What wasn't covered well enough...

[ekewaka]

I wouldn;t class night as "limited visibility". You can do a night dive with fantastic visibility or you can do a nightdive with 1m visibility. Just because its dark doesn't mean its low vis.
Plus all diving here is "low vis" so everyone gets plenty of practice in it regardless.

Maybe he meant night diving without a light. That would always be low vis.

 

[ekewaka]

PADI pushes the AOW and other follow on training... and I think the training is a good thing.

AOW is supposed to be "training"???

 

[TSandM]

I think night diving is very similar to low viz, even in clear water. What happens at night, once you get off the bottom is that you lose visual reference, which is precisely what happens in low viz as well. Yes, you may find it easier to keep track of your buddy at night in clear water than in the daytime in low viz, but the disorientation is very similar.

Doing a bunch of training dives at night this winter did wonders for my tolerance of poor viz in midwater.

 

[cowdog77]

I had a "severely abridged" version, to say the least so uh-huh to all the above. But I would have appreciated more emphasis on "what to do if" scenarios and less time spent on "ain't this fun?".

 

[pengwe]

There is

I'm with ya.

I'm lucky to have an instructor within an hour's drive of me, though. Yes, you can start flying around the country, but it shouldn't have to be that hard.

 

[rongoodman]

The training is all there if you need it, it's just broken down into different sections which allow for more training flexibility, and, of course, for you to make some more cash as an instructor...
C.

When does PADI teach gas management?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

AOW is supposed to be "training"???

Depends on who ya take it with ... http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=2889436&postcount=1

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[waynel]

I agree with something nagel said (being a newly certified diver). OW certification is just a place to start, really an introduction. Got my OW cert one year ago and since then I've learned more through diving than I could ever expect to learn in a class room. I read about all the topics that should be covered in that class, but let's be realistic. The class time would be so long and so expensive that you'd have fewer and fewer people getting into scuba. I know, I know, safety, etc. but be honest it is still a busines. The fewer divers, the fewer div ops etc. which means fewer choices for everyone. OW class is like any other education, you will always learn a vast amount more once you're in the "real world" doing it. It's like college. You'll learn more about your profession once you're doing than you could ever learn in 4 years of college.

 

[mwhities]

I feel classes should be longer and if need be more expensive ALLOWING that you receive very thorough training and help with all the skills needed. Even the little extra that's not part of the class. In my OW class, I wasn't told anytihng about buoyancy, minus the "breath in/breath out" with your fins on the floor. (Granted, it gave me an idea on what to do but, not practical training besides that was done.)

Michael

 

[TSandM]

OW class is like any other education, you will always learn a vast amount more once you're in the "real world" doing it. It's like college. You'll learn more about your profession once you're doing than you could ever learn in 4 years of college.

That's true. Luckily, the vast majority of professions are unlikely to kill or maim you while you are figuring stuff out.

I don't want to open the can of worms that's more than completely covered in loosebits' thread linked to in my signature, but better buoyancy control CAN be taught in OW, and some instructors here do it. Gas management CAN be taught, beginning in OW and continuing in AOW, and some instructors here do it. Buddy skills CAN be taught beginning in OW. We have instructors here in the Puget Sound area who can and DO teach these things. Snowbear posted pictures of OW students from one of her local instructors, and those students were showing good buoyancy and trim.

It CAN be done. It just mostly isn't.