Should I get my AOW

I just received my OW certification and have done no dives since the open water dives a couple of weeks ago.

I really disliked the LDS I went through and found another one. The owner of this one spent about 90 minutes with me when I last stopped in. He went over the difference in BCD's, regulators, tanks, etc. I learned more about equipment in that 90 mins than I did getting my OW. He didnt trash the other brands that the other LDS carried (Mares) he just went over the differences and what to look for based on MY needs. He sold Scuba Pro and DiveRite. He showed me his dive out fit, which he just took to 300ft. Its nice to find an LDS I'm comfortable with and who will treat a newbie so well.

Now I asked him his recommendation about AOW and how many dives he would like me to have prior to doing it. He said the dive requirement is pretty much gone now since they encourage new divers to move on to AOW for educational/saftey purposes. I know there is a financial incentive for them and I can see past that.

My desire to continue on is strictly for educational and saftey reasons. I guess the more I know the more I'm prepared. Living in Michigan dry suit diving is a requirement which is part of AOW. I have really no desire to be a tech diver so AOW would be it (at least for now). The class is $350, which includes equipment and I will be diving in November, December and January (Michigan = Ass cold).

What do you more experienced divers think?

I waited until I had over 100 dives to get my AOW and considered it a waste of time at that point, however, it is something that a new diver should definitely do as soon as possible. It is really just an extension of your OW training and is meaningful early on in your dive career. I would definitely recommend it.

then go for it. But if you're just 'card collecting' so that you have a license to go to 100 feet or more, or dive at night, then don't bother.

It doesn't appear to me that you're just card collecting, but I have to question why you haven't been diving yet. I wouldn't consider AOW until you've had a few more dives, just to build comfort and confidence in the water.

I think your best off getting in some dives first. AOW can be fluff if you are too experienced, but you wont get anything out of it, if you havent honed the basics. It'll just be OW part 2. Go on a DM ran charter in shallow water if your not confident of your abilities yet.

I should have emphasised I'm not card collecting, I read in Dive Training that card collecting seems to be a trend among new divers. I would be little embarrassed to show off an AOW card when my log book has 4 entries.

I haven't dived yet mainly because the weather here in michigan really hit the **** can fast. last week it was 30 degrees. this week we had somewhat of an indian summer, its 70 and sunny. I work M-F and its dark by 6pm now.

My friends are doing thier OW diving in two weeks. I was going to tag along just to practice my bouyancy skills as well as other OW drills. After that is going to be drysuit weather, which goes back to AOW certification.

Hi Guppie,

Were you disappointed by the level of training at the first LDS, or was it another factor (trying to strong-arm you into buying a certain gear config)?

The reason that I ask this is that as a new diver, both skill and confidence building are really important. I think that AOW (properly taught) can give you both. Soon after our cert, my wife and I did a number of practice dives is a nearby lake (at only ~15-20 ft depth). The two reasons for this was that we could practice buoyancy, and we were fairly sure that we weren't going to kill ourselves in 15 ft of water (no motorboats, no wave action, fairly warm). We were sort of concerned about going to deeper depths because we felt that our skills weren't quite there yet. A little later that summer, we took an AOW course: deep dive, nav dive, night dive, crayfish hunting... I can't remember what the last one was. Anyway, because of the presence of the more experienced instructors and the better gear (a real dive float & anchor), we felt safer doing the deep dive and the night dive. I think that a well-taught AOW class will show you some skills and run you through some dives that you might not otherwise do right out of OW certification. True, as Tim said, you can get the experience in other ways.

In your case, considering that drysuit diving is basically required for Lk Michigan diving, esp in the winter, I'd really suggest an AOW class, or some other supervised class for getting you confortable in a drysuit. I've never used one, but it's my understanding that it takes a bit of getting used to.

FYI, after getting my OW cert, I think I did 8-10 dives before doing AOW. The AOW was a real confidence builder. Recently, I hung around with an AOW class (not actually taking the class) - did another deep and night dive. I'm getting MUCH more comfortable with both.

I'd suggest that if there are any inland lakes in Michigan, that you also try to get a few dives in with a wetsuit at around 20 ft. It'll really help your buoyancy control.
Dive safe,

As a new diver I would recommend getting AOW soon after OW. Here's why:

- It gets you in the water. Hey, more dives under your belt
- Depending on the 5 skills you choose you will learn much more than you learned in OW (ie. I learned to use a wreck reel, compass navigation, peek buoancy control, additional kicks, night dive, deep dive). All of these skills can and will be used out in the ocean where they are required. Better to learn them in a safe environment with skilled divers.
- Hopfully you'll be surrounded by skilled divers where you can learn from them (ie. skills, equipment, dive sites, etc...).

I'm amazed at the comments from divers on this board that state you need XX number of dives before.... It's a never ending accumulation of dives before you are supposed to perform any skill. Hey, you learn from doing. Better to learn early on in your scuba career. When you dive in the ocean you'll be surrounded by skilled divers. Pair up with a skilled diver so that he can help you while down deep. I expect to dive more next year (I may get one or two more dives in before the years out). I may manage 10 dives next year. It'll take a long time before I get that XX number of dives in before I become old :doctor:

I just recently went on my first ocean dive. So much is going on (rocking boat - you better take something - I hurled) that it's difficult to take it all in. It's so much nicer to be at a quarry where time is not of the esscence. Much better learning experience for beginners.

Good luck, and welcome to the group! Wait till you hit the ocean. Awesome! (Well except the hurling )

oharag

Guppie once bubbled...
I have really no desire to be a tech diver so AOW would be it (at least for now).

Click to expand...

Not sure exactly what you mean by "now" when you say "at last for now", but I'd recommend going for Rescue Diver (regardless of the agency) at some point. It'll make you a better diver to dive with (both for your buddy and for yourself).

Good luck.

I myself am a Michigan diver. I will agree with the fact that drysuit is almost a requirement to do extensive diving here. I will also vouch for the fact that the weather here has not be conducisive to diving as of late.

This state definitely has "seasonal diving" and we are now leaving the season unless you enjoy real cold-water diving. But, in a lot of places the water is warmer than it will be all year due to the fact that it hasn't let off its heat yet.

I would say to get a reasonable number of dives in prior to AOW, but as the others said if you wait TOO long the course is essentially a waste of money as you will have already done it. Also, a certain degree of "card collecting" is required for certain more difficult charters. That topic is mentioned in other threads. I was happy with the arrangement that I did. I did four specialities with twenty-six dives under my belt. They were Navigation (important anywhere if for no other reason than confidence), Night/ Limited Vis (which defines most any dive in Michigan), Search and Recovery (Ok, I found it useless until I did my tech training and had to shoot lift bags), and Drysuit (see above in the post). Fortunately, SSI doesn't require one of the specialities to be deep diving. They just require that the be four diving specialities (ie. Underwater Photography or Equipment specialities don't count) and that you have twenty-four dives before you get the card. It was cheaper and easier to NOT have to do a boat dive (my AOW dives were all shore dives) for the class. It is difficult to find good water for a deep speciality without using a boat here.

I had just enough experience to appreciate what I was learning and not so much that the course was just "fluff" as tends to happen.

Oh BTW, welcome to the world of divers and shoot for a rescue card after the AOW. You and your dive buddy won't regret that decision.

You can make the argument either way but,
one thing easily noticed is that new divers have little or no bouyancy control.
The better your control the more you will get out of it, especially right after OW.