AOW class at Cozumel

[NewDiver123]

Hi everyone:

I receive my ow in July. And, had 2 more dives after it. Now, I want to have aow cert. before next April. however, I couldn't find suitable class in my place. It will be still too cold at that time. So, I'm thinking about have the aow class at Cozumel. Some scuba diving agents provide the class such as Scuba Paradise. Does anybody have idea how good/bad it is to have the class at Cozumel? Which agent is perfered? Any concern will be very appreciated.

Thanks a lot!

 

[zinmaker]

Hello,
What is your big hurry for your AOW? Where is your local diving? Some agencies require you have a few dives under your belt before continuing towards your AOW. If you are planning a trip to Cozumel, and or plan on diving mostly in warm water then sure get your AOW in Cozumel. If you are certified by PADI you can get your AOW right after your OW, I'm not sure why, guess they don't want you to develop any bad habits.

 

[Texas Diver]

Welcome to the Board:

I recommend Cozumel Diving: Blue XT SEA Diving, Cozumel, Mexico My wife and I got our AOW from them. Christi, the owner/operator will take good care of you and you will have a lot of fun taking the course.

 

[NewDiver123]

Hello,
What is your big hurry for your AOW? Where is your local diving? Some agencies require you have a few dives under your belt before continuing towards your AOW. If you are planning a trip to Cozumel, and or plan on diving mostly in warm water then sure get your AOW in Cozumel. If you are certified by PADI you can get your AOW right after your OW, I'm not sure why, guess they don't want you to develop any bad habits.

My local diving agent suggested me to attend AOW class right after ow. I hold it since I want more practice. However, I'm going to attend a scuba diving trip soon which prefers aow diver. ow diver is also accepted, but I want to know better than that before I go. I was planing to practice at Cozumel, and I just know they also provide AOW class, so, I want to get it there. Thanks for your concern.

 

[NewDiver123]

Welcome to the Board:

I recommend Cozumel Diving: Blue XT SEA Diving, Cozumel, Mexico My wife and I got our AOW from them. Christi, the owner/operator will take good care of you and you will have a lot of fun taking the course.

Thanks for such helpful information. It is just what I'm looking for.

 

[ggunn]

My local diving agent suggested me to attend AOW class right after ow. I hold it since I want more practice. However, I'm going to attend a scuba diving trip soon which prefers aow diver. ow diver is also accepted, but I want to know better than that before I go. I was planing to practice at Cozumel, and I just know they also provide AOW class, so, I want to get it there. Thanks for your concern.

'Fi, 'fi were King...

I'd decree that a diver would have to log 100 (or more) dives in addition to taking an AOW course before being issued a card declaring him to be an "advanced" diver. As it is now, an AOW card really doesn't mean much; an OW cert'ed diver with 100+ dives logged is typically much more advanced than an AOW cert'ed one with 5.

That's not to say that more training isn't a good thing, no matter when it is acquired, but the material studied in an AOW class might have more relavence to a diver with more practical experience than one with just a couple of dives after OW certification.

Just my 2 new pesos worth; YMMV.

 

[Christi]

'Fi, 'fi were King...

I'd decree that a diver would have to log 100 (or more) dives in addition to taking an AOW course before being issued a card declaring him to be an "advanced" diver. As it is now, an AOW card really doesn't mean much; an OW cert'ed diver with 100+ dives logged is typically much more advanced than an AOW cert'ed one with 5.

That's not to say that more training isn't a good thing, no matter when it is acquired, but the material studied in an AOW class might have more relavence to a diver with more practical experience than one with just a couple of dives after OW certification.

Just my 2 new pesos worth; YMMV.

Gordon (and whoever is interested) read this thread...
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=81239&page=1&pp=10

AOW course right after OW is exactly the way PADI intends for it to be. It is designed to give divers 5 more supervised dives before "cutting them loose" on their own. AOW IS NOT and advanced diver course. It is an extension of the OW course.

Too many people falsly believe that the AOW certification ranks them as an "advanced" diver. Oly time and experience in the water can make one an advanced diver.

I'm in a hurry...gotta go meet divers at the beach for the SI...I have SURPRISES for them today...hehe!

 

[zinmaker]

Very well put Gordon, it isn't the card that makes the diver. Where are you planning to take this trip Newdiver123? Are you going to be doing lots of wreck dives, Deep dives? Sure with the AOW class you will get some good instruction, such as good boat diving habits if you plan on boat diving as one of the specialties. My assumption is that the organizer of the trip wants divers that feel comfortable in the water, divers they don't have to give their undivided attention.

