AOW Certi in Northeast

[bug]

I am looking to get my AOW certification shortly. I guess this question kinda pertains to people that dive in the northeast US region.

I have a choice to do the course through one LDS and they take the students to the St. Lawrence River to do the check dives. Or the other option with another LDS is to go to Dutch Spring in Allentown, PA.

Anybody have any suggestions on which LDS I should go with.

I guess another option is find a shop in FL, Keys, USVI, etc... where it is warm and do it through them. I live in Rochester, NY from Sept. to May.. then in the Summer I am in NJ. I guess I could even find another shop (don't know of any yet) to dive off the Jersey shore.

Any ideas?

Thanks you much!

Happy and safe diving


-Matt

 

[raviepoo]

If you do, I suggest you take the Naui AOW and do your dives in cold water, preferably at least some of them in the Atlantic. The PADI AOW cert is preffy fluffy. You have to do a deep dive and a navigation dive. The elective dives can be pure fluff.

In the NAUI course you will learn real skills (such as working with a lift bag) that will help you dive safely on the local dive boats. It's a much more useful certification.

Find a shop that does the NAUI cert and also does some of the check out dives in the ocean.

 

[JRRKAR]

Dutch Springs is a great place for training dives. It is a large place with many underwater platforms and many underwater sites with various degrees of difficulty. The visibility is usually very good. However it is a very cold quarry usually till late in the Spring or early Summer. Here is the website in case you have not seen it. http://www.dutchsprings.com/ I know they have a chart with the normal surface water temperatures for the year on the website.

I used to live two miles from Dutch Springs. Now I live in the Harrrisburg PA area so it is an 1.5 hour drive. They only downfall to Dutch Springs is that it gets very crowded on the weekends. However if you can go during the week, you normally have the quarry to yourself.

If you are looking at doing harder, colder dives in the future....doing the dives at Dutch Springs would be a good idea. If your only going to dive warm and clear waters....go to Florida. If you would like any more insight on Dutch Springs just let me know.

Jeff

 

[scubawife]

I think your assesment of NAUI vs PADI is unfair. I did the NAUI Scuba Diver program to get my C-card because I thought NAUI was more education oriented and taught more then PADI. What I got for lectures was basically I read the book on my own and the instructor reviewed my quizzes. I also got sat down infront of a tv to watch the videos, but with no discussion on the content. Everytime I showed up at the pool I had a different instructor and the group, although small, was at all different stages of the pool training. The instructors did the requirement for session 1 & 2 EVERY class, then with whatever time was left asked the students what they hadn't done yet in other sessions. My check out dives were not much better. I wasn't tested on some really important skills that you're supposed to be tested on. I actually asked to come back for pool work and cover the missing skills since I didn't feel ready to dive on my own.

A few days into my first dive trip, we dove with the instructors my husband did his check-out dives with. They are now at a PADI dive resort. I learnt more in 3 dives with them then in my whole course. I went back last month to do my PADI AOW with one of them and I'm glad I did. We did a dive together before starting the course so he could assess my skills, comfort level and equipment. We then spent about an hour reviewing the dive and talking about where I want to go with my diving, what I wanted to get out of the AOW course etc. Based on that, we selected the elective dives. He insists on his students doing the rq Navigation and Deep dive, and also a night dive (which included lots of navigation too). The lectures went way beyond the book content and he included alot of his own experiences and those with other students over his 20+ yrs of divng.

It's not the regulating body that makes a good course, it's a good instructor! You should also check out the requirements for NAUI AOW as they're stated by NAUI. There are 3 required dives (Navigation, Deep and Night or low vis) as opposed to PADI's 2 (Nav and Deep) and then 3 electives which are the same "fluff" as the PADI list.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I have to agree with what scubawife said. I see many divers and instructors from all of the big agencies. I don't see one group performing better than the others. If anyone thinks the PADI course is fluff and that no "real" skills are tought then take mine. After the class if you still think that way it's on the house.

 

[Conor]

Sorry to help hijack the thread, but it is related to the original post

Think about where you plan to dive and what diving you want to do and go with the school that does that type of diving in the appropriate conditions you are going to experience in your diving future.

i.e. if you want to become a techy, then you are probably looking at Deep, Nav, night (for poor vis), S&R and wreck (or similar, i.e. I think you can do a cavern experience dive etc). The important thing is to talk to the instructors and go with the one that seems to enjoy doing the kind of diving you want to be doing.

I had the benefit of doing my AOW with an instructor who was really motivated and interested, but also got to see a friend do his AOW where they didn't check the knowledge reviews or carry out any of the excercises (on his wreck dive he went to a wreck, deep dive went deep, naturalist dive where the fish were).

Hope this helps

 

[raviepoo]

The only real skill that I learned in the PADI OAW class was navigation. The rest of my diver were just dives. My instructor didn't do a heck of a lot of instructing, but I got the card anyway.

A year later I took that NAUI AOW class to orient myself to Northeast wreck diving. I found the class sessions to be much more challenging and the dives to involve testing on a lot more hard skills.

I have both text book in front of me but I don't have the benefit of having the instructor manuals listing requirements. My assessment is based on my limited experience. But MY PADI cert WAS fluff and MY NAUI cert was NOT.

Your mileage may vary.

MikeFerrara once bubbled...
If anyone thinks the PADI course is fluff and that no "real" skills are tought then take mine. After the class if you still think that way it's on the house.

 

[bug]

I first want to say thank you to everybody that has posted. It doesn't matter much to me that the post was "hijacked" I am happy to see other people's views about the AOW courses offered.

I also understand and have seen this argument go on for ever. As it probably will.

I will continue to ask a few of my LDS as to what they think. Almost a "interview" as to get some information and dedication they have to teaching.

From the sound of it. Both courses have a lot to offer it all depends on the instructor.

Thank you,
Matt

 

[Hooked4Life]

Matt:

I am not sure what part of Jersey you are from, but I may be able to offer you some advice. I live in Central Jersey, and a good LDS is http://www.njoceanexplorers.com/. I was PADI OW certified last September and we did the checkout dives at Dutch Springs in Allentown,PA. Dutch Springs is a great place to dive for training or just for fun. Infact I liked diving there so much last year I got a season pass for this year. I basically plan to be there all summer. My best advice to you is find a LDS that is interested in helping YOU. IMHO it has to do with the Instructors/DM's and not specifically the organization.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me.