AOW courses to take?

[TMHeimer]

I recently did a S & R dive with one fin to search for the one I dropped. I didn't use the expanding square, U pattern, or circular. I used the Zig Zag from 10' depth to 3'. This is my invention. It worked. Then I got to shore to find someone had taken my dive flag from where I left it on the beach. S & R on land/tank on back, followed.

 

[thebird36]

I can always ask the dive shop what they recommend as well. After my advanced cert. I was thinking of taking a dive down to some of the wrecks before I left. I only have 4 days to dive.

 

[t4e]

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

thank you kari, that actually sounds interesting

With Boat diver not a darn thing if you have done all of your diving (or a lot of your diving) from a boat or two already.
If you havent -for example you have done only confined water(quarry) diving then there is enough to learn to make it worth while in my opinion.
Underwater naturalist (in my opinion) is a waste of time for AOW UNLESS its something you would like to specialise in -perhaps as a career choice.

we did go from confined water to boat diving and the briefing covered pretty much all the rules, subsequently on all other places we've been the briefings did the same
we did all the entries during the course so that was no surprise
the fact that you should be considerate of fellow divers and keep your gear under your seat, i thought was common sense
not sure what else there is to learn in a whole course

 

[al248005]

Just remember to take what is beneficial to you for the type of diving you will be doing. Just don't let a shop talk you into a course you hardly will use except on vacation.

 

[rameus]

Night Diver
Fish I.D.
Photography
Videography
Wreck Diving
Boat Diving
Peak Performance buoyancy
Search and Recovery
Deep Diver
Drift Diver
Underwater Navigator
Underwater Naturalist

hey Paul!
when i did my AOW we had the "fixed" schedule: Night, Peak Performance Buoyancy and Navigation. at that time I didn't know what these dives would help or why we did them but i have to say this was quite a good choice.

PPB: definitely i would do the PPB because this is one of the most important skills for all your dives to come.
Navigation: it gives you an impression what to be aware of also when you want to continue your training and raise your awareness.
Night: You will find the "normal" divespots in a completely different state once you see it at night.

All the others may count towards a speciality training but will most likely not give you a huge benefit at the time.

thom

 

[thebird36]

I just signed up and I'm taking deep, nav, night, ppb, and search and recovery the only other thing I would take is wreck diving, but I was thinking, do I need to be certified or take a class on wrecks to be able to see them and explore them?

 

[nimoh]

you don't need to be certified to dive a wreck. However, you should be certified before going inside the wreck.

 

[BDSC]

but I was thinking, do I need to be certified or take a class on wrecks to be able to see them and explore them?

Not necessarily. I can tell you many of us here in NC have been diving wrecks for years and never took a wreck diving course. I know a lot of wrecks in the Caribbean have been sunk to be a dive site. On many of those they remove doors that could close on you and they have lots of openings to swim in and out around the wreck. Most of the time even if you swim into the wreck you will have no problem seeing a way out. Now if you are going to dive the Andrea Doria that's an entirely different beast. Honestly, common sense and good judgement is usually all you need.

 

[tplyons]

Deep and navigation are required. The three electives I took were peak performance buoyancy, night dive, and search and recovery.

But any of the three according to your interests are a good place to start. If you know you're going to take a specialty (like I'll get photography this year) I wouldn't bother with doing it as part of AOW. If you're on the fence on one, like I was about S&R, I highly recommend it. I'll take S&R eventually, because of my work with it during my AOW.

 

[thebird36]

Well I'm now AOW certified! I ended up with PPB, navigation, deep dive, search and recovery, and wreck. I signed up for night dive, but due to conditions I wasn't able to do the night dive and the next night dive is after I leave Key Largo, so wreck diving is what replaced it.