Just completed my AOW

[Pitchblack]

First of all good thoughts about the AOW and congrats on completing it!

As you said taking the AOW course doesnt make you an 'advanced diver' it's just a tool to gain some more experience while supervised by an instructor. My own experience during the AOW was great, did the experience dives on PPB, Drysuit, Nightdive and the mandatory deep and navigation.

The AOW is a great program for divers just to get them into the water, our sport is a 'learn by doing' and nothing else.

And beeing certified for going deeper isnt so bad either, opening up alot of divesites. I'm not saying just becouse you are certified for going down to 30 meters (100 ft isnt it?) you should do it directly after the course, depths should be respected!

Cheers.

 

[jcolombo1]

Congrats. I would highly recommend continuing your traing to at least a Rescue Diver

 

[CamG]

Greetings Winterpeg and congratulations on your AOW certification!
I am in agreement on your with your reasoning on continuing your training!
I would also encourage you to consider as others have the Rescue training!
The best way to become the best diver you can is to dive, dive, and dive some more!
Always be learning, in a constant state of evolution as a diver!
It sounds as you have a healthy respect for diving and I would encourage you to always dive with in your limits / training level and in a safe environment that you are comfortable in.
Do you dive local? If not then I would encourage you to get involved with a local dive club and explore your local scene. I have enjoyed many more dives on week enders to local waters. The Great Lakes are totally awesome and the wrecks are even better!
Congratulations, gain your experience, and have a blast!
CamG Keep diving....keep training....keep learning!

 

[diver 85]

To the OP concerning your sig, you're missing a few words------"Life starts 'falling apart' at 50

".....Now you have it all down....

 

[joe27march]

Congrats, and keep it up. Before you know it DM.

 

[nitrous_bob]

i agree w/ you

i think i got my AOW about 3-6 months after OW, and no more than about 20 or so logged dives

not sure if you mentioned it or not... but another point to note is that by doing it right away... you fail to start making bad habits... which in turn makes you a better diver and better role model to newer divers

 

[Apecks]

And out of the 6 specialty courses I plan on taking the only place the extra dive really helps, is Deep Diver (requires 4 dives) so this would allow me to complete the dives in 1 day instead of 2 days. Wreck diver (requires 4 dives) so this would allow me to complete the dives in 1 day instead of 2 days. The other 4 courses can all be done in one day.

I thought the PADI standards limit was 2 training dives per day. I would not recommend 3 deep dives in one day (one to 40m), most wrecks too are deep enough to advise against 3 dives in one day.

 

[girldiverllc]

First...congrats on continuing your education!!

Maybe I'm confused by some of the other replies though...

If we get into diving to explore and see a world that few others ever get to see...why are we talking about "how few dives" we need to get a silly card? The card...or the rating...isn't really that impressive.

The reason to take AOW as soon as possible after Open Water is so you have a professional guiding you through "how to dive". As much as we would like to teach you EVERYTHING you ever need to know in your Open Water class...well, the consumers have decided they don't really want a year long course to get certified. So, we break it up for you.

Open Water...you get 20 skills you need to survive underwater. Oh...and they are followed by some tours to introduce you to fish while following your instructors fins.

Advanced Open Water...NOW we teach you to dive!! We give you a minimum of 5 dives using tools (flashlight, compass) and allow your mind to make diving more intuitive (you don't notice a little mask leak, you just clear it...).

Specialties....yes...you "can" count your Advanced dives towards these and then shorten the number of dives "needed" to complete them...but WHY???? Aren't you here to dive?

I hold specialty cards in a whole bunch of areas, but what I share with non-divers are stories of underwater spectacles (swimming with stellar sealions, hovering over the largest brain coral, moving like an astronaut). This is why we dive.

Congrats on your AOW...and yes...take Rescue as soon as you can. If I ever need to be rescued, I'm hoping everyone in the area is certified.

 

[Steve50]

I thought the PADI standards limit was 2 training dives per day. .

Three...

Conduct no more than three open water scuba training dives in a single day,
night or combination thereof. When conducting a third dive for Open Water
Diver course students, the maximum depth of the third dive must not exceed
12 metres/40 feet. This applies to an Adventure Dive conducted as a third dive​

after completion of the Open Water Diver course dives.

 

[sea-nile]

I am glad that I found this thread as I am about to do the AOW in Cozumel in April!
Thanks for the information.