 

[Christi]

This topic gets covered over and over again, so rather than explain it again on this forum, I have cut and pasted parts of this same dicussion from the Basic Scuba Diving forum on Scubaboard which has been ongoing. I quote Michael because I think he does an excellent job of explaining the basic dive training progression.

A good "Timeline" for a PADI diver that is wanting to progress through the PADI system of diver educuation should be OW diver, next ASAP enroll in the AOW diver course, the next weekend if time and money permit. next enroll in a EFR course, the next weekend if time and money permit. next enroll in a Rescue diver course, should probably expect a few weeks to work on this course considering the amount of bookwork. IF at anytime money, time or any number of other reasons do not permit a diver from enrolling in these courses then I reccommend that the diver DIVE. As often as possible and in as many different environments and conditions as possible and consistent with the divers experience and training.

Not only should a diver NOT wait to move forward with their training, it actually goes against the entire concept of the PADI training system.

The single biggest problem many of you have with the "Advanced" course is what YOU think it implies.

I often see complaints that Divers are "hurried through" the system and then I'll read a complaint that the OW course isn't thoruogh enough. This ia a contradiction in itself.
The PADI system EXPECTS that student diver progressses through the training system without making additional dives. The training is where the student diver gains experience and under the tutalage(sic) of an instructor.

I once posted that a way to look at diver education and certification would be that the diver traning has been broken up into pieces so that 1) A person can get into diving without a long term commitment on the front side. 2) YES, marketing 3) and yes cost.

Although training shouldn't REPLACE experience, it should be the catalyst.

The way the system is designed a student diver could (and possibly should) take OW, AOW, EFR and Rescue diver, back to back so to speak AND THEN go out and start gaining experience on their own. The diver now has spent several weekends under the watchful eye of their instructor and should be more than capable of handling circumstances and minor emergencies as they occur.

To the original post- A training timeline is an excellent motivational and educational tool. Goal setting is a great idea. Just be sure to be willing to adjust the timeline as needed.-Merry Xmas-M

The FACT remains the PADI system (along with most other agencies) is designed for the student diver to progress through the system without having to make interim dives. Now please understand I certainly don't find any reason why a diver shouldn't or can't go diving before enrolling in additonal courses it's just not neccesary or even recommended.
The part that most are missing is that diver training continues to be fractured. When these pieces are put together they create a diver that has been more thoroughly trained and is more prepared to go out and dive sans supervision. By not putting the pieces together in as short of time as possible delays the divers progression to a higher skilled diver. As has been said before often, a new diver will go out to gain experience on their own right after OW and develop bad habits that will be more difficult to correct later.
Look at it this way -give me a diver that will go through OW, AOW and right into Rescue and then goes out and makes 25 or so dives and compare them to the diver that right after OW starts gaining experience on their own, after the OW diver complete the same 25 or so dives let's compare the two divers.
Better yet at dive # 20 on each diver let's throw a problem at them. Say a lost buddy or something similar. Which diver do you want your loved one to be diving with?

...The scope of the course is not designed or intended to be an advanced course, ...the Advanced Open Water course is simply an extension of the open water training.

No one is debating that time and experience in the water is the only thing that can make someone a more competent diver. However, to place an arbitrary # of dives as a prerequisite is not the answer either. Allowing a diver to progress with more training, under supervision is a GOOD thing and keeps the divers that follow this path from getting into the water unsupervised before they have at least 10 dives under their belt.

If you will forget what YOU think the term advanced means, and try to think of the AOW course in the scope and intent it was designed for, hopefully your attitude/opinion on this topic will change.

While there are debates about every agency, the powers that be in these agencies know what they are doing and the standards and courses are designed with safety and education in mind

I would rather take a newly certified OW student directly through AOW so that I can work with them on buoyancy, air consumption, drift diving (in the case of Coz diving), the techniques and planning for multi-level dives, the effects of narcosis and how it feels, more extensive navigation techniques, and getting more comfortable in the water in general. This builds confidence, and gives them a clue of what they are doing before they jump in for a dive to 100 ft off a charter boat or with a dive buddy somewhere in murky water that requires navigation without a clue of what they are doing.

Please try to understand that this course is DESIGNED for new divers in mind with the goal of MORE supervision before releasing them to dive on their own, which is potntially much more dangerous.

 

[mjh]

Julie and I also did our AOW with Christi, she did a great job.