AOW for vacations/resorts?
- Thread starter Gombessa
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Thanks for the responses everyone.
As to drysuit rentals, I've definitely had the same experience as well. In fact, the same place that sold me a drysuit without a drysuit card will not rent me one without a card. To me, it's a similar "nice to have the card just in case" situation.
As to drysuit rentals, I've definitely had the same experience as well. In fact, the same place that sold me a drysuit without a drysuit card will not rent me one without a card. To me, it's a similar "nice to have the card just in case" situation.
I'm sure Lynne will tell you she got something out of her AOW class. I would bet that with the right instructor anyone can get something out of an AOW class. I've never been asked for the card, although I have been asked for drysuit, and nitrox.
Another great reason to take AOW is to take Rescue after it. That is one class that I really did learn something in. Among other things, that I never want to have to rescue my 300lb instructor ever again (He's around 6'6" btw.)
Tom
Another great reason to take AOW is to take Rescue after it. That is one class that I really did learn something in. Among other things, that I never want to have to rescue my 300lb instructor ever again (He's around 6'6" btw.)
Tom
Sas
Contributor
I got my AOW, Deep + Nitrox specialties mainly to be able to show cards to charters and dive shops. I have to say I did enjoy the courses a lot (I had to do four courses to get AOW), but that is mainly because I like diving and I got to dive during the courses (other than Nitrox). 
In hindsight, they are not really worth the cash for what I learned (as I could have taught myself the course work) despite my instructor going beyond the coursework but they fulfill the legal obligations of charters and saves me hassle when trying to book on certain dives. In that regard, they were worth it for me.
I remember travelling one time and me and my buddy forgot our cert cards completely so the store would not fill the tanks we brought in (fair enough, they are just covering themselves), however another guy with us had his card so they took that and filled up all our tanks saying "we just need to see a card, any card". If safety is their aim with card-checking (to avoid filling tanks of uncertified divers), then what they did kind of defeats that purpose!
After reading a few posts here, I will definitely be taking my drysuit with me when I travel, regardless of the extra weight it will mean for my baggage allowance. I am surprised stores will not loan them out without a card! A drysuit course I really felt was unnecessary for me so I never did one, so would definitely not pay for a card now.
In hindsight, they are not really worth the cash for what I learned (as I could have taught myself the course work) despite my instructor going beyond the coursework but they fulfill the legal obligations of charters and saves me hassle when trying to book on certain dives. In that regard, they were worth it for me.I remember travelling one time and me and my buddy forgot our cert cards completely so the store would not fill the tanks we brought in (fair enough, they are just covering themselves), however another guy with us had his card so they took that and filled up all our tanks saying "we just need to see a card, any card". If safety is their aim with card-checking (to avoid filling tanks of uncertified divers), then what they did kind of defeats that purpose!
After reading a few posts here, I will definitely be taking my drysuit with me when I travel, regardless of the extra weight it will mean for my baggage allowance. I am surprised stores will not loan them out without a card! A drysuit course I really felt was unnecessary for me so I never did one, so would definitely not pay for a card now.
NudeDiver
Contributor
Man, it will piss me off to no end if I get banned from a dive because I do not have the Deep specialty (I have AOW).
wait, wait, wait a minute here Sas. Your BUDDY forgot YOUR cards?????
And that's exactly it. Same as the above example concerning the drysuit. It's clear that safety is really not the goal here.
I'm surprised that if you knew you were going somewhere a drysuit was useful, you wouldn't bring your own. I know they're heavy (mine certainly is), but fit is everything. Hard to get a good fit with a "whatever they have" rental situation. I certainly don't cherish the thought of traveling with my drysuit, but I definitely wouldn't rent one again. That's why I bought one
I realize people have different results - but everyone I know locally who has taken a drysuit has been greatly underwhelmed with the content. For anyone who is going to drysuit dive on anything resembling a frequent basis (more than 5 dives/year), I'd say the money would be better spent on buying a drysuit than taking a drysuit class so one could rent them.
ligersandtions
Contributor
I wonder if you were to bring in your drysuit and show that you had a seal failure or something that made it un-diveable if they would then rent you a drysuit. I hope I never run into a similar issue, as I do not have a drysuit cert card either....guess I'll bring my drysuit and my back-up 7mm if it's a dive/trip that I absolutely cannot miss!
I actually got very, very little out of my AOW class, other than the opportunity to do five more dives with an instructor (which was necessary at the time, because I was way too scared to get in the water with anybody else).
Peak performance buoyancy: Instructor took some weight off, gave me a light, put some weight back on and took the light back. Net learning: essentially nothing.
