another question about "advanced open water"

Hi guys:

Currenty i'm an open water diver thinking about going after my advanced certification. I probably will...

Sometimes i tell myself should i do it or not.. Please don't get me wrong for i think it is very good experience to have especially if you are going to be diving alot in all situations.
The reason for my thinking is the savings of the course itself and my diving experience i already have.

I have been diving for over 3 yrs now and maintained over 50 dives. All my dives except 2 have been high altitude dives. I have 7 deep dives to my log, 90' along with 13 nitrox dives.
As for night dives virtually all my deep dives have been experienced in the dark. My compass navigation is good and have been diving with all experienced divers,rescue divers & divemasters alike. As for experiencing emergencys i have helped out a fellow diver once in a stressed out situation. MY buoyance control is great, and to say that diving in 0 to 20' vis water is no problem for me.
Basic search & recovery is the only experience i havn't had. I don't think i will get into that because of the type of job i have.

MY past dive instructor has said to me even with my dive experiences, i should at least have the card incase it is required for deep diving trips. I'll agree....although many boat operators don't care . Some make you sign on the dotted line.

I know that amount of dives that i have are nil to many experience divers that logged over 200 dives but i'm gainning more experience every day.

Other than the C card, i don't think i would get much more out of the course than what diving experience that i already have. I'm still going for it....



What do you guys think.....

Safe diving.....Sam

I think that was well said. Get the card to get it for the 1% of dive boats that require it. I've been diving for 20 yrs and have yet to run across a boat that requires it but occasionally hear of one or two.

Also if you ever want to do Rescue you'll need it. That said I don't think you'll learn much from it unless you pick good specialities and find a good instructor who understands your diving experience and agrees to teach past the minimum standards.

Perhaps these specialities will be of interest to you...

Altitude Diver - I know you already do it, but do you just use a computer?

Dry Suit Diver - Ever consider going dry?

Multilevel Diver - Many of us do it with computer but maybe it'll be interesting to you theory planning wise.

Peak Performance Buoyancy - This never hurts anyone.

Search and Recovery - Have you ever shot a lift bag?

I would go for the card for two reasons....

One - some charters and operations require it. I was on one in the Great Lakes shortly after being certified and almost didn't get to go on the dive. Luckily my instructor was going with on the trip and he vouched for me.

Two - it opens doors to the fun training - rescue diver, search and recovery, ice, wreck, etc. You can't really get that training without the AOW.

It sounds like you probably won't learn a whole heck of a lot from the class - you may learn a little bit...but if you have all the experience that you say you have it won't be extremely educational.

Based upon your experience, you might not learn much in the AOW class, however you never know. If nothing else, AOW is a good opportunity to dive with an instructor and fine tune a wide range of skills and also to gain some exposure to some new concepts.

It's also a requirement for Rescue, a class that nobody that dives more than once or twice a year should be without.

Steven

2 weeks ago i dove in the keys with qiescence. they required to see my aow before taking me to the spiegel grove.

Find a good instructor who will actually teach you something and do it. There is plenty more to learn.

Rescue is a pretty good course too.

PS diving beyond your certification can effect your insurance

Im in the same situtation, but am taking AOW this weekend. My reasons were that it is required for getting to DM or Instructor. I believe I am advanced already, so this should be just an attendance course, though I will try to learn as much as I can. I agree though, you will not learn much that you couldnt have learned outside of AOW.

My wife and I were in the same situation as well.


Having made good friends with our OW instructor, and the other instructors at the shop we had over 80 dives by the time we did our AOW. Many of them with our instrutors around.


We tried to make the best of the course, ended up having a whole lot of fun and did learn some stuff.

With most "advanced" classes, I'd agree with you. OTOH, why take a class just for the card if there's an alternative? I'm currently teaching the YMCA Silver Advanced course to a diver with 200 dives in her log book. She's very happy with the faxct she's learning a great deal, both academically and with regard to in-water skills.

Shop around for an instructor who will teach you instead of just take you on 4 more dives.

I, personally, had about 40 - 45 dives when I started my Silver Advanced class. It was very beneficial to me.