Cannot find a reason for AOW certification

[Jerome O'Neil]

It's not. A "deep dive" is anything over 18m. For AOW you are trained for up to 30m. What is confusing?

The metric system just loops me every time. I know it's superior. 18m doesn't sound very deep.

 

[Streydog]

It's not. A "deep dive" is anything over 18m. For AOW you are trained for up to 30m. What is confusing?

My understanding is the minimum depth of the deep dive required in AOW for PADI is over 60'

 

[boulderjohn]

To each his own, but I don't consider swimming around until you are low on air or the computer beeps to be a plan. I am sure his planning is more than that but that was not included in the post. In your example the rec diver turned at a specific PSI (and hopefully built in margin of safety), I consider that a plan (as long as he checked the NDL before hand). He should also have checked the tides, if shore diving in the ocean.

So you consider going one direction until a specific PSI and then turning around a plan, but you do not consider going in one direction (like on a drift dive) until a certain PSI and hen ascending to be a plan? Can you explain the difference?

Alos, what do you think was in the planning but not included in the post?

The other thing is what if his buddy has a different computer? The calculations are different and the NDL limits and surface intervals will be different. So while his computer says he is good to go the buddy's computer says he may not. This may not matter much on the first and only dive but it could well matter on a day of multiple dives. Shouldn't this be checked before the dives, so that each diver can make all the dives?

This is covered in the OW class. You follow the more conservative computer.

 

[boulderjohn]

My understanding is the minimum depth of the deep dive required in AOW for PADI is over 60'

Yes, it is possible for an instructor to teach the deep dive at a depth of 61 feet. It is not the best way to go, but it is hard to do otherwise sometimes. Here in Colorado, we do not have any suitable dive sites over 60 feet deep. One of our nearest training sites is in Utah, where we can get to 65 feet. I prefer to head to New Mexico (about 6.5 hours for me), where we can get all the way to 80 feet. (We do have a deeper site in NM, but the owner requires AOW for entry.) Although I believe it is important to get actual depth so the diver experiences the faster rate at which gas is consumed, the training itself is not really depth dependent otherwise.

 

[ams511]

So you consider going one direction until a specific PSI and then turning around a plan, but you do not consider going in one direction (like on a drift dive) until a certain PSI and hen ascending to be a plan? Can you explain the difference.

Alos, what do you think was in the planning but not included in the post?


This is covered in the OW class. You follow the more conservative computer.

He was not talking about a drift dive. So don't confuse the issue the issue by bring it up.

I know you follow the more conservative computer, but should this not be sorted out before the dives rather than on the boat or on the beach?

 

[boulderjohn]

He was not talking about a drift dive. So don't confuse the issue the issue by bring it up.

Confuse the issue?

You should take the Distinctive Specialty course I wrote on dive planning. It explains the difference between three major types of dive plans: rule of thirds, rule of halves, and all usable. A drift dive is just one example of an all usable dive--any dive where the diver is free to ascend to the surface at any point upon reaching an agreed upon PSI, time, or other turning point (like NDL). It could be a drift dive. It could be visiting a small wreck. It could be a lot of things common dives in diving. They are the simplest dives possible, and they have been covered in OW classes for years.

Are you planning on answering my questions?

I know you follow the more conservative computer, but should this not be sorted out before the dives rather than on the boat or on the beach?

What's to sort out? I imagine one diver would say, "Shall we ascend when the most conservative computer gets close to NDL or when we reach our normal PSI reserve, the way we have done on every other dive together?" The other diver would reply, "Yes, let's do it the way we always do." Is that what you mean by sorting it out?

 

[tmburkejr]

My wife and I are avid divers, we have been dive buddies for 30 years. I am AOW but she is just OW. We have talked about getting her AOW but just can't seem to see any reason to spend the money or time. She has 500 plus dives, excellent buoyancy, doesn't get lost when we dive in Bonaire , constantly dives to 80- 100 feet and follows all safe diving practices. We don't feel.any need to get further badges just to say we have them. We think that experience is much better than any badge we may have. Only once did her cert level, or lack of, be questioned (Florida key when we wanted to dive Speigal) but once the master watched us it was not a problem. How many of you did not pursue advanced certifications? Bill ( i have AOW but was 20 years young when i got it....i am now 58)

I have been diving since the early 80's and only had the ow cert. The only reason I got my aow was because I was going on a dive trip to the Florida keys and was told that I needed aow to dive the wrecks. It was a piece of cake and cost about $200.00 in Coz about 5 years ago. The hardest part for me was the navigation because I rarely ever used my compass.

 

[Erich S]

For me it breaks down to "overhead environment" or "mixed gas deco." Neither of which I do.

Cavern and ice diving are good examples of advanced dives.

 

[Jerome O'Neil]

Cavern and ice diving are good examples of advanced dives.

Yep. Both fall into the "overhead environment" category.

 

[ams511]

Confuse the issue?

For purely recreational diving I don't bother to work out my bottom time before my first dive of the day. I jump in and follow my computer/gas limits. If either has a problem I just ascend.

This is a quote of the original post. There is no mention of drift diving.

Are you planning on answering my questions?

What questions are you referring to?

What's to sort out? I imagine one diver would say, "Shall we ascend when the most conservative computer gets close to NDL or when we reach our normal PSI reserve, the way we have done on every other dive together?" The other diver would reply, "Yes, let's do it the way we always do." Is that what you mean by sorting it out?

No. Basically, what you mentioned in a previous post. The buddy team plans the dive to see if both computers agree with what the plan is. So no diver needs to cut the first dive short or jeopardize a latter dive. I am sure you have dove off of a commercial boat that needs to keep a schedule. You have some leeway over when to splash but if you wait to long the DM may not let you dive because they do not want to wait for you.

I do not understand your attitude on this. A dive computer is arguably the most complicated piece of equipment that a diver takes with them. In my 25+ years of diving I have seen them break, flood, and give off erroneous readings. Another problem is user error. I have seen people dive with the computer set to the wrong mix. I had a person once try to convince me that their Ai computer actually analyzes the mix in the cylinder and computes the NDL based on that. Is it really that difficult for the buddies to get together and plan the dives beforehand and say ok dive 1 is 30 minutes at 65 ft , we wait 60 and do a second dive for 30 minutes at 45 ft? Also shouldn't the buddies plan not to reach the NDL limits? The was a thread recently where a diver accidentally passed the NDL and decided it would be wise to ascend slowly. When doing so the computer started giving him ridiculously long safety stop info.