Worth pursuing AOW?

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I’ve seen that many dive operators will require you to have an AOW card no matter how experienced (or inexperienced) you are, or if you have other specialties etc.

I enquired my local SSI shop and they said they don’t like to do this kind of thing (5 taster dives) and try to push people to full specialties instead, as you learn more. This makes a lot of sense to me, but is it a moot point if you need an AOW card anyway?

I’d like to do a night dive, dry suit specialty and a deep dive just to have my options open for future dives, but I’m not sure if I should just get an AOW and focus on practice, gear and actual dive trips instead.

I mean this in all seriousness, but are you interested in becoming a better diver? Or are you just after the card? If the former, I'd suggest UTD Essentials or GUE fundies to make you a solid diver first. Then I'd suggest getting the certs that you need to dive deeper and satisfy the boat charters. Because their standards are online, for SDI, you only need to be OW before taking deep: https://www.tdisdi.com/wp-content/u...ual/SDI Specialty Standards_10_Deep_Diver.pdf

However, SDI allows, encourages even instructors to exceed standards with sensible requirements. So does NAUI. Can't speak for all agencies, so I don't know who else does. But if you go SDI, ask for the instructor's syllabus on what they add to the course. I'd pass on any SDI instructor that doesn't add anything to minimum standards.

 

[TMHeimer]

I'm not sure what the question is. If you want to be sure that every boat you patronize will let you go to 100' then you get the AOW card. If you want to get more experience in a specific area you may take that specialty, or get some help from a mentor. Am I missing something?
We're gunna go on about descriptions and benefits of AOW and other courses, what this diver and that one did after OW, comparing agencies, divers with 5,000 dives but are only OW but better than a new Instructor with 100 dives, etc.

 

[Bob DBF]

I enquired my local SSI shop and they said they don’t like to do this kind of thing (5 taster dives) and try to push people to full specialties instead, as you learn more.

The full specialties are a better revenue stream for the shop as well.

Depending on the courses and how long it takes to finish them all, you may be limited on the dives you take with a dive op.

The idea of AOW was to give a diver a dive in five specialties so might find specialties they would be interested in perusing further. Why waste time, energy, or resources, take Advanced Adventurer and find out if you want to take any of the full specialties you try, or go on to others.

SSI Standards for AOWD: Complete four (4) SSI Specialty programs AND log 24 open water dives.

There is no requirement for deep or nav, so it can de done without meeting the requirements of the traditional AOW certification.

Because their standards are online, for SDI, you only need to be OW before taking deep

SSI only requires OW to take Deep.



Bob

 

[TMHeimer]

Side note of possible interest... I've had a bit of experience with this and read a lot on SB about it--- Generally, it seems that if you take dive 1 of a specialty during AOW and then decide to do the whole specialty, you will probably pay for the whole specialty course without getting monetary credit for having done dive 1. Especially true if dive 1 during AOW was with a different shop. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[outofofficebrb]

In addition to the AOW in question, there are some ops/dive boats/insurance for ops and dive boats that want you to have a deep specialty to dive greater than >30m but <40m.

As for AOW, as @myshadeofred mentioned, the peace of mind is nice and knowing that you won't run into issues with an op on whether they will take you out or not and ruining your trip/vacation is also good.

 

[Bob DBF]

I mean this in all seriousness, but are you interested in becoming a better diver? Or are you just after the card? If the former, I'd suggest UTD Essentials or GUE fundies to make you a solid diver first.

If I wasen't the grumpy old diver that I am today, I'd probably take AOW so I could make the dives I wanted whilst waiting for an opening near me.


Bob

 

[American Digger In Europe]

The full specialties are a better revenue stream for the shop as well.

Depending on the courses and how long it takes to finish them all, you may be limited on the dives you take with a dive op.

The idea of AOW was to give a diver a dive in five specialties so might find specialties they would be interested in perusing further. Why waste time, energy, or resources, take Advanced Adventurer and find out if you want to take any of the full specialties you try, or go on to others.



There is no requirement for deep or nav, so it can de done without meeting the requirements of the traditional AOW certification.



SSI only requires OW to take Deep.



Bob

While SSI only requires OWD to take the Deep Diving course, my shop requires a minimum of 24 logged dives before a diver can register for Deep Diving.

 

[Bob DBF]

While SSI only requires OWD to take the Deep Diving course, my shop requires a minimum of 24 logged dives before a diver can register for Deep Diving.

Sounds like a good idea.

The instructor (PADI) I worked with liked AOW before deep so he could judge if the student had other issues to address before taking the deep class.


Bob

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Sounds like a good idea.

The instructor (PADI) I worked with liked AOW before deep so he could judge if the student had other issues to address before taking the deep class.


Bob

Why not do a checkout dive instead?

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

If I wasen't the grumpy old diver that I am today, I'd probably take AOW so I could make the dives I wanted whilst waiting for an opening near me.


Bob

lol, you know I mean this only for new divers. Maybe it is my tone, my NSG (not so good) reputation for ranting, but I certainly don't mean that this is the only path to becoming a good diver. I just believe the DIR agencies provide an accelerated path than what can be usually (but not always) found with mainstream agencies.