Confused

[Dirty-Dog]

If you want to do a class, then by all means do the AOW eLearning and then do the dives on Cozumel. If you just want to practice skills, then I wouldn't use up my dive days. I'd go to your LDS and use the pool. Or drop by the Aurora Res and do skills there. You could also go to the Denver Aquarium and dive with the fish or the sharks, although that's not exactly cheap. Fun, but not cheap.

We also live in landlocked CO. We dive as much as we can (70 dive in the last 12 months), but in between trips we make sure we get in the LDS pool a couple times. It lets us keep some skills, and also lets us make sure our gear is in top notch shape before we get on the plane.

 

[PatW]

If you want to do a class, then by all means do the AOW eLearning and then do the dives on Cozumel. If you just want to practice skills, then I wouldn't use up my dive days. I'd go to your LDS and use the pool. Or drop by the Aurora Res and do skills there. You could also go to the Denver Aquarium and dive with the fish or the sharks, although that's not exactly cheap. Fun, but not cheap.

We also live in landlocked CO. We dive as much as we can (70 dive in the last 12 months), but in between trips we make sure we get in the LDS pool a couple times. It lets us keep some skills, and also lets us make sure our gear is in top notch shape before we get on the plane.

I would pretty much agree with this one. A good way to practice basic skills is just diving in the deep end of a local pool. You can check your gear over. You can practice virtually all of the skills you will need. Diving in a pool is not the same as an open water dive, but it is the next best thing.

 

[diversteve]

why is this question in "Advanced Scuba Discussions" ?

My thoughts exactly...moved to Basic

 

[falcon125]

I really want to work on skills in the ocean, but a pool dive would be good to check gear and get reaquainted right before leaveing for vacation.

What I meant by doing them in different locations was a Dive at Palancar, the next at Santa Rosa Wall and so on.

How does a Navigation dive work on a drift dive? Is that possible?

 

[Dirty-Dog]

Sure it is. Part of the navigation skill is learning to compensate for the current. It's more difficult, of course, but still possible.

People can get so good at estimating drift from currents that it's downright spooky. In May of this year, we spent two weeks diving in Cancun with Alvaro from AlwaysDiving.com and on a night dive, an inexperienced diver turned off her light before she got back in the boat, and then dropped it. Alvaro dropped back under and found it, in 35-40FSW, in full dark.

 

[scubafied]

TMHeimer is correct; If you are going to do continuing education through PADI you do not have to be AOW certified to take the Rescue Diver course. The only prerequisites for doing Rescue Diver are that you are at least 12 years of age, have completed the Underwater Navigation Adventure Dive and have completed EFR Primary and Secondary Care training within the last 24 months (this can usually be taught just prior to beginning the Rescue Diver course). It's of the best courses I took on my way to becoming an Instructor and one I think most divers could benefit from. Maybe knock out the Underwater Nav dive on vacation and do the rest back in Colorado.

 

[raoulsttexas]

my wife and I went to coz in november and I did my AOW during the week. We only planned on diving for 4 days and I was concerned about not getting to just see the sites and be a tourist diver. Even though this was our 4th time diving in coz, I didn't want to miss out on just doing the tourist thing.

I contacted the dive op beforehand and requested a specific instructor based on other SB suggestions. As it turned out, the instructor came with us on all 4 days of boat diving. Depending on the dive location, we'd just peal off away from the group, do everything that was necessary for that particular dive, and then rejoin the group to just float along with everyone else if time permitted.
I brought a laundry list of things i wanted to work on. The instructor was FANTASTIC! and worked through my issues list and taught me tons of things that were above and beyond the formal AOW class. We still had to do 2 additional shore dives to work on specifics (nav is tougher to teach/learn in coz when you're out in the current).
So, basically, I got 10 dives with the instructor, and all the regular coz diving I wanted. It was a great scenario and I was really happy with my training and vacation.

If you'd like the specifics of dive op and instructor, just PM me.

If AOW is not really what you're wanting, you can easily get a DM to take you for a shore dive and work on basics.

Lastly, I have some friends with a pool and I've spent a LOT of time at 7' working on skills. That has proved very profitable. I grabbed the list of required demo skills for the DM course and worked through each. I've even tried to get better at shooting my SMB (it's fairly anticlimactic at 7').

Good luck.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Back to the original question- skills to work on. Buoyancy, Buoyancy, Buoyancy. And did I mention Buoyancy? In an aow class or in a private session, this is the key to competence in all other skills. Focus there. In fact, at this point rather than aow (which is fine- take it with my blessing) I might suggest a peak performance buoyancy class. I also want to add that despite years of diving and many hundreds of dives, when ever my wife or I have gone 4 months or more without diving (it happens) we always have a pool session before going out to do "real dives." We check all gear, especially new gear, as well as just "play a bit. It's a good habit to be in, forever.
DivemasterDennis scubasnobs.com