AOW instructor -opinions wanted

[Kodad]

After getting OW certified in January, and doing 30+ dives while island hopping for six months in French Polynesia, I'm back home and have decided to take the next step in my training and have signed up for my AOW course.

I really enjoyed my OW course and my instructor. I thought he was very thorough and gave me great confidence in his training and my abilities at this level. He was at the shop when I was signing up and told me to make sure I signed up for his particular class, as I have a choice of him or another instructor. That got me thinking, and I would love to hear your opinions on this:

Should I use the same instructor as I did with OW or should I try the other instructor who may give me a different perspective or varied insights?
Thanks in advance for your responses...

 

[gr8jab]

If you are able to go to SE Florida, I would highly recommend Pete Murray (aka Netdoc, chairman of Scubaboard). He is an excellent instructor. We flew from Oregon to Miami so my son could get his OW from him (in Key Largo). Pete was patient and took time to explain and practice skills with my son, repeatedly. He focuses on real and useful topics, and has a high standard for his students. Combine that with his great teaching skills and friendly and helpful attitude, and you can't go wrong.

My AOW class (with another instructor) was disappointing, and it seemed like we were only checking the boxes to meet the PADI requirements. I wish I had known Pete then!

NetDoc

 

[boulderjohn]

An AOW instructor can follow the mere minimum requirements for the 5 dives, or the AOW instructor can use those 5 dives to make you a far better diver than you were when you started. Some of the dives have very little to do on the dives other than dive, in which case it could be just another dive. For example, in our area, altitude is one that has absolutely no requirements other than to plan and log the dive with consideration of altitude. I actually prefer to have students select those for some of the dives because it gives me the opportunity to focus on whatever I have seen the student needs to work on most. I will sequence the dives to build skills; for example, after we do the navigation dive, navigation becomes part of any subsequent dive.

I think it is important that you pick an instructor who is gong to give you the very best AOW experience. If you think your OW insturctor is the one to do that, then by all means go with your OW instructor.

 

[TMHeimer]

Either way looks good. If you are confident with your OW abilities another instructor might be the way. I took courses and assisted for many different instructors. And they sure do differ on some things. OTOH, if your OW instructor did such a good job, you can't lose that way either. Not much help, huh.

 

[RyanT]

Getting another perspective from a different instructor is often a good thing. However, finding an instructor that you are comfortable with and is thorough is important. If you really like your OW instructor, then I would say stick with them at this point. There are lots more courses you can still take down the road from different instructors. At this point early in your diving career, just be comfortable and learn to be a better diver!

 

[motorref]

I'd second the vote for Pete; I did my wreck cert with Elena, but got to spend an afternoon (blindfolded) with Pete, and had a great time doing it!

 

[Kodad]

Thank you for your responses. I think I'm going to go with mt OW instructor for my AOW... I just spoke with him and he said that there are only going to be another student and myself in this class, whereas the other class had six people in it. He also said he would go over all my previous dives if I print them up from my zoop and evaluate them for me...thanks again for the input...

 

[pepperbelly]

My AOW instructors planned our dives so they built on the previous dives. Each dive was a new skill but we used skills from each previous skill.
If you think your OW instructor was good then use him. He is familiar with you and knows exactly what and how you were taught.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

If you are going the PADI route (assumption here), an instructor cannot and will not require additional skills that you must perform. However, he or she could teach you more. For example, when you do your navigation swim, your instructor can ask you for the start/end tank pressure and use the times to have an extremely course SRMV/SAC value. When you do your deep dive, your instructor can show you how to determine how much air you will consume on the deep dive. You can then compare the actual air consumed versus what you calculated. Now bear in mind, the initial SAC value that you compute will be grossly inaccurate, but the point is to teach you how to calculate it and discuss how to make it more accurate. I like to do this with my AOW (I like to do PPB, nav, night, deep, and S&R) as prior dives feed into later ones. I use the SAC stuff to get my students to think about gas planning. This can all be done with adhering to standards.

And to my fellow instructors, I'm always open to ideas on how to be a better instructor.