rstofer
Contributor
OK, I have seen two folks go through AOW in the very recent past. I was not impressed.
The most complex of the dives is the deep dive. Particularly if the instructor decides to make it the maximum 100'. Lots of things happen on 100' dives that need to be thoroughly discussed before the dive. Particularly the bit where, due to the combination of depth, current, cold water, surge and stress, that tank is going to empty out pretty quick. A short filled HP 100 is no better than an 80 cf tank and it won't last long for a new diver and those conditions.
The other 4 dives are supervised training of one thing or another and they're just fine. You probably won't get a lot out of the PPB dive as part of AOW. It's just a dive. Not a lot of time spent getting things just right.
I would recommend taking AOW as soon as possible just to get more supervised dives. If nothing else, the deep dive, if done to 100', will show you what can go wrong in a hurry. It's better to do this dive with an instructor than by yourself.
As to the PPB specialty: I don't know anything about the course but it would seem that all of the dives would be working toward PPB. Not navigation, deep, search and recovery or any of the other possibilities of AOW. It would be good to have done PPB before AOW but I am more convinced that AOW should come first. Even if buoyancy isn't perfect.
Have fun!
Richard
The most complex of the dives is the deep dive. Particularly if the instructor decides to make it the maximum 100'. Lots of things happen on 100' dives that need to be thoroughly discussed before the dive. Particularly the bit where, due to the combination of depth, current, cold water, surge and stress, that tank is going to empty out pretty quick. A short filled HP 100 is no better than an 80 cf tank and it won't last long for a new diver and those conditions.
The other 4 dives are supervised training of one thing or another and they're just fine. You probably won't get a lot out of the PPB dive as part of AOW. It's just a dive. Not a lot of time spent getting things just right.
I would recommend taking AOW as soon as possible just to get more supervised dives. If nothing else, the deep dive, if done to 100', will show you what can go wrong in a hurry. It's better to do this dive with an instructor than by yourself.
As to the PPB specialty: I don't know anything about the course but it would seem that all of the dives would be working toward PPB. Not navigation, deep, search and recovery or any of the other possibilities of AOW. It would be good to have done PPB before AOW but I am more convinced that AOW should come first. Even if buoyancy isn't perfect.
Have fun!
Richard