AOW courses to take?

[spectrum]

If you have never been on a boat there are certainly do's and don'ts, techniques and things to know to make it safer and easier. So I am hesitant to say it's basket weaving. However your deep dive and potentially other dives will probably be from boats and much of the same information will be casually imparted or come to you in the form of the dive boat briefing then and in the future. Pay attention and pick a more meaningful specialty.

Disclaimer, I am almost exclusively a shore diver. I have never heard anyone counsel a diver to take a boat diver specialty course before boat diving.

Pete

 

[Karibelle]

Any dive-bum instructor (or DM) can run a D.U.P adventure dive. "Go see fish..take photos...enjoy". That's a rip-off, I think.

I think that's a rip off as well. There's more to it than that. And I don't need to be 'DIR-enlightened' to understand that any adventure dive turned into "go xxx... enjoy" is a rip off.

 

[Peter Guy]

Boat diving specialty... Do you feel this is really necessary? Most of my dives are boat dives so i feel that it's another basket weaving course. Can anyone whose done this course please shed some light in this....

As this particular question is one of my pet questions I'm going to step up to it.

A "Boat Adventure Dive" (or Boat Specialty) is a perfect example of "It's the Instructor not the course" that is key. IF one bothers to actually read the Instructor Manual for the Boat Specialty (the Adventure Dive is 50% of the specialty), there is a LOT of information that is important and is probably not known except to someone who is already an active boater. The lessons to be learned can include docking, boat line handling, marine navigation, marine radio/GPS/radar use and, of course, the various techniques for exit/entry onto a boat. Then, there is the in-water part -- shooting a bag, strategies for navigation/returning to the pickup point (live boat, anchored?), when to use a star pattern dive vs. an out-and-back vs. "come pick me up" vs. well, whatever other pattern one might want. If, for example, you are doing an out/back or square to return to the anchor, what strategies are there to make it easy to find the anchor -- strobe placement, laying line back to the anchor, identifying key structural features, etc.

OR the lessons can be like the one I had for my "boat specialty" -- this is the head, this is a fire extinguisher, take the exam, jump into the water and follow the guide (and, btw, when I did my "specialty" I had been handling small boats for 20+ years).

As with so much, it is what you and instructor make of it.

Re AOW classes -- as I've said before, I really don't my students much choice. The first dive WILL BE the PPB dive; the third or fourth Deep, the fifth Nav. The remaining choices I allow are UW Photography (I provide the camera and housing unless they have their own and they generally see that the task loading involved is significant); UW Naturalist (perhaps my most influential class I've taken was Pacific Northwest Critter ID which significantly improved the fun in my dives -- understanding critter behavior makes diving so much more fun); Computer/Multi-level (this results in a very specific pre-dive planning session and the students are then required to "dive their plan" and then see how the actual dive really matches the planned progression -- times/depths/pressure); and Dry Suit (which is highly encouraged if they aren't already diving dry). I'll even allow a wreck dive on occasion if they plead a lot but then they have to research the wrecks and come up with their plan. (We don't have many "recreational" wrecks around here so I actively discourage this one.)

YMMV

 

[DivemasterDennis]

The dives you should do if you have the option, in order to get the most out of the AOW class, are these: buoyancy; navigation; deep; night; and search and recovery, which will give you more work on navigation. Each of these five will focus on honing your dive skills, and doing so in new environments (deep, night, for example.) Read all of the materials for each dive.
DivemasterDennis

 

[Steve_C]

RE: Boat dive

I did the Boat dive specialty as part of general training. I did not learn anything from the dives as such. But then I had a very good OW instructor who was also a sailor and a Tech instructor. Along the way he had talked to me a lot about boat diving, dive boat manners, etc. We had done both giant stride and back roll as part of OW. The instructor and I were personal friends who would talk scuba while the wives gossiped. So I may have had a lot more instruction and in more depth then the typical new OW. I also had been in and around and driven fresh and salt water boats for 40 years before I started diving. So for me it was just a card.

Having said all that, I can see for some other divers starting out that it would be good.

