Ow- Aow?

[lmorin]

Ask yourself why you would want to do AOW rather than just go diving. What are you likely to gain from the AOW dives that you wouldn't from just diving? Would you gain more by taking AOW with a bit more experience? Which AOW specialties would you take and why? Are they worth it? For example, do you really want to take the "Boat Dive" or the "Night Dive" specialties? Boat diving you are likely to learn just fine during the course of your regular diving. Night diving you can learn perfectly well on your own and even better with a friend who is familiar with it. In other words, do you know enough about your futures needs to make a decision now?

 

[jenlaur]

My husband and I went straight from OW to AOW. A little background first: we took diving lessons in preparation for a sailing trip in which diving was included. We were told there would be an experienced diver on board (either the capt. or the first mate). Turns out the captain had an extremely casual attitude about diving, did not even have dive tables to consult, didn't keep a log, nor was he familiar with the area's dive sites. The first mate didn't dive at all. Had we not had the AOW experience (the class and the extra dives) we would not have been nearly as comfortable diving. Before each dive my husband and I sat down and planned our route and max depth. Afterward we logged our dives. The captain of the boat did not do any of this, in fact he joined us for only one dive. We went on our trip with only 19 dives logged. But having taken the AOW course and having an awesome instructor made us very comfortable diving on our own. Another thing we did is that each time the instructor was taking a new class down for their OW cert we would tag along. We also planned a dive trip to the Keys where we did in 4 dives in a day. We felt like we needed to have the extra dives so we would feel safe diving on our trip. Had we not done the AOW course and the extra dives we would not have had nearly as much fun diving on our own.

 

[FF-EMT Diver]

Thanks for the input I was pretty intent on doing it soon but wanted to get your input, someone mentioned rescue I have all intentions of not stopping contuinig ED. So my plan is to knock em, down 1 at the time until at the top, Although the biggest hurdle i face is being 3-6 hrs away from good dive sites, we do springs closer and I love them but they are not the same.

 

[scblade27]

On the advise of some others, I got my OW waited a year and many dives, then took my AOW right before my cavern course. The ONLY reason I even took AOW was some dive boats require it for some of the deeper dives. Like others have said, after diving a bunch, I really didnt get too much out of the class. I basically paid for a card to prove to the charters I paid for a card.

If you have the money, go for it.

I also have to throw in there, the springs get a whole lot more interesting once you get into overhead stuff. Take your time though, overhead is one thing you dont want to rush in to.

 

[Boxcar Overkill]

I think going there early is a good idea. Something like 70% of all diver deaths occur within their first 20 dives. Having more supervision during that period would be useful.

Also, I'm in the camp that believes OW+AOW is what basic scuba training should look like if Padi could trick people into spending that much time and money all at once.

 

[Garrobo]

AOW's name should be changed to "Diver with more than 5 dives." What a joke.

 

[Walter]

For a real advanced class, you should wait. For AOW, there's no reason to wait.

 

[Sas]

AOW's name should be changed to "Diver with more than 5 dives." What a joke.

This idea has been done to death. I hope this comment does not derail the thread.

Ask yourself why you would want to do AOW rather than just go diving.

Hmm, well AOW is going diving and it is under supervision by an experienced diver (well one would hope) who can help you out with many things. In my opinion it really makes little difference if you do it now or later, unless you have no experienced divers around to give you a hand with certain types of dives. Doing my specialties for AOW over a few months gave me 11 dives under supervision in different types of diving such as deep, night, drift and navigation, and my instructor also gave advice in other areas, which was very helpful. The last three specialties I could have learned on my own with help from an experienced diver and would have done that instead, but I do not have any experienced divers around to help me out with those so found the courses worthwhile and enjoyable. If you have experienced people to dive with, I would suggest getting them to help you learn about night diving, nav and stuff like that. However, AOW does make it easier to go on some charters and allows you to dive at more dive sites.

AOW is really not hard at all and you don't need experience for it, so I doubt it is 'too soon'. Good luck~~