PADI Advanced Open Water: Did you learn anything new?

[tursiops]

Do you believe it is impossible for an instructor to do something in a class that is not officially part of the class?

Tursiops is correct--that exercise was removed from the PADI course many years ago. Your instructor was acting outside of the standards. I am sure that PADI removed it because it was counter productive--too many people were indeed doing no worse or even better on it at depth than at the surface (as was often the case with my students), leading to the erroneous belief that narcosis was not a factor to be considered in diving. This is likely because the effects of narcosis are usually pretty minimal at the depths of the AOW class.

@ScubadriverDale Specifically, the relevant Deep skill was changed from "timed task" to "changes in color" in 2009.

 

[tursiops]

PADI's AOW manual from the early eighties is 234 pages long. The first quarter of it goes into dive physics and biology in greater depth than OW. There is nav, but it includes natural navigation, not just compass. There's limited visibility and night diving. There's search and there's boat and there's deep diving. And it's ALL the class; there isn't any picking and choosing.

What I'm saying is, analogize to school: you take your general education classes that give you a broad understanding, and then you pick your electives. AOW used to be enhancement of the basics. Now it's electives, and those can be things like fish ID or fiddling with your GoPro. I'm not a SCUBA expert. By I am an expert student, and I know which version of the course--the old way or the new way--taught me more things that will keep me alive.

Specialties can wait until after Rescue Diver. Basics, then expand. (This obviously assumes that OW by itself is too basic to really cover the basics.)

PW

Interesting. My detailed material only goes back to 1994, but I do have a 1991 AOW manual. It is 264 pages, covering what were then the three core dives (night, deep, nav) plus 9 electives, "choose two." Only one of those 12 dives is no longer being done (multilevel, supplanted by use of computers), Only two new dives are in the current manual (peak performance buoyancy and digital underwater imaging) which has 328 pages. PPB arrived in 1994, and has become the most-likely first dive for AOW. DUI combines the old photography and videography specialties, since most cameras today do both. Much of that material that was in the front of your AOW manual is now in the Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving, in more detail and more accurately, I suspect. That is all superficial.....the more important point is that (I think, without checking in detail) that all those dives have evolved over the years and are now more focused, with cleaner and more relevant standards, and better training material to do with them.

 

[npole]

It may have been just how the instructor explained it. I had no trouble understanding how to use it uw (ie. doing a reciprocal heading), and I'm the last one who'd understand something like that easily. I never use that method anyway as my diving is simple. I just point the lubber line in my preferred direction and see where the needle points. If it points SSE, I try to keep it pointing that way.

If you don't understand (I'm not saying you didn't...) the concept behind it, that is very simple (360° around you, that's it) you will miss the usefulness of the compass. A compass isn't just used to go in a predetermined direction, and in scuba diving this isn't it's principal function, but to position yourself in the area. It means that it will help you to figure where you are, in a imaginary quadrant, and how to return to your point zero (where you started your dive), so the day you will have no visibility or no reference points, you will have an instrument that will help you to have an idea, even generic (that is better than nothing) of where are you going and how to return on your steps, because while going up is always an option, in certain spots going up in the wrong area (even with a SMB) can be really dangerous.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

Do you believe it is impossible for an instructor to do something in a class that is not officially part of the class?

Tursiops is correct--that exercise was removed from the PADI course many years ago. Your instructor was acting outside of the standards. I am sure that PADI removed it because it was counter productive--too many people were indeed doing no worse or even better on it at depth than at the surface (as was often the case with my students), leading to the erroneous belief that narcosis was not a factor to be considered in diving. This is likely because the effects of narcosis are usually pretty minimal at the depths of the AOW class.

Sorry, noob diver here. Ill move along now ....

 

[NAUI Wowie]

Do you believe it is impossible for an instructor to do something in a class that is not officially part of the class?

