(Possibly silly) Question on Courses

[spectrum]

Dive frequently within your comfort zone. Become proficient in making those dives.

When to do AOW? If you feel capable of making modest dives with peers then make a few dozen dives to hardwire the basics. Then go do AOW and get intoriduced to some neat stuff like night, deep, more significant navigation and so forth.

Nitrox... When you see yourself hitting your NDL before you air supply ends the dive it will be of benefit. In some cases you can do nitrox as an AOW module or piggyback it for small money.

Take your time, build your skills, the more demanding dives will still be there.

Pete

 

[RJP]

I think that you should get a little more experience under your belt ... do some fun dives, and concentrate on technique, and on doing things right. Then do your advanced open water cert ...

I always wonder about this advice. I know it's not what you meant, but it always sounds like "go get some experience doing it wrong and guessing at technique, then take some courses and learn how to do it right." If it was piano lessons no one would say "Just play for fun, and concentrate on technique, and doing things right, then take lessons."



PADI AOW is nothing more than "OW 201" and in most cases I think divers would benefit from taking it immediately after OW.

That said, I am a training hound because I know I learn best in the forced rigor of a "course setting." Also, as suggested above the value of any course is instructor-dependent. My PPB instructor was great and I got a ton out of it, I did it the same weekend as Dry Suit and the combination of the two was fantastic. Especially for diving here in NJ. (Water temp was 43deg that weekend.)

 

[dumbbomb]

hey another english person =D where abouts are you from?
With regards on where you should go. I would say fit about 5 more dives in then do your AOW because I know its usefull to do the nav bit in our nasty waters =D Its best to do the AOW earlier rather than later because i notice that less experienced divers fidn the course much more useful because they need the experience it provides. It's also handy to have an instructor to watch you dive to spot if you're still remembering the proper dive techniques. Another thing the AOW provides is that you can dive to 30m, instead of the 18m with OW. This is useful because most of the fun exciting dive sites near me require you to go that deep.

 

[spectrum]

I always wonder about this advice. I know it's not what you meant, but it always sounds like "go get some experience doing it wrong and guessing at technique, then take some courses and learn how to do it right.

Since that is essentialy my answer let me parapharse..

Go get some experience making the dives your were certifed (taught) to make. This may mean shore or modest boat dives. Get some of those under your belt to hardwire the basics before loading on night, deep and other things.

If you don't feel comfortable making a shore dive with a peer or mentor then go straight to AOW so your instructor (or maybe a new one) can finish making you a diver.

Maybe I'm odd but if someone can't figure out how to run a recirprocal course on a compass without AOW I have to wonder.

At least for me the first dozen dives were blurrs of gee whiz and wonder. Piling on coursework would have spoiled the honeymoon.

I will add not to do as I did. I happened to fall in with a great mentor and before I knew it I was doing AOW with well over 100 dives and all of the activities under my belt multiple times. It was anticlimatic to say the least. Nonetheless I did manage to learn a few things!

Pete

 

[mred]

I always wonder about this advice. I know it's not what you meant, but it always sounds like "go get some experience doing it wrong and guessing at technique, then take some courses and learn how to do it right." If it was piano lessons no one would say "Just play for fun, and concentrate on technique, and doing things right, then take lessons."

My PPB instructor was great and I got a ton out of it, I did it the same weekend as Dry Suit and the combination of the two was fantastic. Especially for diving here in NJ. (Water temp was 43deg that weekend.)

TWO things:
1. I actually majored in music for a while, AND yes it is always fun to just bang on the piano AND try to play songs that you like rather than always playing *** scales!!!

2. (a)In piano you take lessons, in scuba you take lessons ... After you know how to read music, and set the metronome, hold your hands and find "home" then you essentially know all there is about playing the piano ... the rest is refinement on that technique ... Here lessons do help with people looking over your sholder, or sharing your bench with you ... guiding you ... spotting when your palm begins to rest on the keys ...
2(b) with scuba it is the same ... refinement on technique, BUT there is far more things to keep in mind, far more to learn ... BUT after completing OW you have learned the basics ... studied book, taken tests and NOW get out and play ... See what interests you have THEN go back to reading taking tests, and concentrate on the AOW stuff that you have discovered you like ...
3. After playing on the piano a little you MAY discover you like Jazz, or classical, or modern ... AND then decide to focus more in one of those areas ... same with AOW ... I still believe it is a mistake to RUSH back into the classroom prior to just having fun! Besides, AOW can be a GREAT review to pick up any bad habbits he may have created while doing a few fun dives ........

 

[Quero]

TWO things:
... I still believe it is a mistake to RUSH back into the classroom prior to just having fun! Besides, AOW can be a GREAT review to pick up any bad habbits he may have created while doing a few fun dives ........

It's not actually a rush back to the classroom.

AOW is an experience-based course where the diver gets to sample a few different kinds of dives and deepen his/her understanding of different diving enviroments a little (sort of like your example using different musical styles). There is very little in the way of theory in AOW. In fact here in Thailand we do most of what little theory there is right on the boat over the course of two daytrips or even more leisurely on a liveaboard.

Because there is so little theory and it's a "lite" course, many of us don't really like the term "Advanced" Open Water, and would prefer it to be called "OW, part two" or something that doesn't give the idea that once a diver has completed the training, s/he is now an "advanced" diver.

Having said all that, I do agree with isurus that doing fun diving with a BSAC club is a great option. The nature of the agency is such that novice divers are constantly being tutored, so that they gain insights about their diving without having to form bad habits which then have to be trained out of them in AOW and subsequent courses.

 

[Scuba Brunski]

Everything has been said by those before me. I just want to point out to you that you should consider what ISURUS said. Given your age and location it is not a bad idea at all to consider joining up with a bsac club. It's a lot cheaper to do your dives, and there's all the other club members to help you out and answer whatever questions you might have.