AOW necessary?

[1KWIK_69]

It's definitely worth the time to get your AOW. Peak Performance Buoyancy specialty alone makes it worth while, but as others have said, most dive operators in CZM will size up your skills on the first couple days and then decide which boat to put you on. I'm a PADI Dive Master, and my Dad is just OW, but he's been diving since before PADI even existed. He's never been denied a dive based on his cert.

 

[ggunn]

It's definitely worth the time to get your AOW. Peak Performance Buoyancy specialty alone makes it worth while...

What would I learn about buoyancy in an AOW class that I haven't learned in 20+ years of diving?

Can you test out of an AOW cert class?

 

[mmmbelows]

don't ever get too old that you can't learn something from everything you experience. Once that happens the only thing left is a government job

 

[Streydog]

I feel the urge to say something...

But I won't.

What happens in Playa stay in Playa.

kind of off topic put just checked and AA has some dropped fares DFW- CUN for $285 in April. Very tempting.

 

[Streydog]

I feel the urge to say something...

But I won't.

What happens in Playa stays in Playa.

kind of off topic put just checked and AA has some dropped fares DFW- CUN for $285 in April. Very tempting.

 

[tursiops]

What would I learn about buoyancy in an AOW class that I haven't learned in 20+ years of diving?

Can't say without seeing you dive. But 20+ years of diving doesn't automatically mean good buoyancy, it just might mean some really ingrained bad habits.

Can you test out of an AOW cert class?

No. Well, sort of. The test is the dive. So if you do the five dives (successfully) you have "tested out."
It is a *diving* cert, not a theory cert.

 

[jonhall]

I feel the urge to say something...

But I won't.

What happens in Playa stay in Playa.

I tried not to say anything but............take the Tinker Bell Fairy to Playa and look for Peter Pan's dive shop!

 

[Streydog]

OK just realized what I did. Guess I should go back and do little editing

 

[ggunn]

OK just realized what I did. Guess I should go back and do little editing

Typos/autocorrections happen but sometimes th

Can't say without seeing you dive. But 20+ years of diving doesn't automatically mean good buoyancy, it just might mean some really ingrained bad habits.

No. Well, sort of. The test is the dive. So if you do the five dives (successfully) you have "tested out."
It is a *diving* cert, not a theory cert.

My buoyancy skills are excellent, thanks. I can hang motionless a few inches off the sand for as long as you would care to watch. I can glide through a swimthrough without touching the walls or stirring up silt. It's really not that hard.

AOW certification is, among other things (and some would say primarily), a source of revenue for certifying agencies. It may be a faster track for accumulating some skills but it's not anything that you can't learn from experience.

 

[mmmbelows]

About all the skills gained from AOW can be accumulated with dive experience, however, AOW is also the doorway to a rescue cert, skills you won't gain through dive experience and that cert will make you an exponentially better diver, safer diver and an asset to other divers, not to mention open doors to dives you're restricted from, not in Coz but elsewhere.