AOW immediately after OW?

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k374

Contributor
Messages
539
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Location
Greater Los Angeles
# of dives
50 - 99
The shop where I did my certification insists that it is important that I do my AOW immediately now that I got my OW. I'm of the opinion that I want to get some dives under my belt first. Their argument is that the OW is a very limited skillset and getting an AOW will increase my comfort level. My opinion is that comfort level comes through actual experience and time in the water so I should concentrate on that first.

Who do you think is right?
 
The Advanced Course can be done immediatly after open water and it basically gives you 5 more dives under supervision and also it gives you an insight into other things that you can do while diving! Its a good idea to do it but when you feel like it. do not be pressured into doing it if you do not feel ready!
 
In my view, the shop is right. Get the additional training for deep and navigation plus 3 other adventure dives. Having the instructor around will do a lot for your comfort and competence.

Then take Rescue. Sure, you'll be light on dive skills but some ability at Rescue is better than none. Particularly self-rescue...

There will be other opinions like: get some dives first, don't take rescue until you have a bunch of dives, etc. All good points.

But I believe OW divers should take every opportunity to get more supervised dives before they wander off with another OW diver or become dependent on the skills of a more advanced buddy.

Not that it matters but when I started diving, I only wanted to dive with more experienced divers. But they didn't want to dive with inexperienced divers - naturally. So I took the NAUI OW I, OW II, Advanced OW and Rescue sequence back-to-back. Just a couple of weeks off before Rescue to finish up First Aid and CPR. My buddy at the time took the same sequence. Then we did more than 100 dives together. Most excellent...

Richard
 
The shop where I did my certification insists that it is important that I do my AOW immediately now that I got my OW. I'm of the opinion that I want to get some dives under my belt first. Their argument is that the OW is a very limited skillset and getting an AOW will increase my comfort level

There are actually several parts to this. The first one is that they want to sign you up immediately because if you don't, you'll probably never come back. The other part is that typical OW classes are often lacking in many or all areas due to (profit-based) time constraints.

If you took a 2 or 3 day class and want to twist their shorts, ask them why they withheld proper training during your OW class, to such an extent that they need to rush you into "Advanced OW".

If you really want to twist their shorts, tell them you'll be happy to take it for free and see if they're still in a hurry. :cool:

Terry
 
The shop where I did my certification insists that it is important that I do my AOW immediately now that I got my OW. I'm of the opinion that I want to get some dives under my belt first. Their argument is that the OW is a very limited skillset and getting an AOW will increase my comfort level. My opinion is that comfort level comes through actual experience and time in the water so I should concentrate on that first.

Who do you think is right?
Personally, I think you should do AOW not long, but not neccesarilly immediately after OW.
This is for 2 reasons;
1. You get a wider skillset
2. Certain places you might want to dive actually require AOW to allow you to go there even if the dives might not require that much skill.

This is however based on the assumption that you didnt have any major issues during your OW course..
 
I can also see both sides of the story. Nevertheless, I suspect the motivation behind the dive shop's insistance that you sign up for the AOW was business-related. That's their lifeline so it's not unexpected.

The point about getting five more supervised dives is also very poignant. However, if you are going to be in an area where dives are routinely guided by DM's or even instructors, then you can still get that supervision without jumping into more courses while you are still task-oriented with your bouyancy control, fine-tuning your body position, and enjoying the fish. In my humble opinion, you may benefit more from, for example, the navigation dive and compass skills in the AOW if you are not preoccupied with crashing into the reef because your bouyancy control still needs some polishing.
 
Then again, peak performance bouyancy can also be started as one of the topics of AOW..
 
I am assuming that you were taught the PADI way. Looking at someone elses posting about learning rescue. That is a very good point and a very valuable class.

With NAUI I teach rescues to OW students and I don't do 3 day classes. That being said, I would recommend that you dive a bit before moving on. Yes you will get the experience of deep, navigation and other PADI "adventures" but the only way that you will feel more comfortable in the water is diving there, a lot.

Honestly, if it were me I would find dive sites that were similar to where I was trained and dive them like crazy. Maybe take a month or two and just dive them. You should be aware of what good buoyancy is so practice that on your dives. Then when you feel you are ready go and take that advanced class and DEFIANTLY take the rescue class. The rescue class is something that you hope never to have to use but if you do you will be (should be, depending on the instructor) prepared to act if the situation calls for it.

Long story short, wait a bit get comfortable in the water, then go back on your time table don't let them push you into it because they want your money.
 
In my opinion: if the original OW class didn't give you a skillset to start learning to dive comfortably within the limits of the card - there's something wrong in the system.

Most people will benefit from getting some dive time under their belt after the OW class, about 25 dives would be great. When you're relaxed and comfortable, you're going to be able to focus on learning and get a lot more out of the advanced course.
 
I have seen people take the AOW with out and dives other than the 4 dives in open water, some are ok some aren't. The best thing I beleve to do is dive more before takeing the AOW. There are alot of specialties that you can do before AOW. (i.e. peak performance). Or if you ask I am sure that they will let you go and dive along with the OW classes, that way you get bottom time and the instructers and DM's are there if you have a problem.
 
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