Aow

[rivers]

So I'm posting this here because I know that quite a few people affiliated with different shops in Cozumel post in this forum. Rather than send out a massive amount of emails, this is by far, the easier, more time effective option.

I am looking into getting my AOW. I was going to do it at home, but I leave for work 2 weeks before my LDS offers the class. A little background: I'm an entertainment for Carnival, and going to be heading to the Destiny in April. I'm looking to do my AOW either in late April/May (it's going to depend on my schedule). The ship docks in Cozumel every other Saturday from 1pm-10pm. I also own my own gear with the exception of a weight belt and a tank. I did my OW in Cozumel last year and all of my dives so far have been in Cozumel.

So what I want to know is:
Your shop:
How much is your AOW? Does it include books and boat dives? If not, what is the additional cost?
Do you need a minimum number of students?
What advanced topics do you offer?
Do you go to certain sites for certain topics?
How would the class work? Would I just go out with a group of divers and an instructor and complete my cert. dives?
Sometimes the ship may be late or may not be able to dock for some reason. How much advance notice do you need if the ship is going to be late/not there. Obviously, I will let you know as soon as I know, but sometimes emergencies happen.

Any other information you can offer would be greatly appreciated. If anyone else on the board has done their AOW with a shop in Coz., please feel free to post your experiences. What I don't want to see is people bashing other shops.

Thanks
Rivers

 

[jl_va_21]

I'm not a shop operator or anything, but if it help, I did my AOW in Cozumel. I used Aqua Safari, my instructor was Nemecio, and I had a great experience. I could not have picked a better place to do it.

 

[robint]

there are dozens of great instructors on Cozumel who would be able to do your AOW course during your stops there. It would take 2 different days, but you could still do it easily.
All the AOW classes are going to be about the same price, some variation but not enough to be a deal breaker. Go with an instructor you like.
We did our OW dives with PapaHogs, Margaret is one of the owner's and chatting with her made up our minds. My daughter was 12 at the time and after speaking to Margaret over the phone (she called us) we knew it was the right decision. Margaret and her husband Mike are both instructors and in our numerous trips to Coz, we saw both of them do OW and AOW and Rescue classes with students. Papa Hogs Scuba Emporium of Cozumel - Mexico

Your AOW course entails 5 dives, the Navigation and Deep dives are required, the other 3 dives are chosen by you and the instructor. (All of them could be done from a boat with other divers who are not students.) Being that it is Cozumel, good choices would be Drift, Boat, and one with an emphasis on local fishlife. Talk to your choice of Instructors about what they recommend.

robin

 

[jeancmo]

I recommend Blue Angel Dive shop- Matt is a great teacher!

blueangel-scuba.com

Jean in MO

 

[deborahdelamar]

I also did my AOW in Cozumel and I recommend that you choose electives other than drift and boat -- definitely read those sections of the book and ask questions if you have any but you'll receive those experiences automatically.

I was certified by Ricardo Gutierrez at Aqua Safari. My course took three mornings and I don't remember if they were consecutive or not. It was over when the instructor had covered the skills that I wanted to work on, I had run out of questions, and I had met the instructor's standard for AOW. In any case, it will take you more than one visit to port to complete.

Re my own course, I wanted to perfect buoyancy and learn how to manage a free safety stop without bobbing all over the place, so we spent a full morning on that unit. I also chose multilevel dive planning and computer, which Ricardo incorporated into the required deep dive by having me plan our dive (using The Wheel), establish air-consumption targets requiring ascent to the next level, and then lead the dive & monitor via computer. The value of contingency planning soon became apparent -- it was a setup by the instructor, of course! That was how he tested for nitrogen narcosis. Very good teaching and I loved & learned a lot from the experience.

Instruction was one-on-one. I had to study the book on my own and submit the completed end-of-chapter tests. The instructor would review and give me an opportunity to ask questions before we hit the water. The only dive that was not via boat was the buoyancy/safety stop dive, which required a site out of the Marine Park for exercises that required placing objects on the sea floor. Obviously, site selection is important for some of the topics but Cozumel offers lots of options to the instructors so that's not a problem.

