AOW/Rescue Diver Not Respected

[tursiops]

I'd like to see in addition to nav & deep, that PPB (though it shouldn't need to be added if OW is done properly) would be the first dive, followed by a standardized self-reliant, and then nav (where a VERY rough SAC rate is determined during the 100 foot swim), deep (where they calculate the expected air consumption), and either S&R or night. I understand that is some parts of the world, night isn't practical in the summer due to that midnight sun.

The AOW I teach is PPB, Nav, Night, Deep, plus one. The plus one depends upon their interests, for example wreck or U/W naturalist or S&R. I will not teach a photo class at the AOW level, unless they are very experienced with spot-on buoyancy and in-water skills. I'd love to include Self-Reliant, but with the 100-dive prereq, it excludes a lot of people.

 

[scubadada]

I have been an AOW and Rescue Diver for several years now and, aside from the fact that I learned a lot, it seems that those ratings do not get the respect that I feel they deserve from many dive ops I have used in the past. Many dive ops will still require check out dives or even withhold going to certain spots until I have proven myself in their eyes. It seems to me that for many dive ops AOW and RD really mean nothing. Could this be because those shops use the classes more to generate revenue than they do to impart knowledge? Is it because these classes are basically "no fail" classes? Is there another reason that I am not aware of? Am I just choosing ops that are wrong for me? I am having a hard time understanding. Maybe I look unsafe and seem to need more attention LOL, though I don't think so. What are your thoughts?
RichH

Hi Rich,

I've never been asked to have a check out dive. I have been required to have AOW to initially book a few trips when the operator did not know me. I've also had discussions with a few operators regarding training and experience/ability level prior to booking some trips. I've not ever been denied a recreational dive. It's very unlikely that I will ever have a higher level of training than I currently have, I certainly hope to have more experience and ability though.

Good diving, Craig

 

[tursiops]

I've never been asked to have a check out dive.

You may not have known. I recently led a liveaboard trip with 20 divers. The cruise director came to me the first morning and explained the first dive would be at a benign site, limited depth possible, not a lot of coral to kill, etc, so the DMs could take a look at the divers. Was that OK, he asked? I told him absolutely, nothing more was said of it, I suspect most or all of the folks had no idea they were being checked out in a "safe" area.

 

[Damselfish]

Disagree on Fish ID. You've obviously never encountered a fish geek (like my wife). I swim around and see lots of fish; she swims around and comes out saying there are three new fish she's never seen before, five mating rituals going on, a strange absence of brown chromis, and larger-than-usual grouper. Her appreciation of the environment is greatly enhanced by her fish knowledge, and that is what she communicates in the Fish ID class she teaches and its follow-on, REEF.org membership and citizen-science surveys, of which there are now over 210,000!

I don't see anything wrong with a FishID class. I actually think it's great. But I don't think it should be one of the electives that can go towards AOW. I think those dives should be about developing in-water diving skills, ones they typically skip or gloss over in OW, and electives if any should be chosen from a much shorter list. That makes it more of a coherent thing with at least a little meaning. (At the time I took PADI AOW, I don't even think there were electives.)

 

[scubadada]

You may not have known. I recently led a liveaboard trip with 20 divers. The cruise director came to me the first morning and explained the first dive would be at a benign site, limited depth possible, not a lot of coral to kill, etc, so the DMs could take a look at the divers. Was that OK, he asked? I told him absolutely, nothing more was said of it, I suspect most or all of the folks had no idea they were being checked out in a "safe" area.

I appreciate your comment. A very small proportion of my diving has had a DM/guide in the water, and, when it has, one is generally not required to to dive with the guide

 

[DevonDiver]

A checkout dive is to ascertain an individual's ABILITY in the water.

Certification cards from training courses and log books showing 'experience' get checked in the dive center, at the counter, over a coffee.

Which procedure gives the most accurate indication of a diver's no-BS competency?

There can be a vast gulf between actual ability and training/experience.

I wholeheartedly support dive centers that have the ethics to expect checkout dives.

 

[KeithG]

I think those card holders get all the respect they deserve. Checkout dives are an essential tool for a dive operator to understand what type of clients they will have to look after.

On our last trip, both operators we used required a check out dive. The first week a diver panicked during the checkout, bolted to the surface and aborted the dive. This was in Roatan, clear calm warm waters, about 40 feet deep. She was a certified rescue diver. She was so nervous and scared that she sat out for several days. Once she came back on the boat the DM became a full time baby sitter.

 

[Darnold9999]

Every liveaboard that I have been on has done the first dive at a site with no current, hard bottom i.e. an easy dive. I assume that it is to have a look at the divers and from there choose sites and conditions appropriate for the group for the rest of the trip. IMHO this is a good thing and can't say that it bothers me at all that someone wants to have a look at my diving skills before dropping me into something "interesting". Particularly in a remote part of the world where rescue and medical are marginal. Why would it bother anyone? As all have said before the cards are pretty much meaningless.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Every liveaboard that I have been on has done the first dive at a site with no current, hard bottom i.e. an easy dive. I assume that it is to have a look at the divers and from there choose sites and conditions appropriate for the group for the rest of the trip. IMHO this is a good thing and can't say that it bothers me at all that someone wants to have a look at my diving skills before dropping me into something "interesting". Particularly in a remote part of the world where rescue and medical are marginal. Why would it bother anyone? As all have said before the cards are pretty much meaningless.

Why would it bother anyone? They spend thousands of dollars to arrive at a dream destination, they have spent thousands of dollars on training from professionals, spent thousands on buying the best gear.meticulously documented their experience in a log book and when they arrive they are forced to be subjected to a baby dive that is hardly sufficient to determine their proficiency....and you can't image why everyone is not ecstatic???

 

[fmerkel]

My last 2 trips up to God's Pocket (Swell Live aboard, and the resort) the check out dives were the hardest dives of the entire dive period. In both cases it surprised both the divers and the dive op. One was so bad my wife and I realized we should have simply quit 10" into the dive; horrible viz and a damn stout current. In current sensitive areas the current does not always cooperate.