Advanced open water? is it too soon? or my own BCD

[Jim Lapenta]

Nothing wrong with that. I'd call that good judgment on your part. In my AOW class we work on buoyancy and trim on all 6 dives. Mainly due to the fact that I am introducing them to the use of slung bottles, big steel tanks (min LP95) for the deep dives, working on bag skills for two dives, and non silting techniques on each dive.

I offer 6 dives in my AOW class. Two of which I created myself -Advanced Skills Dive and Buddy Skills and Assist. Along with those are UW Nav, Night/Low Vis, Deep, and Search and Recovery. I will sub Wreck for S&R. None of the others are optional.

 

[TSandM]

We get into this discussion at regular intervals.

AOW dives can be pretty useless, if taught by an uninterested instructor to minimum standards. They can be great learning experiences, if taught by a motivated instructor who adds value to the class.

A Fish ID dive can, in addition to looking at fish, also incorporate some discussion of how to hover and not silt out the site, or even a demonstration of back kicking. Underwater photography can stress perfect buoyancy control, and the interplay between breathing and BC use. All these dives can hone basic diving skills, if the instructor approaches things that way. All of them can be poor learning experiences, if the absolute minimum is required of the student.

 

[kylgod253]

only one person can decide if youre ready: YOU. dont let anyone give you advice on when you should feel comfortable on a dive. go over the questions you have with your (soon to-be) instructor and express your concerns and see what they have to say. your confidence means everything in how well you will succeed. i personally took my AOW after only 3 OW dives after my OW class and i did just fine. hope this helps.

Side note: any BC you can buy with what would be your tuition for AOW class, you probably dont want to buy.. just my .02 (give Zeagle a good looking into )

 

[Pro Scuba Courses]

Nothing wrong with doing your Advanced Class straight away - more experience under the supervision of an instructor is a good thing. Just make sure you choose your instructor and dive options carefully and you'll have a great experience and learn a lot. A lot of the things taught on the Advanced course used to be part of basic training anyway - courses have now just been further broken down. Good to continue and do a Rescue Course as well. If taught properly it teaches you as much about preventing emergencies as dealing with them should they occur. As long as you are aware that taking these courses does not automatically make you an expert diver, then taking them and learning new skills is a good thing. Nothing is a substitute for experience though, so although get wet and dive as much a possible! Happy diving!

 

[RonFrank]

I think of AOW as more of an OW part II. This is one reason I believe it should be done right after OW. You will become more confident as a diver taking AOW following OW.

These advanced, modified classes offered by Bob and Jim are not generally available in most areas. There is no body teaching at that level, no one in Denver for example that I am aware of. That does not mean there are not good instructors here. They are teaching the more vanilla PADI class and there is nothing wrong with that.

If you have an agency recognized super instructor you may choose to wait, but it will be more expensive. Otherwise there is nothing wrong with the PADI AOW as a next step.

 

[GiantMoray]

ALL OW students now a days are taught computers, with most books relegating tables to the back appendix of the book.

I should just point out this isn't true. I am currently doing PADI OW and have been through the whole manual now and although computers were mentioned they certainly have not been taught. As far as I am aware there is a version which uses computers or the eRDPml but if you just take the standard tables based course that is what you will learn.

 

[Nautica2706]

The way I see it, AOW well PADI's atleast, comprise of sneak peaks into specialty classes/dives and a bit more training dives w/ instructors.

Those intro spec dives, you wont do well if you haven't got your basic skills right (buoy, trim, air use, etc). And taking AOW right after OW wont make you proficient enough with those skills to have you SAFELY ENJOY the kind of dives the AOW opens up for you.

So invest in your equipment first as that will help speed up the skill gaining process cos' familiarity helps. Also explore your local dive community, meet up new people and dive within your experience. All that will lead to you increasing your ability and hopefully meet up with another instructor who can mentor you without needing to pay cert fees. Then, when you feel your basic skills are good enough, you can opt to take the AOW with that instructor.

Thats what i am doing right now anyways....and I am not yet AOW still lol.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

....and I am not yet AOW still lol.

... that's OK ... you're in good company ... yfrog Video : http://yfrog.com/euhitlerisntaowz - Uploaded by

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Nautica2706]

... that's OK ... you're in good company ... yfrog Video : [url]http://yfrog.com/euhitlerisntaowz - Uploaded by[/url]

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Hahaha..I am going to set up a boat trip with him....hahaha...

so many things to comment Idk where to start lol..