AOW curriculum/value??

[Scott]

Yes we do have some limitations when it comes to the AOW (PADI) deep dive this time of year and depending on location the navigation portion dive also.
I believe I understand what you’re thinking, what would a dive to 65’ feet do for me when I’ve already been to 115’?
I would talk with the Instructor at Dive Ut (?) and see what additional exercise they could have you do that would add more value to that dive. I typically don’t just show color absorption and compare depth gauges to someone.

You’ve made night dives, is one of their ‘electives’ a night dive? What other ‘electives’ are they going to have you do? In combination the AOW can have some good value even if you have experience.

I know from other topics you have a Cali trip planned. Is it possible to do some of the AOW there or was the trip not with the LDS?
Another thing to consider is who signed your logbook on the deep and or night dive. Was it an Instructor? You could get credit for those dives.

 

[Peter Guy]

Depending on what skills you may want to improve -- for example, general diving skills? -- you may want to look at a different path than AOW. As a newish diver, but one with some experience, you might be the "most bang for the buck" by taking a UTD Essentials or GUE Fundamentals course. These two classes focus on making you a more efficient diver and may show you a very different skill level.

If you haven't heard of these classes, just search for Essentials or Fundies and read what people have to say about these classes.

 

[TSandM]

Well, did you have a look at the dive options for the AOW course? Are there areas there that you think could use improvement? One can certainly work on buoyancy and navigation in any environment, and do a night dive anywhere. A search and recovery dive might introduce some interesting skills. It seems as though the trick is to cherry-pick dives that can be meaningfully done in your environment.

AOW is a class that can vary in quality enormously. A "deep" dive done in a 65 foot setting could still be very educational, if you go through dive planning, gas planning, and maybe try SMB deployment. If you just go to 65 feet and sit on the bottom and do math problems, not so much.

Oh, and I'd echo the recommendation for Rescue, and for Essentials or the GUE primer. You have a GUE instructor in Utah, I believe.

 

[Mike Boswell]

My wife and I have been open water PADI cerified just over a year and have logged about 25 dives. We have been to 115' and done night dives. We want to increase our skills and we are about to enroll in the AOW course. We are in No. Utah and the deepest dive available during the course will be about 60 - 65'. To me it looks like the curriculum is focused on the 5 dives and I wonder if with our limited dive enviroments we will get alot out of the investment in the course??

My wife and I took the PADI AOW together, we enjoyed it, and we got a lot out of it. I think one dive was a 100' "deep" dive, but other than that it was all in the 30-60 foot range. I think PADI has done a good job with their educational approach and their materials, and AOW is a very logical follow-up to the OW class.

Some of our classmates took the training more seriously than others. Those people who worked the hardest got the most out of the class. Fortunately our instructor was good and kept things on track.

If you have good instructors and you apply yourself, you will get the most out of this course and I doubt that you will regret it.

 

[dsdiving]

My wife and I have been open water PADI cerified just over a year and have logged about 25 dives. We have been to 115' and done night dives. We want to increase our skills and we are about to enroll in the AOW course. We are in No. Utah and the deepest dive available during the course will be about 60 - 65'. To me it looks like the curriculum is focused on the 5 dives and I wonder if with our limited dive enviroments we will get alot out of the investment in the course??

First off I want to say that it's great that you and your wife are experiencing these adventures together. My wife and I took our OW, AOW and Rescue together and enjoyed the journey together. She enrolled in the DM course with me but had to drop out half way through due to a Medical Condition (pregnancy-lol).

I sense that your question is not whether you should take the AOW course but if you should do it locally due to your limited environment. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Although at 65' you may not gain anything on the Deep Dive portion I still feel the course is worth while. If your LDS has good Instructors you will gain some knowledge and insight that otherwise may take several dives to learn.
Any course is just the beginning. You don't come out of a UW Photography Course with all the answers and a foot in the door with National Geographic.
Courses are a good starting point but skills should be maintained by many dives and staying connected to your Diving Community.
I've been Diving for twenty years with over 2000 logged dives and I'm still learning - that in part is what has kept me Diving, there always something to learn.
Go ahead and take the course and then continue learning.

 

[browntrout]

WOW!!! I can't even begin to quote all of the great information logged on this thread. I really appreciate the reply's. A couple ideas really hit home. First the concept of it being "things we don't teach in OW anymore". In thread after thread in the accident/injury forum I see discussion of the streamlining of the OW from what it used to be. Also the navigation portion of the training would be of great benefit to us. ALl our ocean dives have been drift dives with great visibility and the boat following your bubbles. I know I would struggle having to plan and execute a dive in poor visibility and or an anchored boat (such as So. Cal).

 

[Garrobo]

I paid for the AOW cert for one reason. The dive shop which was taking me out to the Oriskany demanded it. Otherwise I would have been happy to go forward with only an OW cert. I'd dove all the wrecks around Key Largo and Islamorada many time with only an OW. I had 150 dives at the time, about half of them deep wreck dives. I had already done all of the dives and stuff that PADI tested me on and the bookwork was a rehash of stuff I already knew. Really a waste of money but now I am !!!ADVANCED!!! diver and I can prove it. How about 'expert' diver? That one will really be worth the money.

 

[TMHeimer]

I had two dives total after OW when I signed up for AOW. While waiting for the charter to go for the deep dive I had 4 more charter dives (different boats) that took me to 70+ feet, then the class "deep" dive with the "task to complete at depth" was to about 63 feet. But I wanted the course to be "certified" to go 100 feet and to have that card as proof. However I did learn a fair bit of new & interesting stuff, and the PP Buoyancy dive really helped. I later did the PPB specialty.

 

[RonFrank]

AOW should be completed as soon after OW as possible.

I have made that argument in many threads over the years, and the major reason is that if you wait until you are proficient at skills to do AOW, it becomes a bit pointless. However AOW is a prerequisite for rescue which I believe should be mandatory for any self respecting diver.

It would be nice if agencies allowed one to *test out* of AOW, maybe with a minor fee involved.... however they do not!

 

[RonFrank]

A few years back the crew on a Blackbeards trip told us they don't consider people advanced till 500 dives.

500 dives to be considered advanced??? Sounds short sighted to me...

500 dives in shallow, tropical, low current clear water conditions proves little. So rather than just throwing out some number, maybe decide what makes some one advanced. Is it the ability to dive in a wide range of conditions? The ability to handle doubles for example?

I know some rather exceptional dives who have a lot less than 500 dives. I know a couple of folks that have hundreds of dives, and are still not comfortable in cold water. I know some very experienced divers that if you put them in low vis and cold water they pretty much can't handle it. I have seem MANY divers that were sitting on the bottom of some reservoir/lake because they needed to log dives! :shocked2:

My point is throwing out just a number seems rather ignorant.