AOW as an experienced diver

[Tigerman]

I've been certified since '82 and just never got around to it. If Jim were closer I'd be up his butt until he opened and AOW class for me. LOL

I'll be setting up the nav course at the quarry I'm working at this summer for my local AOW cert. I've been reading my book and a lot seems to be quite redundant for me, but at the same time I have to demonstrate ability. LOL.

Underwater proctology as one of the specialties?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I'll be setting up the nav course at the quarry I'm working at this summer for my local AOW cert.

Here's what I do for AOW navigation ... set a marker at the bottom of the buoy with a course heading on it. Follow that heading for a couple minutes till you come to another marker with a different heading on it. Follow that heading till you reach yet another marker ... follow that heading ... etc. The sixth marker just says "Home". When you reach the point where you can go directly from that "Home" marker back to the starting buoy ... because you've kept a mental "map" in your head of which direction you went at each mark and for how long ... you've learned underwater navigation.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[AfterDark]

We had the second and last classroom session last night. I met the challenge and got all the reading and testing done in time for the class, even did a solo dive Monday afternoon before class!
The 3^rd student showed up last night. She was like just too sick last week, like too sick to even like call yaknow? Man what a group!
We had fun making squares and triangles with the compass in the parking lot with towels covering our heads, just draped over not wound. Later we went over almost all the subjects but things ran over and we elected to continue on the dock Sunday before going out to do NAV and Search and Recovery and of course boat diving because…… well, I guess because we’re diving from a boat! I’ll be coming back with a load of Quahogs (hard shell clams) and making stuffed Quahogs Sunday!

 

[boulderjohn]

As I read the Adventures in diving manual something about it was familiar but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Later it came to me …the Boy Scouts! It’s like earning merit badges. Take this, this, this and that and become a master diver!

I read a PADI article quite a few years ago that made it clear that the inspiration for the course structure was very much the Boy Scout system.

If you had taken the class individually, a good instructor can do a lot for you.

About a month ago I was asked to do a private refresher for a student--2 or 3 hours in a pool working on basic skills. It turned out she had hundreds of dives and had only been away from diving two years. We got in the water and she was immediately better than almost all students who take refreshers are when they are done. We did a couple basic skills, and then I talked about more advanced skills that she had never learned and asked her if she wanted to work on them instead. So we spent the rest of the scheduled time working on kicking techniques she had never learned.

An instructor can adapt like that, but it is hard to do it too much in a group.

 

[AfterDark]

I read a PADI article quite a few years ago that made it clear that the inspiration for the course structure was very much the Boy Scout system.If you had taken the class individually, a good instructor can do a lot for you.

Looks like my instincts are still good! All I want is a card that says AOW so when I make a reservation for a charter I don't get the cert song and dance. The knowledge and skills I've learned through the years by diving with experienced people and learning from them. I'd put my skills and knowledge up against any environment including environments I’ve never dived before like kelp for example. I’ve been urged to become an instructor but I have ZERO teaching skills so I do what I do best, dive and enjoy it.

 

[scubamask]

Since I upgraded all my gear the past 2 years and can't go to NC this year I pulled the trigger and started a PADI AOW class Tuesday. We went over the course and expected dives. I can’t believe I’m spending money for this just so I can do a charter once in a while. As I read the Adventures in diving manual something about it was familiar but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Later it came to me …the Boy Scouts! It’s like earning merit badges. Take this, this, this and that and become a master diver! Turns out I’ve been diving longer and have more logged dives than the instructor and the Divemaster in training combined!
The Nav and Search and Recovery dives sound boring. The cove where we’re going to do the skills is a mud / sand bottom. It’s probably easier to find an object, but not much to see.
The Night and Drift dives might be fun depending where we go.
The upside is ALL the dives are from a BOAT! I like diving from a boat!

I understand; but, the expectation is that divers will be taking this earlier in their diving experience (often very soon after the initial OW). I'm sure that the course is appropriate for the other divers in the class. Possibly, you just needed an instructor that is more exciting and dynamic in their teaching.

You could have investigated a Master Diver course. A good instructor could have sandwiched you into the Adv and Master sequentially or concurrently. And, a more individualized instruction would have potentially identified habits you may have developed over the >1000 dives that could be improved.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I’ve been urged to become an instructor ...

Don't read too much into that. Every agency trains their instructors how to sell continuing education. Some take it farther than others. I know one dive shop that urges every OW student to go at least through divemaster ... and if the student shows any enthusiasm for it, they're automatically told they're "a natural" and would make a great instructor.

A significant part of it's marketing ... something which all the agencies expect to one degree or another from their instructors ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[AfterDark]

Don't read too much into that. Every agency trains their instructors how to sell continuing education. Some take it farther than others. I know one dive shop that urges every OW student to go at least through divemaster ... and if the student shows any enthusiasm for it, they're automatically told they're "a natural" and would make a great instructor.

A significant part of it's marketing ... something which all the agencies expect to one degree or another from their instructors ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Mostly other divers but a few shops also. I don't read much into it other than they didn't advise me not to. As I posted I have no teaching skills and leave it to the teachers. We're going out Sunday AM NAV and S & R. I already know where the Quahogs are in the cove where we're going so I wouldn't need to search for them, just recover'em! That is if we have time after the training dives. The instructor said he's going to throw something of his own overboard for us to find. I'm going to suggest he tie his wallet to a weight and throw it over the side. How's that for a trust me dive?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Quahogs ... when I was in college we used to go out after a nor'easter and pick 'em up off the beach ... they make great chowder.

S&R ... I use a cinder block with a dive flag painted on the side. Once the students have found it, they get to use a lift back to bring it to the surface.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[AfterDark]

Quahogs ... when I was in college we used to go out after a nor'easter and pick 'em up off the beach ... they make great chowder.

S&R ... I use a cinder block with a dive flag painted on the side. Once the students have found it, they get to use a lift back to bring it to the surface.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I make stuffed Quahogs from them. MMMM...MMMM...MMM!