 

[Christi]

I appreciate the fact thatyou're trying to save time by posting this here - but the bottom line truth is that no matter who replies to you - no one here can answer your specific questions on behalf of any dive shop. They can tell you about their favorite instructors and favorite shops - but unless they are employees of the shop authorized to make decisions (regardless of how often they dive with any particular shop) you are not going to get factual answers to most of these questions.

If I were you, I would narrow your choice down to 3 to 5 shops, e-mail each of them and make your decision based on the information you receive and what will work best for you. I'll also recommend that you don't make price your deciding factor and make sure you are comparing apples to apples - in otherwords - some include boat dives, some don't. Some provide private class, some don't. Some provide the book, some don't. Some provide the certification envelope (PIC) some don't.

Good luck and congrats on your decision to take your diving to the next level!

So I'm posting this here because I know that quite a few people affiliated with different shops in Cozumel post in this forum. Rather than send out a massive amount of emails, this is by far, the easier, more time effective option.

I am looking into getting my AOW. I was going to do it at home, but I leave for work 2 weeks before my LDS offers the class. A little background: I'm an entertainment for Carnival, and going to be heading to the Destiny in April. I'm looking to do my AOW either in late April/May (it's going to depend on my schedule). The ship docks in Cozumel every other Saturday from 1pm-10pm. I also own my own gear with the exception of a weight belt and a tank. I did my OW in Cozumel last year and all of my dives so far have been in Cozumel.

So what I want to know is:
Your shop:
How much is your AOW? Does it include books and boat dives? If not, what is the additional cost?
Do you need a minimum number of students?
What advanced topics do you offer?
Do you go to certain sites for certain topics?
How would the class work? Would I just go out with a group of divers and an instructor and complete my cert. dives?
Sometimes the ship may be late or may not be able to dock for some reason. How much advance notice do you need if the ship is going to be late/not there. Obviously, I will let you know as soon as I know, but sometimes emergencies happen.

Any other information you can offer would be greatly appreciated. If anyone else on the board has done their AOW with a shop in Coz., please feel free to post your experiences. What I don't want to see is people bashing other shops.

Thanks
Rivers

 

[handy andy]

When I did my AOW, I got the book and read it and answered all the questions before going to take the course. That way I didn't have to study all evening, and got the course done over a weekend. Wish I had picked the peak performance bouyancy, as I had to do that later. Did search and recovery, and what's that worth to me? Would be fun if you were diving for treasure. Jim

 

[rivers]

I appreciate the fact thatyou're trying to save time by posting this here - but the bottom line truth is that no matter who replies to you - no one here can answer your specific questions on behalf of any dive shop. They can tell you about their favorite instructors and favorite shops - but unless they are employees of the shop authorized to make decisions (regardless of how often they dive with any particular shop) you are not going to get factual answers to most of these questions.

If I were you, I would narrow your choice down to 3 to 5 shops, e-mail each of them and make your decision based on the information you receive and what will work best for you. I'll also recommend that you don't make price your deciding factor and make sure you are comparing apples to apples - in otherwords - some include boat dives, some don't. Some provide private class, some don't. Some provide the book, some don't. Some provide the certification envelope (PIC) some don't.

Good luck and congrats on your decision to take your diving to the next level!

Thanks for the response Christi. This post was mostly intended for people like you and Dave who own your ops in Coz., but also as a way to get opinions on different shops from others who have done their AOW in Coz. Price isn't an issue for me, I just need to know how much to budget out of each paycheck. And knowing things like if the boat dives, books, etc are included helps with the budgeting. I've checked out many of the ops in cozumel's websites and not all include that information.

 

[billindenver]

My dive buddy and I did our AOW with Mateo at Aldora. There are several dive ops on the island that I very much enjoy and can whole heartedly recommend for everyday diving...but Aldora will train all of my friends and family.

 

[MMM]

So I'm posting this here because I know that quite a few people affiliated with different shops in Cozumel post in this forum. Rather than send out a massive amount of emails, this is by far, the easier, more time effective option.

Rivers

Actually only 2 or maybe 3 ops regularly post here. I would respectfully suggest that you need to contact shops directly.