Advance Open Water Certification

[Hoosier]

I also regard AOW as the equipment demo day.

Navigation: Compass Demo
DPV: Scooter Demo
Search and Recovery: Reel, Spool, and lift bag Demo
Deep: Nitrox Demo (possible necessity in the rec. limit)
Night: Light Demo
Drift: Surface buyoance or Lift bag Demo
Boat: Dive shop travel Demo

 

[TheRedHead]

This was from another post.
FYI, the dives my group did are as follows:
Deep
Navigation
Peek performance
Wreck
Boat
Night
Drift

It was a busy weekend starting Friday night and going all through Saturday and Sunday.

Now my question, how did he learn anythng with all that to take in in 2-3 days?
It took 7 days for me to complete my OW. It was very intensive and the instructor was very detailed.

You do the reading and knowledge reviews prior to doing the dives, just like OW class. You cover a lot less material and some of the material just reinforces what you learned in OW. I took Deep, Navigation, PPB, Wreck and Night. I had 3 different instructors in 3 days. I really didn't like my initial instructor, but he must of had confidence in my buoyancy because we I did my deep dive on a wall that drops down 3,000 feet. Basically, we did some simulated SAC rates and dropped to 100 feet and I wrote my last name backwards. Then I wrote my last name backwards at the surface and he compared the times. I didn't feel narced, but I had already dived deeper before I took the class.

Navigation consisted of kick cycles, out and back and the square. I learned the compass on the Sherwood Widsom sucks and bought a Suunto.

I was nonplussed with PPB as I had already pretty much nailed my buoyancy for diving in the Carribean and we got sidetracked as the sponges were spawning and that was awesome. I think we did fin pivots and held weights and had to compensate for the extra weight. I did learn a novel hand signal for reproduction.

Wreck was challenging in that we had to take the stuff we learned in Navigation and measure and map the wreck using depth guages, kick cycles and arm spans. The sponge spawn killed the viz and really made it interesting. Making measurements and drawing on my slate while on a wreck site is something I've never done before.

Night diving consisted of doing a giant stride off of a 6 foot pier and navigating in the dark. Since there were spiny sea urchins everywhere and some surge, it was a challenging dive.

As everyone says, it depends on the instructor(s) who teach the class. The class can be challenging and fun.

 

[TSandM]

Well, I don't know about anybody else, but when I finished my OW cert, I felt like I had been given a license to kill myself There was no way I felt competent to go off and dive with anybody, anywhere (or even in the places I had already been). I still had major buoyancy problems, difficulties with descent and ascent, and an almost complete inability to navigate anything but a single straight line.

Doing the additional dives for the AOW just really gave me more time in the water under instruction, with a structured dive plan. Although each dive had a specific purpose, they all worked on buoyancy and nav skills as well to some degree.

My instructor made an interesting comment right before our last dive together. He said that diving with students is like diving solo, and that's why he makes sure there are a lot of eyes in the water when he does it. It made so much sense. When you are newly OW certified and ask someone to dive with you, you are almost asking them to solo dive or worse, since they are not only responsible for themselves, but for you, too. At least instructors are paid to take that risk.

 

[Dragon2115]

This was from another post.
FYI, the dives my group did are as follows:
Deep
Navigation
Peek performance
Wreck
Boat
Night
Drift

It was a busy weekend starting Friday night and going all through Saturday and Sunday.

Now my question, how did he learn anythng with all that to take in in 2-3 days?
It took 7 days for me to complete my OW. It was very intensive and the instructor was very detailed.

Ok first, you're not becoming proficient in any of the areas you mentioned like you would if you took the specialty course. What you're getting is some basic experience in those areas while under supervision. In a PADI AOW class for example one deep and one navigation dive are required, the other three are students' choice but the choices may vary depending on the operator where the class is being taken. What you do on those optional dives is up to you and what you want to get out of diving.

My wife and I chose night, drift, and UW photography electives because that's the direction we want to go in. For some people wanting to get into UW photography the Peak Performance Buoyancy would be a good choice because it would compliment the photography side. Not that it isn't a good skill for all divers to have, but a photographer has to be able to hover in any attitude with both hands busy operating the camera. After doing the one sample dive they may decide that it's something worth pursuing so they take the full PPB course.

