OW to AOW?

[archer1960]

Thank you for your post. I do like my instructor who is both PADI and SSI certified. The LDS I have is also very laid back and supportive. Being in New England I think my dive opportunities will be getting a little frozen over in December through March, but you never know! I am going to dive as long as my 7mm wetsuit allows me to.

I took my rescue class the first week of December, with the open water dives in Newport Harbor (in the dark, too!). The cold water was actually nice for the more physically demanding skills, so I didn't get too hot...

 

[DustyC]

arfcommer checking in.
also...chilil has beans

Heathen

 

[mi000ke]

That's me. Doing AOW next week in Grand Cayman, where we go frequently. Most operators there do a 100' wall dive as first dive, and I wanted to get some deep training first, plus doing nitrox cert as well. The cost was not much more than what I'd pay for the dives anyway.

Just got back from Cayman where I did my AOW plus nitrox. 6 dives total - 5 for AOW (deep, nav, PPB, wreck, and boat). plus since boat dives come in twos, one for nitrox. The first dive was PPB to get things sorted out, but it was also boat, deep, and nitrox. The wreck dive was also boat, deep and nitrox. The boat dive was deep and nitrox. The deep dive was also boat and nitrox. And on all of the dives, the DM/instructor was checking out my buoyancy and control from the PPB dive. So basically I just did three days of normal diving - except for the 15 minutes I spent doing shapes using the compass at the beginning of one dive. The difference was that I had my own personal DM for 4 of the 6 dives. The cost (not including the nitrox) was almost identical to what it would have cost to do a group dive, and as I was on a boat with 5 others, I did the same dives I would have done. So I consider having gotten my AOW for free, doing the same dives I would have done.

 

[jonhall]

I would be curious to hear your impressions of the course. You have quite a bit of experience for someone taking AOW. I don't run AOW very often and usually just for people who request me specifically but my impression is that most AOW courses I've seen are pretty superficial.

Back with my impressions of the course. Took "the course" with a dive op at a resort. As such all of the dives, except the deep dive, were planned for 45 minutes at a depth of no more than 45 ft. All of the AOW dives were completed during the regular dives (multiple groups on the boat.)

Day 1 of diving (first dive for fun, 2nd dive for AOW): As the op suggested/told us, my buddy and I did the PPB first. I found the skills staying in neutral buoyancy above the bottom, and going upside down to knock over a weight with your nose) easy enough although my buddy had a harder time hovering above the bottom. He hasn't been able to dive over the last year and a half due to a heart attack. The instructor worked with him for a few minutes while other divers in the group watched.

Day 2 (first dive for AOW, 2nd for fun): Because of circumstances, and because my goal was to expedite getting the 5 AOW dives in during the 11 that I had prepaid for, I did the BOAT dive without my buddy. Pretty simple to identify parts of the boat and identify where equipment was on the boat. Two down.

Day 3 (2 cenote dives, no AOW)

Day 4 (1st dive and 2nd dive for AOW): NAVIGATION was first. Having taught science and some basic orienteering, this was pretty easy also and made easier by completing a square using cardinal directions, but maybe tougher due to poor visibility. Straight line and reciprocal line swimming posed no problem. Next dive was NATURALIST. Had to identify vertebrates, invertebrates, and plants. Again, having taught science, and taking lots of pics while diving, I knew quite a few, but admit that plants can be hard to find. I actually enjoyed this as the dive was like a treasure hunt, although vis still wasn't good. 4 down. As we had lots of time between dives on shore, we did all of the BOOK REVIEWS and got signed off on those. For me, I pretty much perused the chapters, except for PPB, to find the answers to the reviews so I wasn't taking a lot of time on my vacation to really do a deep read.

Day 5 (night dive, no AOW)

Day 6 1st dive for AOW, 2nd for fun): These dives were done in Cozumel. The DEEP dive was to 82 ft. The skills were comparing NDL readings and observing color changes. My buddy did his boat dive on our 2nd dive. Done.

I admit that I was looking to complete the AOW so that I wouldn't be left out of rec dives below the famous 60 foot mark or prevented from entering a wreck somewhere down the line. Only looking to be proficient in the skills needed for the type of diving I do, which is mainly Caribbean settings. I would say that as far as making me think from dive to dive, the PPB was the best of the dives since it is always an important skill. Diving the cenote was one of the toughest things I've done trying to maintain the proper buoyancy throughout.

Taking a course like this, as I did, is pretty superficial, but then again these dives are really just an opportunity to try out different specialties. I think at the point I'm at in my diving life, I don't see the need to do extra dives (that may cost more money) just to do some more creative skills in the same specialty. Did observe that the other people we met also taking AOW were about 30+ years younger than us!

 

[cneal]

A year after being certified we took Peak Performance Bouyancy. A year later Navigation. A year later we were set to do Multilevel, but got sinus problems. We had learned the material and moved on as we had enough of the wheel. A year later Nitrox. A year later Deep. A year later Search and Recovery. Then we automatically got Advanced. A year later Rescue. And then by magic we got our PADI Master Diver.

There is a lot to be said aboout taking your time and getting full course certs instead of the brief one dive introduction to each specialty. You can learn a lot beyond the immediate subject with the extra instructor time.

 

[CMW2016]

Why do you have a pic of an M-16 bolt and carrier assembly? I like it, just wondering.

 

[DustyC]

Why do you have a pic of an M-16 bolt and carrier assembly? I like it, just wondering.

It was intended as a bat signal for a few of us that are also on another site.

 

[ResortDiver850]

Yes, just a display of camaraderie

 

[David Martel]

As Diver0001 stated AOW seems to be more superficial, I see the requirement on some dive boats "minimum AOW" but have to say that not once have I been asked to show the card. When we finished our AOW we were in no way shape or form Advanced, and our trip to NC proved that to us. We did have fun and a safe trip but it was sort of a waste of money due to the lack of experience so most of our dives were spent watching our psi gauge not the awsome wrecks, at least the first few dives anyhow. After our trip we felt as if we had gained some great experience and were at the very least more competent divers. Now was that due to what we learned in AOW? meh I think it was a good course to expose us to some fun activities but the actual experience of diving on wrecks at 120 feet for 7 days straight and some pointers from the crew was a much more "Advanced experience" aside from the AOW course.

Hope this makes sense and its just MHO

Makes a lot of sense. Agreed, AOW doesn't make you advanced, its the number of dives you do that increases your skill sets, the accumulation of subconscious competency, the feel, the awareness, that gets you better. You mention watching gauges most of the dive. Not necessary to once you've checked it at surface, during early part of descent and once settled in at depth knowing the equipment is functioning correctly, buddy is visible and things are normal. Air use tends to be steady after that and you can focus on the dive, peripherally monitoring gauges . Interesting about the card, I've never NOT been asked to show it when registering at a shop.