Aow- Nitrox

[BASIL]

:sniper: I recieved my C card 6-22-02. And I have it bad. Thinking of going for my AOW and NITROX. I've got 20 dives so far, with 4 in Cancun, and 5 in the Cooper river to find sharks teeth. The Cooper was a hoot, and I did find teeth. 6"-18" vis. So, to my "?". Am I rushing this as far as going for the AOW and the NITROX?

 

[Ontario Diver]

AOW is a fun course and becomes excellent with good instructors. That cert will also get you onto more boats.

I'd suggest the Deep spec over the Nitox spec at this point; assuming that you are diving in 80-120 ft. The deep course will be more useful.

Nitrox is an easy course. (IF you know math )

Dive Safe.

 

[Wendy]

I think that around 20 dives (20-30 range) is a good time to take AOW and nitrox. In the AOW class I coverend trim and bouyancy, night diving, navigation (how many spec are there to do, I can't remember the others) and I did my nitrox course at the same time. Just make sure that you are comfortbale with teh diving you are doing now and take your time and become proficient with the diving you are doing before going on to another cert. The water will always be there, there's no hurry.

 

[SubMariner]

Both Adventures in Diving (aka Advanced) and Enriched Air (aka Nitrox) are good choices.

BTW, Nitrox is the only course where you can combine the dives with another activity. For example, on you Nav dive for AOW, you can be using Nitrox. Ditto on any other dive (providing the depth falls into the safe zone for the particular EANx blend you are using).

IOW, you can easily do BOTH courses!

DSDO,

~SubMariner~

 

[JDostal]

Personally, I feel the deep diver course is a load - assuming you are diving w/ padi anyway (and I am as well, so I'm somewhat justified in this). The deep class is kind of a joke....

In the nitrox class, you will actually *learn* something. Partial pressures, max depths, those kinds of things.

AOW class won't teach you a whole lot - it just a quick skimming over of different types of dives. It's more of an advertisement for future classes than anything, but it does get you diving in a wide variety of conditions under the supervison of an instructor, and the book is good.

As far as rushing it goes...depends on your skill kindof. I did my aow w/ (checking log book...) with 25 dives under my belt. For me, I felt it was enough.

Do you feel comfortable with your skills? Are you a decent diver? Then heck yeah, go for it. But if you're not, just practice a little.

Most of all, enjoy it. AOW was fun. Got to play with a camera, search and recovery is just a blast, and i always like diving deep. I unfortunately didn't get to do the night dive in my class, but i made up for it soon enough with a few other night dives =)

 

[SubMariner]

There is a continuing misconception about what the Adventures in Diving (aka Advanced or AOW) course is about. It was never meant to be (nor will it ever be) a course that is supposed to make a diver an "expert" in any particular type of diving.

What it is: a way to introduce a diver to different dive xperiences under the guidance of an Instructor.

BTW, any of the dives done during the Adventures in Diving course can be applied at a later date towards that particular Specialty. Likewise, if you do a Specialty course, one of the dives from that Specialty can be applied towards your Adventures in Diving certification.

Hopefully this has cleared things up a bit. Anyone with questions can email me.

~SubMariner~

 

[FloridaSpork]

I think if you're comfortable in the water, you should definitely go for both. I've heard of the Cooper River dive (haven't actually done it yet, but I'd like to) and if you had a good time with no problems, you should go for AOW and Nitrox. I did mine with only 11 logged dives.

The thing to remember, just as SubMariner said, the AOW are really nothing more than instructor-guided dives. There's no real book or course work associated with them. Nitrox teaches you quite a bit more. I got a lot out of the classroom work.

Are you doing PADI AOW? If I remember right, the two required dives for their AOW are Underwater Nav. and Deep Diver. You'll probably do a wreck dive with your deep dive. If that's the case I'd recommend doing a somewhat shallow wreck (70-80 ft) which shouldn't be hard to do since you're in NC. My deep/wreck dive was on the Thunderbolt in Marathon which is at ~110ft. That was first time that deep and I wasn't very comfortable, so I don't think got out of it what I should have.

It all really depends on your instructor. If you've got a good one, you should be just fine. Good luck, have fun and be safe!

 

[Scubamedicjoe]

my choice would be this in this order advance open water , with some of them being night dives, navication, deep dive , wreck dive , advance bounacy control and of corse nitrox this will make you a very rounded and comfortable diver and will get you into the next levels of diving !!!!!!!!!!!