eyeballing their students. 2/3 are overweighted, and 1/3 aren't. When they start floating, then you give them more weight, so that by the end of the pool session, 3/3 are overweighted.

Then you wonder why they really never learn to get the last bit of air out of their BC? Because they don't need too - they are diving with two gallons of air in the BC. Then you wonder why they can't ascend at a slow rate of speed? Its because they are diving with soo much air, and they don't know how to empty their BC efficiently.

A student can't dive well, if he is overweighted. To me, overweight them until they get more diving is fallacy. Until they get someone to teach them how to use their BC dump, deflate well, and how to get their weight exact - which means 6 extra pounds with a full 80 tank, or perfect bouancy with 500 psi - students will be out of trim, burn air like no other, and still swims with their arm.

 

[Jeff Toorish]

That is why I said 'helpful' if you reread my post. It was meant to imply that you had buddies that DID know what they were talking about.

And how would you possibly know that if you hadn't taken the course with a qualified instructor?

I had a student who insisted the reason wetsuits are black is to keep you warm. He also believed that you stayed warm in a wetsuit because of a thin layer of water between you and the suit. He'd been diving for years, had a lot of dives and learned these gems of wisdom from buddies he trusted --and I'm sure he imparted this wisdom to others, as well.

We can all learn from dive buddies, but we are taught from instructors.

Jeff

 

[Pearldiver07]

Funny thing here, different agencies have different concepts of AOW, but for PADI's it is intended to follow the OW. Think of it as the advanced OPEN WATER course (i.e., OW II), rather than an ADVANCED open water course. As the PADI website says (and I quote) "...As you step beyond the PADI Open Water Diver level, you make five dives and have the opportunity to try some of diving’s most rewarding and useful specialty activities..."

The course is intended to expose the diver to various situations and skills under the control of a dive pro rather than muddle through on their own. It has never been marketed as a means to make someone an experienced or thoroughly skilled diver.

I just wish people would get past the incorrect assumption that the AOW means some sort of high-level training. I admit that OW I and OW II would be a better way of describing them though.

And as far as new = bad buoyancy, off Kona a few years back I tried to get a G.O.D. (Grumpy Old Diver) from standing on the coral during most of his dive. He told me that he knew what he was doing and that he had been diving longer than I'd been alive. To which I reminded him that one would think that he'd be better at diving than that after all of those years of practice.

 

[fisherdvm]

I had a student who insisted the reason wetsuits are black is to keep you warm. He also believed that you stayed warm in a wetsuit because of a thin layer of water between you and the suit.
Jeff

Hmm, that could be true, if the warm water in the suit just came from your bladder??

 

[Sas]

*sigh* Jeff, of course some buddies are bad and some are good. I was referring to the fact that you would learn the same skills IF you had GOOD buddies. My point wasn't about whether you could tell or not. But as you've asked well you can read up on the skills (i.e. compass skills you can do at home..), ask questions from a wide variety of people and keep diving!

Also buddies can teach you just as well as an instructor can and they don't cost. I have had great instructors and great buddies and have learned from both.

I think you are losing my point, which is that AOW does not necessarily make you a better diver as you will learn many of the skills if you keep diving regardless of whether you do AOW. Courses like deep I can see why you would need an instructor, but things like drift diving? Or night diving?

Regarding your buddy's ideas about wetsuits - well it is not like that knowledge would have done whoever he told harm or made him a bad diver (just an ignorant one), so what is the big deal?