AOW on vacation or at home?

[j_spot]

Im coming to Kona in March. At some point I would like to complete my Advanced open water but I dont know if I should do it on vacation or at home?

If it is going to make my vacation dives "boring" and just going through skills forget it - Im not going to Hawaii to miss out on enjoying the scene underwater. For pure economics, if I get to do a dive and then break off with 10 minutes left to demonstrate skills I would rather do that than rent extra tanks here to dive when I would rather not (Ice, Elevation, Drysuit, Cold ---ick!)

What are the opinions and who would you get your cert with in Kailua-Kona?

 

[M.HARDY]

Hi There,
If you're land locked..I suggest you get your Cert where you can..Hpoefully taking the time to get it on vacation isn't going to disrupt anything...get your cert and go out and use it!!
Best of Luck in your Dives
M

 

[SteveAD]

If you dive at home, you should train at home. If you learn to navigate in limited vis then it becomes easier in great vis. Anything you learn in cold water with heavy exposure protection is easier in warm clear water. The general rule is that a diver is ok to dive in conditions similar to or better than those he trained in. My corrolary to that is that it is best to train in the worst conditions in which you will dive.

 

[j_spot]

There are glacier runoff lakes nearby, but thats about it.

Hi There,
If you're land locked..I suggest you get your Cert where you can..Hpoefully taking the time to get it on vacation isn't going to disrupt anything...get your cert and go out and use it!!
Best of Luck in your Dives
M

 

[Queenofgeek]

Since AOW consists of six adventure dives, why not enjoy your adventures?

I just got my cert in Oahu last month and it was awesome. I did my studying on the mainland and had my knowledge reviews done, so when it came time for the dives, I was prepared. We did drift, deep, nav, ppb, night, and wreck. The only one that consisted of more "skills" than diving was nav, but even that was fun.

I would talk to a couple of certification agencies both at home and on island and see how they do their AOW certifications and go from there. Personally, I would always dive in 78 degree water when given the opportunity But then again, I will likely never dive in Canada, so if cold water diving is something you plan to do, you might want the exp. like the previous posters (who certainly know more than me) stated.

Good luck!

 

[WVDiver]

Classes take up so much of your time when you are on vacation. I personally don't want to have to fool with a class when I am abroad or traveling in general. I would say do it at home and enjoy your diving while you are on vacation. Unless of course you are still a little uncomfortable and would like to have the security of an instructor or DM watching out for you while you are vacationing.

 

[KrisB]

Ok, I'm going to make this easy:

Do it in Hawaii.

Queenofgeek is the only one that has accounted anything similar to what the time commitment is -- at least the way it's done by any operator I've seen in Hawaii.

If you get the book ("Adventures in Diving") and do the reading and Knowledge Reviews at home / on the airplane on your way over, the only academics involved will be going over these Knowledge Reviews with your instructor. There are *no* tests.

The *FIVE* Adventure Dives required to get your AOW include a few skills pertaining to that "adventure", but aside from the Navigation dive, they usually only take 5-10 minutes to sort through, then you're off and looking at the fishies.

In fact, if you are able to choose something like AWARE Fish Identification, you're looking at the fishies the entire time.

Seriously -- being from Prince George, where there are lakes, but they're solid for half the year, AOW (and some of the specialties) is the *one* course I won't consider teaching locally. There ain't no-way, no-how, I'm going to go down to 60-100' for the Deep dive there!

There's nothing saying you can't get further training at home (e.g. the Navigation specialty) if you plan on diving there and you want the skills better tuned to your local environment... but truthfully, the skills you learn in AOW don't relate much to the local environment -- they are designed to be universal, and they're not dexterity based (like the open water course) where your chosen exposure suit will make a difference.

 

[Daiika]

I would suggest doing your dives in Kona as you are headed there in March. Do all the book reading and knowledge reviews first. Your dives should be really spectacular, the adventure dives you choose will not be like work, not like the OW course. Just remind your instructor it is suppose to be fun, right?

Daiika

 

[ferretchen]

There are all kinds of divers out there - people who only swim in 85 degree water twice a year, and people who would dive in a frozen poorly-lit toilet (is there another kind?) if required. Chances are that if you really like diving, it's all good, as long as you're diving.

I did my AOW on vacation - in fact, that was the purpose of said vacation. I did spend a lot of time studying the books and taking the necessary dives, but I loved it. I had nothing else to concentrate on. And there was extra time on the dives. There were some extra days "just for diving" as well.

My OW cert was done at home in cold dark water. It was a miserable experience, but I figure that if I could do that, I could do almost anything. I value both my miserable dark time and my nice warm bright time. I learned early that scuba is a sport that requires some hardship. It didn't stop me.

Other certs were done in pools, or in more cold dark places. The variety was good for me.

And training in some mud-hole quarry gave me a real appreciation of the tropical places. I never stop thinking "man, this is _so_ much nicer than the mud hole!"

 

[Queenofgeek]

The *FIVE* Adventure Dives required to get your AOW

Oops, I did six dives so that's what I reference when I think of my AOW cert

12 more days till I'm back underwater ... w00t!