How important is Advanced Open Water Certification for Palau diving?

[judypots]

Thanks for your thoughts. Actually, we are already nitrox certified. I guess we could also get AOW certified on the trip, if we want.

 

[judypots]

Thanks for your thoughts. It appeared to me that the AOW courses don't really address the more difficult conditions we are likely to encounter on Palau - especially the stronger currents. We have had some experience with currents - a few dives on Saba, and one notable dive on Bonaire, of all places. We've already had experience doing the kinds of dives that are done on the AOW course, at least as how they have been described to me.

 

[LakeCountyDiver]

Well just like anywhere your AOW training is going to be in the environment near the shop. It does not give you the training for anywhere just the conditions that you will be diving in if you are not a vacation diver. If you have not dove in like conditions of Palau then seek guided dives or maybe do AOW where you are there.

 

[shmuggy]

I've never heard of this. Having done just under 650 dives, it has never come up- not in Palau. I ahve never been told I cannot go as deep as the other recreational divers either. I have found that most dive operations- if they put a DM in the water- will observe you on the first first dive and see how you do. I guess if they have concerns they could restrict you but I have never heard of it happening. If you think you might freak out in current, then you might want to get some experience under your belt. Diving in current is fun. There are some good places in Florida to do this that won't be too expensive and could prepare you for another trip if you need it.

I know I will get some objections from this- but I don't see the value in the AOW course. You would be better off spending your money on more diving. At a certain point- there is no substitute for experience.

 

[SandyRobinson]

I would contact them individually and pose this question to them directly. Both Fish 'n Fins and Sams have been touted as reputable places to book with.

plus 1 - take the guesswork out of it.

 

[Texas.Crude]

You'll be fine, but if you ever feel even the slightest bit uncomfortable just ask one of the crewmembers on the boat and in most cases they're more than happy to dive with you.

 

[rkj1969]

AOW isn't "required" for any of the dives with Sam's Tours. We dove with Sam's Tours, we had a DM for every dive - none of the regular sites were below 60' - they did allow certain people to dive below us at 100' if they were AOW and requested it, but I really couldn't figure out why they wanted to be down there - nothing to see! There were special wreck or Peliliu dives you can sign up for, but there was no special cert requirement. As mentioned above - some experience with currents is really helpful!

A friend was on a sailboat liveaboard and that guide DID take them into caves and into a few deep sites, so I guess it just depends on the operation.

 

[vladimir]

Thanks for your thoughts. Actually, we are already nitrox certified. I guess we could also get AOW certified on the trip, if we want.

I got my nitrox certification on a liveaboard in the Coral Sea, back when it required doing 2 dives with an instructor. Definitely don't waste dives (or surface interval, for that matter) in Palau doing AOW--enjoy your trip and do it in NJ if you think you need it (you don't, in my opinion) .

 

[DevonDiver]

I've never heard of this. Having done just under 650 dives, it has never come up- not in Palau.....I know I will get some objections from this- but I don't see the value in the AOW course. You would be better off spending your money on more diving. At a certain point- there is no substitute for experience.

So, you are suggesting that the OP simply gets several hundred further dives worth of experience before the holiday, rather than take an AOW course?

Gaining experience is just as valid as taking a course. Perhaps more so...

However, taking a structured course could be viewed as a 'fast-track' to learning the critical skills and procedures that would otherwise take a very long time to develop without external input. Likewise, recieving equal 'training' through the mentorship of a suitably/more experienced diver also brings simular benefits - although this would boil down to the teaching capacity of the diver who was mentoring you..and thus not as reliable as formal courses (if we make the wild assumption that all scuba instructors were capable, excellent educators). It has the added benefit of providing safety support/supervision in case you get something wrong.

Whether you improve your scuba through gaining experience, formal courses or mentorship... the end result is the same. The journey to get there is different though.... and for most divers, the convenience, efficiency and safety of formal tuition is the most attractive option.

AOW is always a contentious subject. IMHO, this is primarily because the course is often taught to such a low standard by sub-motivated, lazy instructors. This means that very few divers understand what the AOW course can provide the novice diver with, in respect of skills, experience, confidence and capability. It also means that dive operations who impose strict AOW limits on 'advanced dives', without cross-referencing the divers' experience on paper...and performance in the water, are being somewhat negligent in ensuring the divers' competence for the planned dives.

That doesn't mean it is wrong to ask for AOW certification... it just means that a 'certification-based' assessment should form a larger part of an overall competency assessment that ensures customer divers remain safely within the limits of their training and experience.

Very few people would argue about the value of OW or Rescue training - the benefits of those are quantifiable and immediately obvious. The benefits of (good) AOW training is less obvious. It doesn't present many new or unique 'skills' or provide specific competence in any single new diving activity. However, in my experience, I have seen that AOW training can make a dramatic improvement to the diving skills of a novice diver. Rather than focusing on a single specialist area, it provides an introduction into a breadth of diving scenarios. Most importantly, it provides a good platform from which to embed the foundation skills learnt in OW training.

When I teach AOW courses, I like to think that I am providing the student with a 'leap frog' in capability, that would otherwise take them a much longer time to achieve alone. Typically, 5-10 dives of AOW training would increase their capability and knowledge to a stage equal to maybe 50 fun dives worth of non-educational experience. That, at least, is my goal when working with students. Again, it is a value for money and efficiency in progress that is not easily quantifiable, because it doesn't consist of a list of set skills or specific activity related procedures...

 

[vladimir]

I know I will get some objections from this- but I don't see the value in the AOW course. You would be better off spending your money on more diving. At a certain point- there is no substitute for experience.

This is probably not the choice. Judy vacations in Saba, Belize, and now Palau. She can afford the diving, and she can probably afford to take AOW too, as prodigal as that might sound. A lot of divers, including myself, just don't feel inclined to take a course that seems to offer so little that is new (notwithstanding the many excellent AOW courses that are no doubt on offer). I have limited time to dive, and the subject matter was largely covered in my initial YMCA Scuba Diver course. Personally, I will not patronize a dive operator who limits my diving based on whether I have AOW or not. I am happy to do a check-out dive, which increasingly seems to be standard procedure. It gives me a chance to knock any rust off, and it gives the dive operator the opportunity to satisfy any concerns it may have as to my competence.

Thanks for your thoughts. It appeared to me that the AOW courses don't really address the more difficult conditions we are likely to encounter on Palau - especially the stronger currents. We have had some experience with currents - a few dives on Saba, and one notable dive on Bonaire, of all places. We've already had experience doing the kinds of dives that are done on the AOW course, at least as how they have been described to me.

Palauan currents can be pretty extreme. Using reef hooks is pretty standard for some dives (Blue Corner, for example), which you have probably not done before. Not to scare you--I am sure you will be fine there with the experience and training you have--but this old thread is worth reading, just to bring some of the risks you might not anticipate into focus:

Back on the boat, we all "debriefed". Piecing the story together, the scenario goes as follows: The victim hooked on the reef. She lost a fin in the current, perhaps looked back to assess the situation, and lost her mask in the process. She panicked, dropped her weight belt, and tried to remove her BCD. What follows next, no one knows. She may have panicked, hyperventilated, and became unconscious. She had an abrasion on her forehead, so she may have hit her head in the current and became unconscious. The end result was that she was unconscious and drown. Although the reg was in her mouth, her nose was exposed, and the current was high velocity, and sea water likely could've entered and filled her lungs.