You think 12 months is bad. I took the GF to Sandals Negril on vacation and had three cold water San Diego dives in the last week before leaving for Jamaica. The dives were in water down to 49 F with VERY limited visibility. Those three dives made EVERY dive in Jamaica look like a walk in the park.
I had my computer with me showing the dives but no log book. They said since I didn't have my log book, I would have to take a refresher course the next day and couldn't dive until the following day. The other option was to take my AOW with them. I didn't want to miss out on diving, so I took the AOW course with them.
The first dive (fish identification), I dove with the group. After observing the rest of the divers, and surfacing with over 2,000 psi from an AL 80, I wasn't mad anymore. These guys are use to taking VERY inexperienced divers and really shouldn't be taking ANY chances.
After the instructors realized they could actually get a full dive with me, they fought over who would take me out. Every dive after that was one on one with one of the instructors. I dive with a lot of guys in the 10,000+ club and one guy in the 60,000+ club. I don't consider myself a very experienced diver (105 dives before AOW certification, 40 dives after), so considering how the instructors acted, they must be use to some SERIOUS inexperience with their clients. I was mad at first, but in the end, I respected their decision to err on the side of safety.
In retrospect, the one on one dives put me in areas that they would have NEVER taken the group. The last two dives were wreck dives and by that time the instructor was comfortable enough with me to let me penetrate at over 100 ft.
I'm heading to Fiji in August and I can GUARANTEE that I will be bringing my log book this time.