---------- Post added May 5th, 2013 at 08:34 PM ----------

Won't comment on boat.

Underwater Naturalist is about what you see, what it is doing, where to find it and when, and what else you might find in conjunction. I see there are a lot of "haters" on this course, and also Fish ID. Well for me, I love them both. I work in a tropical location with lots of life. Our divers (i daresay ALL divers) have more fun and dive more if they have positive experiences while they're diving, and here at least, seeing critters is a big part of that. Knowing that if you look inside a corkscrew anemone you'll often find a snapping shrimp is cool. JMO. Knowing what a corkscrew anemone is, and what a snapping shrimp is are also cool, and things not everyone gets immediately. Knowing what fishy sex looks like. Knowing what egg casings are, where to find yellowheaded jawfish, knowing whether you saw a sea snake or a sharp tailed eel... these are things that you'll learn in UW Naturalist. How to find a painted elysia. Where to look for seahorses. What conch eyes look like. What was that bar jack doing swimming on top of that ray? Where do I find juvenile spotted drums? Why does that eel open and close its mouth all the time? Where's the best place to find xxxx?

That's what you learn. Maybe you know all of that already, and if so, that's fantastic. :blinking:

kari

Kari

Don't need the cards anymore but if I ever dive in Cozumel you sound like a great guide to have. Sounds like neat stuff to find and learn about to me.

 

[NAM001]

I did my boat dive course through ssi. the content was boat protpcol how boat entry exit. equipment control/securing/ boat facilities ect. i needed a merit badge for the master card. Had i not had boucou boat trips and had to learn the hard/embarrassing way on gear stowage adn such it would have been a worthy for me also. The most important parts fo teh course was geting back on the boat with seastate. however you can learn the material in an evening reading the book and get what you need. The test had some tough questions such as "A boat that can accomodate 6 passengers is refered to as a ________. Answer 6pack.

Quick question,

Boat diving specialty... Do you feel this is really necessary? Most of my dives are boat dives so i feel that it's another basket weaving course. Can anyone whose done this course please shed some light in this....

 

[thebird36]

Well so looks like PPB for sure, my buoyancy is ok it could use some tweaking, so that sounds ideal. Navigation is already included which I've actually kinda did when I took my OW test, they just introduced us and told us to find a point and go to it, my nav skills are pretty good on land (thank you ROTC) and I understand much different underwater. I guess wreck diving would be cool too take since I'm pretty interested in them and would eventually like to check them out from the inside. Search and recovery could be useful especially for nav dives. Fish ID could be useful as well cause I am a photographer and it would be useful when I get into taking pictures down there, fish id is $70 at a LDS. I think night diving would be really cool to learn from a different perspective. The 2 LDS around where I live offer some of these courses as well, actually one offers every one of these classes, so I guess if I miss out on one I can always take it here or when I possibly go to Hawaii next summer.

 

[Centrals]

...........
Multi-level (this results in a very specific pre-dive planning session and the students are then required to "dive their plan" and then see how the actual dive really matches the planned progression -- times/depths/pressure).....

By far the most enjoyable and useful course. A timer and the wheel are all I need.

 

[TMHeimer]

I recommend the 3 I took:

PPB-- helped a lot.
Search & Recovery--You always lose something. And it includes navagation. Hopefully no searching for a diver.
Wreck--They're all over, but even the PADI Wreck Course is only an intro. I took that but wouldn't do anything but the simplest penetration (and haven't done that). Much of the other info. is just common sense, but still informative.

I'd stay away from those that don't directly improve your safety and efficiency. Those can come later if you like.

The big question is-- Is the place you're going to offering all the dives you list? There may be some "compromising" based on what the majority of AOW students want or what the shop is prepared/able to offer.

 

[Karibelle]

Kari

Don't need the cards anymore but if I ever dive in Cozumel you sound like a great guide to have. Sounds like neat stuff to find and learn about to me.

Steve,

If you're ever in Cozumel, look me up. I'm not hard to find, and I love sharing nerdy tips.

kari