Navigation: We tried to swim a square pattern. When Peter led, we kind of got back to our starting point. When I led, I precessed to the right.
Deep: We went down and sat in the silt at 95 feet and did a math problem and looked at colors. We swam upslope. Nobody found out that I couldn't hold a safety stop.
Night: I got to do my first night dive with an instructor as a buddy. I was disoriented and tried to swim off with the wrong people. I saw a skate.
DPV: We had SeaDoo scooters and zoomed around Edmonds. It was great fun, although it was the third dive of the day and I was pooped.
Now, NW Grateful Diver's AOW class is a whole 'nother animal. It has meat and teeth -- you learn stuff, you execute or you don't pass, and he'll come back and do dives over again with you if you haven't got it. And the midwater nav dive still gives me the willies. But MY AOW class? I'd rather accept the limitations at resorts than spend money on something which was worth so little.
But I'm not the least bit bitter about it
Peak performance buoyancy: Instructor took some weight off, gave me a light, put some weight back on and took the light back. Net learning: essentially nothing.
Navigation: We tried to swim a square pattern. When Peter led, we kind of got back to our starting point. When I led, I precessed to the right.
Deep: We went down and sat in the silt at 95 feet and did a math problem and looked at colors. We swam upslope. Nobody found out that I couldn't hold a safety stop.
Night: I got to do my first night dive with an instructor as a buddy. I was disoriented and tried to swim off with the wrong people. I saw a skate.
DPV: We had SeaDoo scooters and zoomed around Edmonds. It was great fun, although it was the third dive of the day and I was pooped.
Now, NW Grateful Diver's AOW class is a whole 'nother animal. It has meat and teeth -- you learn stuff, you execute or you don't pass, and he'll come back and do dives over again with you if you haven't got it. And the midwater nav dive still gives me the willies. But MY AOW class? I'd rather accept the limitations at resorts than spend money on something which was worth so little.
But I'm not the least bit bitter about it
Thats why I got my AOW, Nitrox, drysuit, etc. so I could dive without worrying about getting hassled. The last thing I want on an expensive trip is to be limited on the profiles of the dives I can do. BTW, you will probably not get anything new out of the class, just the card....
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First off, why is this thread in the DIR forum? AFAIK, AOW has little or nothing to do with DIR, although I like to think that my class will prepare students to go in that direction if they should so choose.
Buying a card is a bad idea ... if you're going to take a class, take it to learn something. Otherwise, your time is better spent out actually diving and gaining real-world experience.
There are stupid people everywhere who will insist on certain cards, regardless of experience level. I had a dive charter in Maui refuse to book me because the guy wouldn't recognize my NAUI instructor cert, nor any of the other cards I had with me at the time ... he informed me they only recognized PADI certifications.
I do not have a drysuit certification card ... despite the fact that I've got more than 2,000 dives in a drysuit, and have issued a couple dozen drysuit certifications to students who took the class from me. Go figure ... guess if I needed to I wouldn't be able to rent one.
People are too card-happy these days ... mostly because they're ignorant. The solution to that problem is to find someone with better common sense to dive with.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
Buying a card is a bad idea ... if you're going to take a class, take it to learn something. Otherwise, your time is better spent out actually diving and gaining real-world experience.
There are stupid people everywhere who will insist on certain cards, regardless of experience level. I had a dive charter in Maui refuse to book me because the guy wouldn't recognize my NAUI instructor cert, nor any of the other cards I had with me at the time ... he informed me they only recognized PADI certifications.
I do not have a drysuit certification card ... despite the fact that I've got more than 2,000 dives in a drysuit, and have issued a couple dozen drysuit certifications to students who took the class from me. Go figure ... guess if I needed to I wouldn't be able to rent one.
People are too card-happy these days ... mostly because they're ignorant. The solution to that problem is to find someone with better common sense to dive with.
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
I have all the cards necessary should the situation arise. Dry, nitrox, helitrox, etc. Keys ops will not let you do the deep stuff like the Spiegel, Duane, etc. without AOW OR verifiable deep experience. The last is subjective. It is up to the owner or in many cases the captain or DM as to whether or not the person is good to go. My beef with this is that many times the AOW card is just "bought" and the skill level of the diver is nowhere near what is required to do the dive. This is where people get hurt. Face it, it sucks but the AOW card in many cases is not for the diver. It is liability protection for the op and the agency. There are some instructors and at least one agency where the AOW card is not bought. Take my AOW class and if you are not up to what I feel is qualified you get no card. Payment is a guarantee of training. It does not guarantee certification. And best of all my agency backs me up on that.
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