What does an AOW cert offer a diver?
An AOW cert gives the diver the ability to dive beyond the 60ft. limit, and expands their knowledge of navigation with a compass and natural features, which is vital to diving deeper. Beyond that it introduces the diver to three other areas of diving that help broaden their knowledge of what to expect underwater and how to enjoy it.
Beyond the two required dives of Deep and Navigation, I try to steer my students into three electives that have the most benefit. At least in my opinion that is.
The first is Peak Performance Buoyancy. This first dive starts at the end of the Navigation dive. I have them drain their tanks to 500 psi and then do an indepth buoyancy and trim evaluation and adjustment. After the surface interval with fresh tanks we go back under and practice some hovering before we play some games. The games are a combination of skills that require good buoyancy control. They are simply an introduction into alternate fining techniques. The Frog Kick, the Modified Frog Kick, The Helicopter turn, and Swimming Backwards. All of this is done with hands tucked into the BCD waist strap. I explain to the students during the pre-dive briefing that if they want to dive wrecks, caves, or get into underwater photography, they will need to know this. I also stress that the main purpose of the exercise is to maintain your depth while moving around. If you are holding a camera, waiting for that perfect shot, and need to back up 2 feet. Being able to do so while maintaining your depth and holding your camera with both hands will be vital. All their eyes light up with understanding at this point.
The second is the Night Dive. This dive always ends with WOW where did all the fish come from, and it sure looks different at night, I didnt know where we were at all. Even though we dove the same place we did for the previous elective dives, and they saw the same artifacts and landmarks, they are all amazed at how different it looks. The first thing I have all of them do when we reach the bottom is a lights out drill. This is simply holding the light into your stomach or covering it with your hand, and we sit for about 30 seconds and see what it is like with only our marker lights providing lumination. Everyone really gets a thrill with that one, then its off to explore and look at the sights. I have the students make a note of our heading and distances traveled during the dive, and stress to them to use what was learned during the PPB class and stay neutrally buoyant. At the end of the dive I ask them what headings we went and how far. They are amazed to find that we in fact did a square pattern, exactly 100 feet in length for each side, which is exactly the same pattern and area covered during their Navigation Dive. They then understand just how I got back to exactly the same spot we started in. Up till then they think I just knew the area so well that I was just covering the same ground. Again their eyes light up in understanding of how it all fits together.
Finally the Search and Recovery. Quite simply it is the ability to search for and retrieve that lost trolling motor or other lightweight object that may be lost. Plus everyone gets a real thrill out of learning how to use a lift bag and doing search patterns underwater for the first time.
The AOW should be a fun learning experience; I hope that all of you that take the course get all you can out of it.
Have fun and Dive Safe.
