AOW at local shop (more expensive) or destination (cheaper)

[Aotus]

AOW is good idea, especially since it's been a long time since your initial training and few dives since. About the question of getting what you pay for, I think different agencies are very different in what is required for AOW. There is, of course, variability by instructor, but someone here can surely tell you if one agency is more involved in terms of meeting standards than others. I am one of many who recently responded to a thread about AOW by saying that my AOW training was a waste of time and money, because it didn't do anything for me. Since then I've been met by looks of surprise when I told others that my AOW didn't include a night dive. PADI doesn't require that a night dive is included in AOW. So, ask around, find feedback about shops in/around Panama City, and ask here, "what's the best way to ensure that I get a great AOW class?" and proceed from there.

An alternative that MAY be an option in your area (but will also be more $$) is looking for a GUE fundamentals class. If you go that route, you can be certain that you will get your money's worth, and you will be a better diver when you're through it. I didn't know about GUE when I was getting started, but I sure wish I had found that instead of all the worthless PADI training I paid $$$$ for.

Good luck

 

[FinnMom]

$700 for AOW sounds really, seriously high. There can be lots of good arguements for doing your class locally but for AOWD it's not that big a deal and that price just says "go away", so go away! If you want to shop in advance for quality, check out in advance who it would be good to train with at your destination for a reasonable price and do with them.

 

[TMHeimer]

I think it's $700 for both AOW & Nitrox, but still seems very high. That would mean over $900 in Canada.

 

[boulderjohn]

A) My LDS will charge around $700 for both classes and checkout dives (in Panama City).
B) Panama City is one of the primary places I dive (~6hr drive), and I have chartered dive trips with multiple shops there. In Panama City I can get both classes for somewhere around $450.

One reason your local dive shop may charge more for the trip is that ~6 hour trip to Panama City. They have to pay for the travel and overnight stays for the instructor. They also have to pay for the overhead for the dives themselves, either by bringing all their gear and shore diving or by paying those operators you would be using for that added expense.

Here in Colorado we have the same problem. We cannot do the AOW class completely in state because we don't have deep enough water here. We, too, have to travel, and that brings on added costs for both the instructor and the student. I ran into that discussing technical instruction with a student. She had just moved from the Great Lakes region, and was surprised technical instruction was more expensive here. When you live in a place where you can just load up the van and take a short drive to the diving and then head back home, it is bound to cost a lot less than a location where you have to travel for many hours, stay in a motel, and bring all your own gas, etc.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

How do I know that my LDS actually gives better instruction?

I'm surprised no one has mentioned it, but check out Jim Lapenta's lastest book: https://www.amazon.com/SCUBA-Practical-Guide-Advanced-Training/dp/1537005197/. It is money well spent that more than pays for itself as it helps you find a top notch instructor. You will need to interview your instructor, and this book will help you with that.

I'd suggest asking that 3 adventure dives they'd recommend and why. How do they structure the dives so that one dive builds on the other. I'd also ask what happens if you cannot quite meet the performance requirements for a dive. I force my students to repeat dives until they meet performance requirements to my satisfaction.

Nav and deep are required. I recommend peak performance buoyancy, night, and search & recovery or self-reliant diver (you don't need 100 dives for the adventure dive, I checked with PADI on this). What interests you? I would recommend on choosing adventure dives that translate into diving skills, not just knowledge (i.e., if marine life interests you, take that as a separate specialty course).

 

[jonhall]

I would rather pay more for good instruction than less for bad instruction. But the issue is this: How do I know that my LDS actually gives better instruction?

My thought is any instruction, which you seem to want, and which you will get with a LDS, would be better than the alternative of a dive op you travel to.

I recently paid $630 for 11 dives, AOW materials (the AOW course was free), transportation from my resort to dive op, transportation and an all-inclusive day on a trip for 2 dives in Cozumel, transportation to cenotes for 2 dives with a box lunch and drinks thrown in, and the cost of fees for the c-card. The five AOW dives were completed anytime from the eleven dives and the class/course was reading the chapters and answering the end of chapter questions of the AOW dives you completed. The instructor reviewed the questions to all of the chapters after one of the dives I did. You can't really miss any questions as you copy them word for word from the book. If you do happen to miss one they will tell you what to write in. Barely any instruction at all, but exactly what I was looking for. Found the actual skills to be pretty easy.

A couple of years ago, one of the instructors at my LDS told me to take AOW on one of my vacations, as he knew from our conversations, that I am a vacation diver. My only plans are to dive in warm, clear ocean waters. That's not to say the conditions have always been that way. He did say that taking the course with him (dives done in a quarry) would make me a better diver, but since I only dive on trips, I might as well take the course in the conditions I would be diving. On the day I spoke to him he was taking an AOW student to do a deep dive where the water was 40 degrees at 60 ft.!!!!!

The best way to ascertain that your LDS gives "better" instruction is to do some research and ask some questions so you know what you're getting.

 

[Marie13]

On the day I spoke to him he was taking an AOW student to do a deep dive where the water was 40 degrees at 60 ft.!!!!!

Cold is good!

 

[urbaneve71]

I would have to vote for your LDS. I trust my instrustor implicity. I would rather learn from someone I know and have learned from before rather than take my chances in a destionation class. just my humble opionon