Question Skipping AOW

[MarkA]

Just take it. We all had to! (or just about all of us)

This may have been mentioned already, but there are charters in South Florida (Palm Beach County) that now require AOW for some of their recreational trips that are deeper than 60'. And yes, they do card you.

How do they deal with people trained through the club system. Do they class CMAS 2* as an acceptable alternative to AOW?

I am BSAC Advanced Diver. So at least it says Advanced along with CMAS 3* on the back of the card.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

How do they deal with people trained through the club system. Do they class CMAS 2* as an acceptable alternative to AOW?

I am BSAC Advanced Diver. So at least it says Advanced along with CMAS 3* on the back of the card.

No clue. I'd imagine they look for equivalence. AOW or equivalent essentially.

 

[drohn]

After I got PADI OW certified, I was so hooked on diving that I was browsing through the PADI specialty catalogue like a kid browsing through a toy catalogue. I think you can relate. I did not care at all about the AOW cert, I was interested in the specialties. So I picked a DS and made a proposal: I do the Nav, Deep, Wreck (I think - they matched the AOW requirements... or was it PPB?) specs with you and you give me that AOW cert on top afterwards (think discount, just the academics part), of course given that I pass that academic part (of AOW). They agreed. That was probably not exactly by the PADI book, but honestly, it just made sense. It is still my favourite PADI dive shop.
In hindsight I was probalby a little too greedy back then - but I don't regret a thing.

 

[dmaziuk]

This may have been mentioned already, but there are charters in South Florida (Palm Beach County) that now require AOW for some of their recreational trips that are deeper than 60'. And yes, they do card you.

Or you could dive where there's no scuba police. I've never been asked for AOW.

 

[MWUE]

I'd really like to do GUE or RAID, but there aren't any locations for several hundred miles

There is a GUE Fundamentals class and community event this weekend at Mermet Springs if you're on the eastern side of Missouri. One of the students is from western Missouri.

There is some talk of doing a class out on Beaver Lake next summer as well.

 

[chillyinCanada]

If you go to Roatan, most, if not all, ops require AOW for many of the dives a person would want to do.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

Why on earth would you want to skip a completely pointless certification?

 

[Jcp2]

It depends if the operators who you want to dive with require it.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Why on earth would you want to skip a completely pointless certification?

I learned a lot on mine but then it was a number of decades ago, in an icy mountain lake. Also, it didn't cost much back then and there was no GUE classes to take. It was a fun weekend and my buddy and I bonded even more. Sadly, we lost him to cancer a few years later but I'll always remember that weekend.

Among other adventures and learning experiences, my first stage became tangled in fishing line on the night dive. My buddy stayed with me but didn't know what the problem was. He figured it was a buoyancy issue. I was stuck in the mud and had no idea what was going on except that I wasn't going anywhere no matter what I tried.

As long as you've got air, you've got time to try to figure what what to do. In my case, I learned that a dm who'd lost his group would come along anfmd figure out what was what . . .or perhaps I'd be there still.

In any event, I learned what it feels like to be caught in fishing line. Very valuable experience. I learned that I'm not overly prone to panic and that I'd remembered my instructor's training, "stop, think, act" and not to kick up silt.

My instructor learned that he could misplace his divers.

 

[dmaziuk]

If you go to Roatan, most, if not all, ops require AOW for many of the dives a person would want to do.

Good to know: we'll stick with SWS, then.