AOW Training on the Blackbeard’s Cruise

[Wreck(ed)Diver]

Hello all!

I have a friend who will be going on the Blackbeard’s Cruise this summer and wants to get her AOW. The main question is how high is the quality of training on the liveaboard/how good are the instructors? If she wants high quality training would that be sufficient or should she look into getting trained at a local shop?

Thanks!

 

[Rob9876]

My teenage son and I got our AOWs while on a Blackbeard's cruise and I'm glad that we did. The book/academic part was somewhat brief, but really AOW is a sampler of 5 specialties and a chance to dive with an instructor on 5 more dives. It will of course vary with instructors, and which of the optional specialties are sampled, but we did (brief summary):

• Deep - understand impact on gas usage, NDLs, and see what pressure does to an egg and balloon.
• Navigation - understand compass use and navigate a course set by the instructor
• Peak Buoyancy - improvement of buoyancy and trim, including adjust weighting
• Night - learn not to blind your buddies with your light, how to get attention, and shine your light on your hand when you need to make hand signals.
• Fish ID - identify a few types of fish - this was an elective.

Many of these are still pretty basic and are not rocket science, so whether your friend gets them on Blackbeard's, locally or elsewhere I think it's good to go in knowing that this is not as big a leap either academically or skills-wise compared to OW. However, I'm glad we got ours on Blackbeard's, because we got to know the other students better (to team up on other non-class dives), got 5 more dives with an instructor, and we were already paying for the dive part, so AOW on board was pretty economical to add.

 

[tursiops]

My teenage son and I got our AOWs while on a Blackbeard's cruise and I'm glad that we did. The book/academic part was somewhat brief, but really AOW is a sampler of 5 specialties and a chance to dive with an instructor on 5 more dives. It will of course vary with instructors, and which of the optional specialties are sampled, but we did (brief summary):

• Deep - understand impact on gas usage, NDLs, and see what pressure does to an egg and balloon.
• Navigation - understand compass use and navigate a course set by the instructor
• Peak Buoyancy - improvement of buoyancy and trim, including adjust weighting
• Night - learn not to blind your buddies with your light, how to get attention, and shine your light on your hand when you need to make hand signals.
• Fish ID - identify a few types of fish - this was an elective.

Many of these are still pretty basic and are not rocket science, so whether your friend get's them on Blackbeard's, locally or elsewhere I think it's good to go in knowing that this is not as big a leap either academically or skills-wise compared to OW. However, I'm glad we got ours on Blackbeard's, because we got to know the other students better (to team up on other non-class dives), got 5 more dives with an instructor, and we were already paying for the dive part, so AOW on board was pretty economical to add.

Not just Fish ID, but Peak Buoyancy and Night are also electives. If they did not seem to be electives on Blackbeards, that is likely because of logistical constraints. Other popular electives are Wreck, Search and Recovery, Photography, and Naturalist. Fish ID is often done as part of REEF.org training. Your Deep class was either old or not to current standards; it is to cover color loss with depth, not pressure effects. I hope your Navigation dive included measuring the distance covered by your fin kicks, and included a rectangle course at least 400 ft total length of the sides.

 

[Rob9876]

Not just Fish ID, but Peak Buoyancy and Night are also electives. If they did not seem to be electives on Blackbeards, that is likely because of logistical constraints. Other popular electives are Wreck, Search and Recovery, Photography, and Naturalist. Fish ID is often done as part of REEF.org training. Your Deep class was either old or not to current standards; it is to cover color loss with depth, not pressure effects. I hope your Navigation dive included measuring the distance covered by your fin kicks, and included a rectangle course at least 400 ft total length of the sides.

It's been a few years -- yes, we knew Peak Buoyancy and Night were electives, and they did give us a number of options on electives, since you do a variety of dives. And our Deep class did cover color loss also, I just forgot to mention it (again, it's been a number of years). And yes, our Nav dive definitely included using fin kicks to measure distance and the 400 ft rectangle.

 

[tursiops]

It's been a few years -- yes, we knew Peak Buoyancy and Night were electives, and they did give us a number of options on electives, since you do a variety of dives. And our Deep class did cover color loss also, I just forgot to mention it (again, it's been a number of years). And yes, our Nav dive definitely included using fin kicks to measure distance and the 400 ft rectangle.

Sounds like Blackbeard's ticks all the boxes....at least then, with that instructor.

 

[Wreck(ed)Diver]

Ok thats all great to know! I think it should be fine regardless since my istructor friend and I can fill in any gaps.
Thanks!

 

[Rilelen]

I’ve been on Blackbeard’s twice with new diver friends who were doing their AOW. It’s a popular gig, and they have their pick of folks applying to work with them - all the DMs on board are instructors, and many (if not most) of the captains.

Both friends (two different trips, two different instructors) had a great experience. The quality was way higher than what I got in my own AOW class, and what I see taught in some of our local shops…

Plus, because Blackbeard’s doesn’t put a DM in the water, it’s a great way for new divers to work in five additional guided dives, get to know some of the other divers on board, and get to know one of the instructors. It’s very casual/low pressure - the classroom learning takes place either on deck or in the galley (weather dependent). I bunked in the galley and so “sat in” on a number of classes; the instructors were patient and funny but also hit all the key pieces.

The dives themselves are spread out across the week depending on what folks want to do. I think typically they do Deep & Nav (required), plus night, peak performance buoyancy, and fish ID. I think they would be open to different electives if students requested them but night + buoyancy I think are solid choices (and work well for the diving you’re doing on the liveaboard; wreck for instance would be difficult because there’s only one wreck they dive and it’s typically done as a shark feed).

That plus the cost (very low, because the dives are paid for!) have led me to recommend it to quite a few friends as a fun and easy way to do both a budget dive trip and work in some additional training at the same time.