AOW cart before the horse?

[fintastic]

I live in the northeast and find lots of great places to dive. The 1000 Islands area has several great wrecks that range form novice to advanced tec. You might be missing some super trips in your backyard.

Where is this 1000 Islands area? Any local diving recommendations for a recently certified diver living in Connecticut?

Thanks

 

[Michael Schlink]

I am a little biased here as I am a PADI inst. however. the AOW course is designed to go straight from your OW. In fact you should go for AOW and Rescue as soon as time and $$ permit. IMHO you aren't a fully qualified "good buddy" until you have completed these courses-Dive Safe-Dive Alot-M

 

[fins wake]

the AOW course is designed to go straight from your OW. In fact you should go for AOW and Rescue as soon as time and $$ permit. IMHO you aren't a fully qualified "good buddy" until you have completed these courses

I agree entirely. The AOW is too experience-based a course to be very useful once one has many dives under the belt. The sooner after OW the better. Then go back and do shallow work-up dives.

Just my two cents ...

 

[10X]

I became OW certified in June 2003. I made one dive in June, July, and August, before signing up for AOW classes in September. I did so to gain some more instructional time and perform a deep dive, for experience, before an upcoming trip to Hawaii.

I was glad that I did this class. I gained more experience with buoyancy, navigation, and deep water. This class gave me more confidence and made me feel more at ease with what I was doing.

To date, I have only 22 dives but I have no illusions about my experience and do not hesitate to let dive buddies and dive masters know of my limitations, in spite of the AOW certification. Prior to leaving for Hawaii, I even called the dive shops I would be with and specifically told them of my lack of experience. As a result, on the first dive, a dive master was teamed up with my dive buddy and me so our abilities could be gauged. I was happy they did so.

Heck, thus far I have not even made a single dive without a dive master/instructor present. I am content with this for the moment because I am continuing to learn from them. Just watching them has helped me to learn what I am striving to obtain.

This class was a great learning experience for me and I do not regret taking it with so few dives under my belt. I doubt that you will regret it either.

I plan on continuing with classes now to gain further knowledge and experience.

 

[Michael Schlink]

I think what is often missed by new divers is also often debated in regards to how much training is needed before you are qualified diver. Many years ago diver training was more rigorous, more classroom, and for some too much. What PADI and actually most other training agencies have done is broken up the "TOTAL" training a diver should take into pieces. Unfortunatley many new divers think that they should go out and get some dives in before taking more training. This is not what was in mind when the courses were "split" up. The PADI courses OW, AOW and Rescue are designed to, and should be, taken one after another a soon as the diver can. Yes they can dive before moving into the next course but what is almost always misunderstood is that you are, as a new diver, only supposed to dive in the environment that you were trained in. Case in Point: If you took a OW diver course in the midwest and did your check out dives in a cold water quarry you are NOT trained or qualified to hop on a plane to Cozumel and get on a boat and go jump an 80ft drift dive. In fact a PADI OW diver signed a statement that says that they will only dive in the environment and level of their training! If you are going to be a responsible diver and a "good buddy" you need to take AOW and Rescue ASAP. If you do 4 OW dives and then 5 AOW dives and then spend a weekend or a few days on self and buddy rescue skills along with knowledge building under the tutalage of a qualified instructor you will be on your way to becoming a "good diver" What better way to gain experience?? Dive Safe-Dive Alot-M

 

[H2Andy]

interesting perspective, Mike, thanks

 

[RiverRat]

I think what is often missed by new divers is also often debated in regards to how much training is needed before you are a qualified diver. Dive Safe-Dive Alot-M

Yes, I can relate to that. I went from OW to AOW and then to Cayman on multi-profile 100fsw plus dives. The AOW skills definately gave me more confidence out there. Although the diving in Cayman may be considered "easy" it was still a big jump as there were many "firsts" for me out there. First multi-profile computer dive, first dive deeper than the 60ffw quarry dive, first real boat dive except for the discover scuba boat dive I did, first dive "without a bottom" over the walls, first deep dives on Nitrox (I got that cert with AOW) etc. etc. Luckily for me I got my own gear and tuned up best I could before the trip, the swim throughs were challenging to my buoyancy skills! I would also recommend the Nitrox class to new divers. It really opened my eyes to gas theory, with all the formulas etc. It gets your brain thinking about what is really going on down there while breathing EANx or air for that matter. I think all would agree that getting buoyancy skills nailed early on is critical also. Just my 2 cents.

 

[FatCat]

I am a little biased here as I am a PADI inst. however. the AOW course is designed to go straight from your OW. In fact you should go for AOW and Rescue as soon as time and $$ permit. IMHO you aren't a fully qualified "good buddy" until you have completed these courses-Dive Safe-Dive Alot-M

Ye Gods,

This is what gives us PADI instructors a bad name. I don't believe in rushing people from c-card to c-card, although I firmly believe that every diver should make at least rescue-level.

I have suffered from early AOWD syndrome myself. I learned to dive in tropical waters, came home and wanted to start diving in our cold, dark Belgian quarries.

The first dive shop I went to gave me the advice to wait until later in the year until the water temperature would go up, so as to make the transition easier. I found this to be reasonably sound advice.

Four months later I signed up for an AOWD course with another dive shop somewhat closer to home. They took me - inexperienced as I was with only four real dives - on a dive to 30m in the cold and dark, where I got so scared I wanted to give up diving for good.

I wish to God they had advised me to go diving a few times to get used to local circumstances.

Besides, IMO the AOWD cert is too flimsy. As for experience, how can you possibly hope to teach someone advanced skills like navigating if they still have to get comfortable with diving itself. If you - as an instructor - seriously believe that a diver with only four training dives is ready to move on, I believe you need to reconsider your outlook on training. Or else you're the greatest instructor alive who only turns out crack divers who outclass everyone after their initial four dives.

I refuse to give in to the c-card selling game!

 

[CRDiver]

I don't care which agency you go to, AOW is nothing but Basic Open Water Part II. There's nothing "advanced" about it, so I can't see any reason why not to take it immediately after OW, under normal circumstances. I didn't get AOW certified until 6 years after my OW cert, and it was the most boring course I've yet taken. Take it when you're a beginner and you'll probably get more out of it.

 

[H2Andy]

I don't care which agency you go to, AOW is nothing but Basic Open Water Part II. There's nothing "advanced" about it, so I can't see any reason why not to take it immediately after OW, under normal circumstances.

that was exactly my experience.

i wish they'd call it something other than "advanced" OW.
to me, that was a complete misnomer.