Newbie questions

[jd950]

I don't agree with the suggestions of taking the AOW as a way to get a private dm. I never understood why many divers take the Advanced course right after they finish their open water course. I think it's an attempt to say they are advanced when they actually are not. Wait until you have 50 - 100 dives (that's not that many) then take the advanced. You will get more out of it then. A peak buoyancy course would serve a new diver better that the advanced course.PH

I agree that advanced is of more value when delayed, but I think we are in the minority on this. Additional buoyancy control training should be incorporated into basic certification as far as I am concerned and frankly, instead of "advanced" the advanced cert should be called "level II" or something else. It isn't really very advanced.

Sorry for the hijack.

 

[mikeycanuk]

PADI does not put depth restrictions on 12 year olds if they're diving with their parents.

Not from our experience. Not that I can find anything on PADI's site anymore (it gets worse all the time). 10-12 is 40', 12-15 is 60'. As for diving with parents they HAVE to. I believe parent until 12 then it can be a DM or parent until 15 then they are considered an adult.

Aldora restricted us to 60'-70' on the Felicity. Won't be going back until our son is 15, want to dive some of the northern sites!!!

 

[loudives]

I don't agree with the suggestions of taking the AOW as a way to get a private dm. I never understood why many divers take the Advanced course right after they finish their open water course. I think it's an attempt to say they are advanced when they actually are not. Wait until you have 50 - 100 dives (that's not that many) then take the advanced. You will get more out of it then. A peak buoyancy course would serve a new diver better that the advanced course.

PH

Totally agree with that. I been diving since 1974 have over 1000 dives, visit Cozumel at Least 3 times a year and am only an OPEN WATER CERTIFIED diver and I have helped out many so called Advanced divers who should not have been even OW cert. Get your skill down then go for ADVANCED. Don't be a book diver. Private DM for the first day on a boat dive. You can go to 95% of the dive sites and instead of going to 80-100' your DM will keep you on top of the reef or Wall at 50-60'. After the 2 dives discuss with him if your skills are good to go with reg group for the next time. If he is honest, he won't force himself on you just to get extra $ he will relate to you that you do or do not need him.

 

[Damon Parker]

Shallow beach dives, Tikila Beach Bar has a nice shallow beach dive, about 25', nice reef with lots of life.. As far as getting lost on the beach dives, east on your compass will send you in the right direction. As far as shallow boat dives, Columbia Shallows is a nice dive, about 30'. December is technically winter time here.. Weather is pretty unpredictable, especially here on the island.

As far as detecting currents, simply look at the boats anchored off shore to see if they are all pointing in one direction, should give you a pretty good indication of the currents.

If you do want a DM that can also take Pictures, I highly recommend Mario Ceh, who runs a beach dive operation at Tikila Beach Bar. He knows that specific area VERY well..

 

[ggunn]

FWIW, my first open water dive as well as my wife's and my daughter's (13 years old at the time) were all in the waters of Cozumel. None of us had a bit of trouble. Bonaire is very nice, or so I hear, but it's a whole lot more expensive to get to from where I live. It wasn't a viable alternative for us. Plus, we were already Cozumel regulars for the fishing.

On shore dives I highly recommend you have a compass with you, because using the direction of the current as a directional guide can be very misleading, literally. You could swim into an eddy current and strike out for the Yucatan. I bought a couple of cheap (fluid filled - that's important) compasses from Academy for a few bucks and they work just fine.

 

[Ron Lee]

Also note where the sun is. The bottom often gets shallower as you approach shore.

If in doubt, carefully surface and act as required.

Having said that, I do have a compass and verify the direction on most dives.

 

[mediumone]

Not from our experience. Not that I can find anything on PADI's site anymore (it gets worse all the time). 10-12 is 40', 12-15 is 60'. As for diving with parents they HAVE to. I believe parent until 12 then it can be a DM or parent until 15 then they are considered an adult.

Aldora restricted us to 60'-70' on the Felicity. Won't be going back until our son is 15, want to dive some of the northern sites!!!

My reference and post did not take into consideration your experience, opinions or beliefs, but PADI regulations.

---------- Post added July 25th, 2014 at 10:39 PM ----------

Not from our experience. Not that I can find anything on PADI's site anymore (it gets worse all the time). 10-12 is 40', 12-15 is 60'. As for diving with parents they HAVE to. I believe parent until 12 then it can be a DM or parent until 15 then they are considered an adult.

Aldora restricted us to 60'-70' on the Felicity. Won't be going back until our son is 15, want to dive some of the northern sites!!!

I didn't take the time earlier to go to their site, but just did. Holy crap! It's beyond worse! It has become a joke. It is positively worthless.

 

[jlyle]

I don't agree with the suggestions of taking the AOW as a way to get a private dm. I never understood why many divers take the Advanced course right after they finish their open water course. I think it's an attempt to say they are advanced when they actually are not. Wait until you have 50 - 100 dives (that's not that many) then take the advanced. You will get more out of it then. A peak buoyancy course would serve a new diver better that the advanced course.

PH

After 50-100 dives AOW is kind of silly; OW Level II would be a better name.

The wife and I worked as DMs for a local dive shop for many years. IMHO, many newly certified divers aren't ready to go out on their own. We encouraged many newbies to signup for AOW if only to get more dives under their belts under supervision. I still think it's a great recommendation. Just my dos centavos.

Three of my children were OW certified in Cozumel at early ages and had no problems with currents and drift diving.

Depth restrictions with young divers are because of research showing damage to developing lungs from deep dives. As the agencies allow certification at younger and younger ages, restrictions are needed.

 

[cvchief]

Hey the Red Cross used to call their deal Advanced Beginner right? Isn't that kinda the same? It is interesting how many people get their melons frosted over advanced in the name....

 

[FinnMom]

AOW is a brilliant title for sales.

On the other hand my kid took AOW with 3 other divers who were all fairly experienced and capable and a very good instructor (<= probably & typically the greatest single factor involved). They had to do the corse on our liveaboard because it was the only way to get the cert required for the trip. They had a fabulous time together and it was an excellent course. they had time to play with reels and learn to back kick so a AOW class when none of you are beginners anymore can be pretty good too.