AOW course feedback

Hey everyone,

I want to take the advance open water course and was wondering if anyone who has taken the course could share their perspective on where they took it, the cost, how the instructor was, where the checkout dive was, was it PADI or NAUI, etc...Since I live in the Manila area, it's preferable to take it in the metro manila area with a check out close by (anilao), but I am interest to hear of people taking it outside the area. Thanks for the feedback!

Chip

AOW is done at the resort. no manila schedules for AOW.

that's how i do it as the lectures can be done during surface intervals.

For the PADI Advanced Open water i teach:

1. Underwater Navigation
2. Deep Dive
3. Night Dive
4. Search and Recovery
5. Peak Performance buoyancy

As these are the skills you will need to enjoy with confidence most dive scenarios within the scope of Recreational diving.

i just took my AOW last april... did multilevel instead of SnR though

ok lang naman... my AOW was based in balai so all our checkouts were done in front of the resort... price was about 5k + the $25 ID thing for padi

can't honestly tell you how effective the classes were since i have yet to dive since my cert... but i think more important than the actual "skills" or "skills test" is understanding the principles behind the skills you do... parang yung deep: it's not how deep you go but understanding the physics and physiology of deeper dives - how it affects your mind, air, body, etc...

understanding this makes the course more useful to you as a diver since "passing" the course is relatively easy...

i did love my night dive immensely though hehehehe

Jag

Dito just about everything said above - the one thing i'd add though: Make sure you include the 'Peak Performance Buoyancy' (if you are doing PADI, if another agency just make sure part of the course focusses on improving buoyancy). It looks boring but I think it is likely to the part that will benefit you the most.

Let's face it guys, night dives, drift dives, dives greater than 60 ft . . . most divers in Anilao with OW certification are already doing these dives - hopefully with proper mentorship. I didn't think the AOW was a very useful course, except the parts on buoyancy and navigation, but just get it out of the way so you can take the course everyone should do - Rescue.

Have fun!

Thanks for the feedback guys! At first I was interested in doing the wreck diving but now I'll go for the peak performance buoyancy. Search and rescue sounds really cool too.

So Paolov, Gerry Reyes told me he might run one in the beginning of august, but if he doesn't, are you thinking about teaching AOW anytime soon?

Scuby Dooby:

Dito just about everything said above - the one thing i'd add though: Make sure you include the 'Peak Performance Buoyancy' (if you are doing PADI, if another agency just make sure part of the course focusses on improving buoyancy). It looks boring but I think it is likely to the part that will benefit you the most.

Let's face it guys, night dives, drift dives, dives greater than 60 ft . . . most divers in Anilao with OW certification are already doing these dives - hopefully with proper mentorship. I didn't think the AOW was a very useful course, except the parts on buoyancy and navigation, but just get it out of the way so you can take the course everyone should do - Rescue.

Have fun!

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Honestly AOW course would be a waste of money if you dont have enough dives under your belt say 20+ dives. i just recently completed mine and was very satisfied i like going deep kasi so i wanted to get the deep dive under my belt. i got these:

1. Underwater Navigation
2. Deep Dive
3. Night Dive
4. Search and Recovery
5. Peak Performance buoyancy
6. muliti level diving
7. drift diving.

got two bonuses i took these over a period of two months, very relaxed i paid cheap tooas my dm is very very good and reasonable. let me know if your interested. lectures done in manila, makati after that check out in anilao.

I would second Spoon's advice on getting at least 20+ dives before taking your AOW.

chip104:

Hey everyone,

I want to take the advance open water course and was wondering if anyone who has taken the course could share their perspective on where they took it, the cost, how the instructor was, where the checkout dive was, was it PADI or NAUI, etc...Since I live in the Manila area, it's preferable to take it in the metro manila area with a check out close by (anilao), but I am interest to hear of people taking it outside the area. Thanks for the feedback!

Chip

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If you live in Manila, then you can travel to Puerto Galera for about $5. I did my AOW there for $180. I didn't learn much beyond what I would have learned from just reading the book and doing some dives, which is why I suggest you forget about trying to learn skills by taking the AOW, and instead negotiate with your dive shop to get the best 5 dives out of them possible. AOW certification is important though because some dive resorts may not let you go down below 18m otherwise.

I would recommend wreck, night and some other fun dive. Ask them what the best 3 (elective) dives will be. Ask them to take you down to some interesting site for the deep dive, and if possible do the same for the u/w navigation. In my case though, the u/w navigation dive included 20 min of tasks, and the dive instructor wanted to do it in the area in front of the dive shop because he had some things there he needed for some of the tasks.

Lastly, the sooner you do it the better, because if you already have 50 dives under your belt, then chances are you have nothing to learn from the AOW course. If you just got your OW certification, then at least some of the things they teach you will seem new and you'll feel like the course was helpful.

Scuby Dooby:

Dito just about everything said above - the one thing i'd add though: Make sure you include the 'Peak Performance Buoyancy' (if you are doing PADI, if another agency just make sure part of the course focusses on improving buoyancy). It looks boring but I think it is likely to the part that will benefit you the most.

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I asked one of the dive masters about this course and he told me straight out it was a bad course, and that he always felt bad for taking people's money for it because it was basically the same stuff you learn during the OW certification process. I know a lot of people have gained a lot from that course though, but presumably not at the dive resort I was staying at, so I would suggest people discuss the course with the instructors before deciding whether to take them - also read the book on this topic and ask the instructor whether s/he will teach anything beyond the book.

In my newbie opinion it's better to ask other divers and instructors for tips on improving your buoyancy skills during regular diving, and as you gain experience your buoyancy skills will improve also - no need for a course on this stuff.

*Floater*:

I asked one of the dive masters about this course and he told me straight out it was a bad course, and that he always felt bad for taking people's money for it because it was basically the same stuff you learn during the OW certification process. I know a lot of people have gained a lot from that course though, but presumably not at the dive resort I was staying at, so I would suggest people discuss the course with the instructors before deciding whether to take them - also read the book on this topic and ask the instructor whether s/he will teach anything beyond the book.

In my newbie opinion it's better to ask other divers and instructors for tips on improving your buoyancy skills during regular diving, and as you gain experience your buoyancy skills will improve also - no need for a course on this stuff.

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It really depends on the student. If the student has already mastered buoyancy then the PPB is not necessary.

However, there are those who really need to be tutored on it. a case in point is :

another Instructor referred to me a student with problems in water. on the day i was to tutor him he brought his wife and a friend. After the course he had better buoyancy control than the two who tagged along. the wife wanted to untdertake the course as well. he was able to hover quickly and it was his 7th dive (including his 4 open water training dives).

on another instance , there was another guy from south america who joined our group, initially he was doing a seesaw profile. but after the 2nd dive with my group he was hovering already on his own.

so it really depends on the individual.