So think of it as primer for things you want to pursue later in your diving. Not to mention it removes the AOW only restictions on some dives.

[Added] And yes, you can just read the specialty manuals if you want without taking the full course if all you're looking for is the information. That's what I did with the deep and navigation specialties manuals.

 

[Rec Diver]

There are certain dive operations that will limit your diving, if they allow you at all, if you do not have an AOW certification. If being limited to being able to dive only certain areas or types of dives is ok with you then don't spend the money. My LDS will not take any diver that does not have at least a Master Diver, SSI, certification on any of there wreck dives.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

OK, is it about the money or what ?

It seems that everywhere I turn, someone is telling me to continue the adventure. Up grade your certification to AOW. Why? If I am not planning on teaching. Is it really about the money or is it really necessary? One will say you get more dive time. Can’t I get that without all the advance teaching? Isn’t experience really a better teacher? What do you think? :07:

AOW class is pretty much what your instructor decides to make it. Agencies require, for the most part, a deep dive, a navigation dive, and a night dive. Everything else is determined by how the agency structures their AOW standards and by what you and the instructor determine you want out of the course. AOW classes can vary wildly from shop to shop, agency to agency, and instructor to instructor ... so before taking it you should ask some questions and find out if it's going to offer what you want to get out of it. If not, look around ... someone will offer one that will suit your needs.

For example, my AOW class is pretty skills-intensive ... it's designed to appeal to the diver who wants to put in some real effort to hone skills like buoyancy control, dive planning, gas management, team skills, diving in "murky" conditions, and navigation. It would not appeal to the student who's mainly looking for a few more supervised dives to work on the skills introduced in OW ... nor is it suitable for most newly certified OW divers ... I usually require a diver to have at least a dozen or more dives since OW certification, in order to get the most "bang for the buck" out of the curriculum. On the other hand, many instructors encourage AOW as soon as possible after OW.

Upshot being, there really is no "correct" answer to your question, except ... "it depends on the instructor and on what you want to get out of the class" ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

I always figure the AOW is an opportunity to spend time with me. Can you really put a price tag on that????

I dove for a long time with just my owd card. Times have changed. When I wasn't allowed to do a couple of boat trip I got my advanced, then my master and then I was enjoying learning so much I eventually went for instructor.

Some students of mine get quite a lot out a speciality, some get less. Some are pretty experienced and know a lot and I've even learned from them, but they always get something out of the class including some enjoyment.

 

[BarryNL]

Personally, I don't think you learn that much on the AOW course - although it depends on which dives you choose. It would be a far better course in my opinion if it had compulsory deep, navigation, bouyancy, night and another bouyancy dives instead of the arbitrary choices.

Still, as others have said it is on the path to Rescue, which should be considered essential for anyone intending to dive regularly or without instructor supervision.

 

[String]

Even if you have no plans to teach the minimum id recommend any diver in the PADI system is AOW with Rescue. Thats for your own and buddys safety more than anything else.

 

[Web Monkey]

OK, is it about the money or what ?

It seems that everywhere I turn, someone is telling me to continue the adventure. Up grade your certification to AOW. Why? If I am not planning on teaching. Is it really about the money or is it really necessary? One will say you get more dive time.

It's partially about the money (the shops and cert agencies need to make money to stay in business), however it's mostly about letting you learn enough to be a better, safer diver, who can take care of yourself and your buddy under less-than-ideal conditions.

The OW class teaches just enough to keep the student from getting hurt or killed, and is nowhere near enough training or experience to handle diverse or stressful conditions.

Can’t I get that without all the advance teaching?
Isn’t experience really a better teacher? What do you think?

Experience is a great teacher, if you live long enough to learn from it.

For example, you don't want to try to figure out how to handle a a stuck drysuit inflator at 130'. By the time you figured out what to do with it, you most likely would have just experienced a 200+ feet-per-minute ascent and would end up in a chamber if you're lucky.

Taking classes lets you learn from things that other divers have learned the hard way, and lets you practice the relevant skills in a controlled environment (pool or shallow water, with an instructor).

Terry