Boat diving specialty... Do you feel this is really necessary? Most of my dives are boat dives so i feel that it's another basket weaving course. Can anyone whose done this course please shed some light in this....
As this particular question is one of my pet questions I'm going to step up to it.
A "Boat Adventure Dive" (or Boat Specialty) is a perfect example of "It's the Instructor not the course" that is key. IF one bothers to actually read the Instructor Manual for the Boat Specialty (the Adventure Dive is 50% of the specialty), there is a LOT of information that is important and is probably not known except to someone who is already an active boater. The lessons to be learned can include docking, boat line handling, marine navigation, marine radio/GPS/radar use and, of course, the various techniques for exit/entry onto a boat. Then, there is the in-water part -- shooting a bag, strategies for navigation/returning to the pickup point (live boat, anchored?), when to use a star pattern dive vs. an out-and-back vs. "come pick me up" vs. well, whatever other pattern one might want. If, for example, you are doing an out/back or square to return to the anchor, what strategies are there to make it easy to find the anchor -- strobe placement, laying line back to the anchor, identifying key structural features, etc.
OR the lessons can be like the one I had for my "boat specialty" -- this is the head, this is a fire extinguisher, take the exam, jump into the water and follow the guide (and, btw, when I did my "specialty" I had been handling small boats for 20+ years).
As with so much, it is what you and instructor make of it.
Re AOW classes -- as I've said before, I really don't my students much choice. The first dive WILL BE the PPB dive; the third or fourth Deep, the fifth Nav. The remaining choices I allow are UW Photography (I provide the camera and housing unless they have their own and they generally see that the task loading involved is significant); UW Naturalist (perhaps my most influential class I've taken was Pacific Northwest Critter ID which significantly improved the fun in my dives -- understanding critter behavior makes diving so much more fun); Computer/Multi-level (this results in a very specific pre-dive planning session and the students are then required to "dive their plan" and then see how the actual dive really matches the planned progression -- times/depths/pressure); and Dry Suit (which is highly encouraged if they aren't already diving dry). I'll even allow a wreck dive on occasion if they plead a lot but then they have to research the wrecks and come up with their plan. (We don't have many "recreational" wrecks around here so I actively discourage this one.)
YMMV