AOW immediately after OW?

[stefo2]

I agree with what has been said above, that I would question the dive shops motives behind their insistence.
Apart from that, I do see the point in doing some more dives under supervision straight away, just as well as the notion that getting some experience first is the better idea. If you decide to the AOW straight away, the most important thing imo is that even if you have that little card, with only 9 or so dives under your belt you should by no means consider yourself an advanced diver. You will still be a beginner and should dive accordingly until you actually have the experience to go with the "title".

As for the rescue course - while I agree that it is a very worthwhile class that will greatly benefit you and the people you dive with, I really think you need to do some dives first in order to get comfortable in your own diving.

"some ability at Rescue is better than none" is certainly true, but I doubt that a diver who is not comfortable in the water yet will get the most out of the course.

 

[tedgarner]

Dive some first get comfortable in the water. AWO is a good thing to do but to start right after ow is not what I would do.
Many of the skills in aow you will master just while diving.
Yes take the class at some point but enjoy diving first and then move on two aow.

 

[kjvander]

One of the other ways to look at this is the methodology that some other agencies take in regards to AOW certification. With SDI/TDI after you become OW then you have to complete 4 specialties and also 25 total dives to get the AOW card. So even though you might be taking classes and diving with instructors for the four specialites (deep, wreck, nav, etc.) you are encouraged to go out and do some additional dives on your own and work on your bouancy, trim, breathing, etc.

While I have no problem with taking AOW right after OW you also have to remember to only dive in your comfort zone and get comfortable with your skills before moving on to more "advanced" diving.

 

[leapfrog]

K374,

Did you like the LDS where you got certified, did you feel comfortable? Doing your AOW elsewhere may not be a bad idea as it will give you the ability to look at other instructors and how they teach and your interaction with them. You can research which places to go here on SB.

My opinion on the number of dives and when to take training is that you should try to finish Rescue by about logged dive#40. I would move on to AOW somewhere between 10 and 15.

When I did my AOW I did it at a resort I went to have a two week dive vacation a few months after doing my OW. I was lucky because I didn't do all the advanced dives one after the other (which is what usually happens) but I was able to space them out between a whole load of other fun dives.

There have been countless threads on SB in the past about training and training levels, agencies and certifications. There is more or less a consensus (taking into account that you are lucky or intelligent enough to seek out good instructors who take more time) that a recreational diver is "minimally trained" once he/she has a Rescue certification.

 

[Walter]

Their argument is that the OW is a very limited skillset and getting an AOW will increase my comfort level.

This is probably partially true. Some OW classes are really, really poor and the skill set is very limited. If these guys are telling you the skill set is limited, odds are very good you took one of the poor classes that are oh so easy to find. The problem with the second half of their statement is there are no skills in the AOW class. Take the AOW from them and you'll have 5 extra dives, an AOW card and a very limited skill set that does nothing to improve your comfort level.

I would recommend practicing things like no mask breathing and mask clearing until they are second mature; then looking for an instructor that will spend time with you on remedial work (skin diving skills, doff & don, equipment exchanges, etc.) then get some experience diving. After you have some experience diving, take an advanced class with academics and at least 10 dives.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

The shop where I did my certification insists that it is important that I do my AOW immediately now that I got my OW. I'm of the opinion that I want to get some dives under my belt first. Their argument is that the OW is a very limited skillset and getting an AOW will increase my comfort level. My opinion is that comfort level comes through actual experience and time in the water so I should concentrate on that first.

Who do you think is right?

Only you can decide. Some things to think about ...

- If your skills are so limited, why would you want to widen them right away?
- What would you expect to learn by taking the class?
- Would you facilitate that learning better by waiting until you are more comfortable with what you learned in OW?

I am not normally in favor of going directly from one class to the next. But there are always exceptions, and everyone learns at different rates and in different ways. Some people learn best through classes, others by doing. You know yourself better than anyone on ScubaBoard does. My only firm advice is to never let anyone ... instructor, dive shop owner or dive buddy ... talk you into doing any dive you are not comfortable doing. This includes signing up for a class you do not feel you are ready for. If you feel you would be better served by waiting until you have some dives under your weightbelt, then you have answered your own question.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Clanggedin]

AOW is not really "Advanced Open Water". It's just more instructor lead dives in a number of different specialties. I took AOW after I got certified just so I could have 5 more dives with an instructor. I felt much more comfortable in the water after AOW and I also realized how much I love night diving too.

 

[iztok]

I continued from OW to AOW but I did dive fun dives in between as well.

I got certified end of June and by mid August I completed AOW and week later 4 out of 5 specialties so far towards my MSD. I had different instructor for OW then AOW (and specialties) and for Rescue (and EFR/O2) class I have the same instructor as I did in OW.

I liked the instructor time I had past OW. Right now I am at 55 dives and by end of this weekend when I complete my Rescue I should have all the requirements for MSD and over 60 dives all in. So I had 5 dives for OW, 4 dives for AOW, additional 16 (I think) dives with instructor towards specialties. I felt that I benefited from additional instructor time myself. This I would recommend doing AOW shortly after OW.

 

[ligersandtions]

I don't know which shop you did you OW certification through, so I don't know how much they really taught you. Here's the deal with AOW, in my opinion: if you do it too soon after OW, you are likely not to get much out of it because you'll be too busy trying to get things like your buoyancy straightened out and not have the bandwidth to do that plus the new skills....if you take your AOW course too long after your OW course, you're going to get very little out of it because you'll have experienced most of what they'll be "teaching" you.

However, if you can find a good shop (and honestly, I only have one "shop" to recommend in socal, and they might not be a good fit for you if your golas are different from theirs/mine) that will really take the time to teach you the information you need, such as gas management, the course can be very useful. Unfortunately, it's often a plastic card that lets you go on the "advanced" boats.

FWIW, I took my AOW about 15 dives after my OW and I didn't really get much out of it....I had the most stable buoyancy in my class (which is very sad because at 15 dives, it was still very lacking) and my instructor passed everyone without challenging us....basically made sure we did five dives and met the minimum standards.

You don't want a class like that because it's $300 for pretty much nothing....but if you can find a good course, it will probably be worth it (after you have a few more dives under your belt....because it should be challenging, even if mine wasn't).

 

[TSandM]

It's hard to know why the shop folks are saying what they are. Their business model prospers by selling continuing education (and at least here, the instructors make more money off classes after OW, so it's to their advantage to teach them, too). However, there are also students who finish their OW as fairly weak divers (as I did), where the instructor's advice to go straight into AOW is based on them feeling that you could definitely benefit by more supervised time before haring off into the blue by yourself. (Why they would certify someone who fit this description is a whole 'nother story.)

There really isn't time in the prescribed PADI 4 OW dives to do a lot of things other than the required skills. Fine tuning your weighting, and trying to balance your equipment out a bit, is something that will make you much more comfortable in the water, and a PPB dive or class is something I think most students would really benefit from (if the person teaching it has a clue, which unfortunately a lot of instructors don't). Having your first night diving experience with someone who helps you feel confident can be a good thing, too. Practice with navigation is extremely useful, if you intend to do any independent (non-guided) diving. Through all of these dives, you are still practicing buoyancy control, buddy skills, communication, etc. -- it's all useful.

The bottom line is that doing AOW immediately makes sense if you intend to go on to dive independently, and if -- and only if -- the class will have some value OTHER than five more dives. And that's up to the instructor.

(BTW, I did my AOW immediately and got almost nothing at all out of it, except some more time in the water. But I wouldn't have gotten any more out of it had I waited, because there just wasn't much there to get.)