Tursiops is correct--that exercise was removed from the PADI course many years ago. Your instructor was acting outside of the standards. I am sure that PADI removed it because it was counter productive--too many people were indeed doing no worse or even better on it at depth than at the surface (as was often the case with my students), leading to the erroneous belief that narcosis was not a factor to be considered in diving. This is likely because the effects of narcosis are usually pretty minimal at the depths of the AOW class.

btw all 3 of us AOW student were narcd on the deep dive. Was going to start a thread questioning the experience. Was actually a bit frightening as I seem to have blacked out for a few seconds and became aware the regulator was out of my mouth and I had ingested some water. Got reg back in mouth and proceeded to deliberately cough into it till ok. Then had to deal with this irrational feeling of great fear which I did get under control but is not a fun feeling. A LOT more to it than that, maybe I should start a thread to ask questions

 

[tursiops]

btw all 3 of us AOW student were narcd on the deep dive. Was going to start a thread questioning the experience. Was actually a bit frightening as I seem to have blacked out for a few seconds and became aware the regulator was out of my mouth and I had ingested some water. Got reg back in mouth and proceeded to deliberately cough into it till ok. Then had to deal with this irrational feeling of great fear which I did get under control but is not a fun feeling. A LOT more to it than that, maybe I should start a thread to ask questions

Yes, please, start a thread on it. What you describe actually sounds more like a CO2 hit (heavy exertion? hyperventilating?) than it does narcosis....the thread should prove interesting and hopefully valuable!

 

[NAM001]

I havent bought an underwater camera or a gopro yet. Im too new at 30 dives. I know what I dont know, read too many stories of new divers running out of air while taking pics or vids and been on liveaboards with multiple divers running off haywire or swimming into coral for the next pic or vid. You lose total awareness and can end up very deep or alone.
If I ever get a gopro itll be if I can just attach it to my bcd start it and forget it. Maybe later when im experienced ill worry about all the fancy pics.

I would suggest that your gopro product will not be as you would like. ot take pictures or video you have to have certain skills. like buoyancy to do it. trying to hover above the coral at 1 foot taking a pic of something 1/2 inch tall is not the same as a panoramic shot of the wall. Wvery one has to know their limitations and be aware. there is no magic day when that happens. just a cople of years on a dive on the oriskini while searching down the structure for something i saw earlier i found my self at over 1.8 ppo2 using 32% upon the flight deck coming into view. None of us ever hit a time when going forward is dome with an assurance we will not do something stupid. Given that we will do something stupid,,, the question is will it be deliberate or accidental and what do yo do about it for future prevention. BTW My first reg went n my mouth 50 years ago. I will never stop making blunders, and because of that i will never stop thinking what cold go wrong.

You work on your skills that are necessary to take video. buoyancy for the #1 and depending on what you are shooting learn to fin so you can back up instead of doing the puss off from the environment. Take all the shots you want if you are say in a drift dive at safe distance. the thing that makes photography is that you have to understand your camera. too much attention to it and you stop multitasking your mind with buoyancy and the rest of the surroundings. not to mention your spg and computer. I would recommend you get close to someone that does do a good job at photo and learn their skills.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

Yes, please, start a thread on it. What you describe actually sounds more like a CO2 hit (heavy exertion? hyperventilating?) than it does narcosis....the thread should prove interesting and hopefully valuable!

ah yes im off topic and that may have played into it. You guys are good at this. Ill start a thread. Would you also feel afraid in a CO2 event? for several minutes after?

 

[dmaziuk]

ah yes im off topic and that may have played into it. You guys are good at this. Ill start a thread. Would you also feel afraid in a CO2 event? for several minutes after?

CO2 is known to produce feelings of doom and gloom, apparently it's a survival thing: it tries to make you flee the area. Not speaking from personal experience.

 

[NAM001]

Most OW divers dont know how to use a basic compass underwater. i know im always elected to do that and i dont know jack at 30 dives.

but i can read a compass.

and yea I do know to use the ripples in sand for direction as well as current direction and that it may change, kelp if in that environment, etc

you are well on your way. in quarries there are n o ripples in the sand. (not being argumentive) and probbly not much for conture either. My wife swims circles when she uses a compass. for her i mounted the compass on a strip of plexy and told her to hold it like bicycle handle bars. now she goes strait but is lind to her surroundings, she will swim that straight course right over the target or will run into it with her head. I call that over concentration on a specific task.