Advanced Open Water

[Iralub]

I think it depends on instructor and your own level of skill and confidence. I had two different instructors for mine and learned a lot with one, but not with the other. It was a useful experience because at the time I had only about 15 dives and very little confidence under water. It was good to do the deep dive with an excellent instructor, as I was very nervous about it, but found it wasn't a problem. It was also good to experience night diving under supervision, especially as I got disoriented, but at least there was someone to help. I think ppb would be good with a good instructor, but my instructor for that bit wasn't great.

 

[eelnoraa]

If your goal is to gain in water skill, then generally speaking, AOW isn't the class you want to take. Now, there are exceptions. That is if you find good instructors. They are not too rare but you need to put some effort in to find one because there are just too many under qualify instructors out there

If you goal is to get AOW card, so that you are recognized and allowed on some dive boat or some dive trip, then there is no way around it.

 

[vixtor]

As many already said, the instructor is the key here. My opinion of that you have better chances to find a good instructor at home than in vacation. In the Caribbean the dive centers will have thousands of customers and will just do the basic requirements, just to deliver. At home, with less customers, most will do the trainings out of passion and if you are lucky they might provide more knowledge than the minimum of the course. As for AOW itself, task loading is the main part. In ow you learn to dive, you are concentrated on using the equipment. AOW should teach you to do something else underwater, while transforming the OW skills in reflexes that you do without thinking to much, giving you time to think more about what you really do there.

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[The Kraken]

In my opinion, if one plans to continue one's diving hobby, any and all additional training is, in some way, beneficial.

Safe dives . . . . .
. . . safer ascents

the K

 

[Bob DBF]

I have not dove yet here at home mostly because of the colder waters and lower viz. So I guess I am a vacation diver, but I would like to start diving the areas around here soon. The reason I am doing the certification on vacation is that I am getting a good deal since I am buying a package. I might then do a course at home that is more specific for my area.

The best of both worlds would be to do the AOW on your vacation, then take the full Navigation and Deep courses at home where they will be the most helpful.



Bob
-----------------------------------------------
There are more ways than one to skin a cat, however the cat never likes it.

 

[kwat34]

Thank you. That is what I was considering doing.

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[Manneca]

I did my AOW after 25 years of diving and tons of dives. Why? Because I was diving in Palau and wanted a specific dive guide which I could have if I did the AOW. My five dives were ones (except for navigation) ones that I would have dived anyway. I'm glad I did it because I have had two trips where AOW was required. As it turned out, the way PADI has changed, there was nothing I hadn't had in my original course (which included many of the skills in rescue diver).

I'm glad I got it. The only drawback for me is that many dive companies think that because I'm AOW, I should dive deep. I don't particularly like deep dives unless there is a reason to make a deep dive.

But, then I am not a typical diver.

 

[jonhall]

I did my AOW after 25 years of diving and tons of dives. Why? Because I was diving in Palau and wanted a specific dive guide which I could have if I did the AOW. My five dives were ones (except for navigation) ones that I would have dived anyway. I'm glad I did it because I have had two trips where AOW was required. As it turned out, the way PADI has changed, there was nothing I hadn't had in my original course (which included many of the skills in rescue diver).

I'm glad I got it. The only drawback for me is that many dive companies think that because I'm AOW, I should dive deep. I don't particularly like deep dives unless there is a reason to make a deep dive.

But, then I am not a typical diver.

This is an example of the reason I debated getting AOW (planning to get it in fall.) I haven't been kept from doing any dives and have done deep dives on every trip I've been on, and you, in 25 years of diving, have only had 2 trips where it was required. I'm only getting it in case I run into some dive shop that requires it.

 

[donhealy]

so I've been diving for 23 years and have over 1600 dives. finally got my AOW this January while on the T&C Explorer II.

I found that even though I had done countless deep and night dives; used my compass quite often; seen so much coral and learned about all manner of small critters that I was still able to learn new skills.

Yes it was worth it.

Don

 

[Steyr]

Look at it another way: Is there any reason NOT to do the AOW course?
Money and time are the only ones I could think of, but if they're not critical for you then there's not much other reason why you shouldn't do it.

Having said that, I didn't get much out of the course. I had a bit over 20 dives logged, so was still quite new (though I still feel fairly new after nearly 100 dives). I do believe I had a reasonable instructor, but the material is simply not very challenging. The deep dive was no different to any other dive I had been on, just a bit shorter. The wreck dive was no different to any other dive - the wreck adventure dive doesn't allow penetration or overhead environments. Tip: be wary of entanglement and sharp edges. There you go - AOW wreck training done.

I often dive in fairly low viz environments so the night dive wasn't much different either. In fact the torches in clear viz made it easier than some of the daytime conditions I have dived in. Navigation - personally I don't find compasses very difficult to use and we'd already covered them in OW anyway. Natural navigation (underwater landmarks, currents, sunlight/shadows, etc) is all basic common sense. The only one even close to useful was peak performance buoyancy. It was good to have someone assessing my trim and giving me a few different things to compensate for (eg. suddenly being handed extra weight; suddenly having a couple of kg taken away; swimming through hoops, etc). PPB didn't really change much about my weight or trim though - I was already reasonably well sorted.

To me, AOW felt more like a process of paying money to get a ticket to access some deeper dive sites. However I have seen divers struggle and fail components of the course, so I guess there is an element of checking that you have some basic competency.