Credit for past dives towards AOW Certification?

[cameokid]

Good Grief, what a hostile macho board this is!

You must have missed the part where I said I TOOK A REFRESHER. It was as familiar to me this time around as it was when I was 17. No big whoop.

I don't have a need to impress anyone - I just like breathing underwater once and awhile and looking at things and not having to wear a wetsuit. That is not possible where I live and I do happen to have a life, so 25 dives in 2 or 3 months is not going to happen.

So take your arrogant machismo and put it in a Nitrox bottle and sell it to some other fool who might be impressed with you.

 

[Walter]

Yes, I did miss the part where you said you took a refresher.

No, it is not a hostile board, although your response comes close to being hostile.

You asked a question, I responded with information you may not have considered. It is not about impressing anyone (neither you nor me) it is about learning vs card collecting. There are those who prefer both approaches. My response was what to consider if you were actually trying to learn. I'm sorry you feel an educational approach is "arrogant machismo." Collect your cards in peace. Good luck to you.

 

[jhelmuth]

Cameo Kid...

I can understand why you feel that this is a "macho" board - but please allow me to "arbitrate" a bit.
Walter is really trying to point out to you that if its the card that is important to you, then you are justified to take whatever shortcuts you can (and while he'd like to see you focus more on the educational value, he does/did/would wish you and anyone well in their pursuit of additional certifications if that this the aim of the individual). Walter is really a very respected individual here and while I don't know him by more than this boards activities, he and I have shared many PMs, and have argued the merits of our own points of view and knowledge (albeit, I would have to admit that he has influence my thinking and knowledge by virtue of his vast experience and wealth of diving knowledge). So, try to give him the benefit of his experience and don't take his advice/commments so harshly. We can all learn a great deal from those who posses the experience and knowledge such as Walter's.
So, if I may, I'd like to ask a question of you...
Is your goal the card, or the experience/knowledge?

 

[cameokid]

My goal is to dive at my own pace (warm and within NDL) at locations where I believe I can safely enjoy myself given my experience and abilities. I cannot do that in some cases today without "the card".

Once upon a time, students of the Basic Scuba course at our local Community College received an excellent education, which included "peak performance buoyancy" as a requirement for passing the class. The excellent and conscientious instructor also included a trip to a hyperbaric chamber at the nearby shock-trauma center, and naturalist instruction on fish and marine plant identification. Now these topics considered 'adventure' dives requiring more $$$ to put another notch on the tank.

The sport of Diving is not the same today as compared to when I first was certified. To my dismay, I can no longer do some wreck dives or a cave dive without PADI (putting another dollar into) the Scuba industry's money machine.

In an obvious move of clever marketing, the Diving industry has lowered it's standards for basic certification to attract and hook a larger percentage of the masses with their dollars and then created a ladder of progress obviously geared to pump certified divers for more $$$...in the name of EDUCATION.

After my excellent Basic Scuba education, a refresher, and making nearly 40 successful dives including caves and wrecks, I am comfortable with my practical diving skills, and my judgement (I am also trained as a critical care nurse) and I do not object to completing additional 'knowledge reviews' for the more risky stuff like deep and cave diving. I'd like to buy a used book, take the test(s), maybe do a couple more dives and be done with it. If that's not possible then I guess the caves will just have to wait because I might just decide to spend my money on some other sport. I'll be darned if I'm going to pay some instructor to accompany me on a so-called "adventure dive" for fish identification where the 'skills' involves doing the dive, then coming up and looking up the fish I saw in a book. That is research I do before I go down. Tell me this isn't marketing hype.

 

[Walter]

"Tell me this isn't marketing hype."

Much of the dive "training" is marketing hype. There are exceptions if you look. It is definitely a case of "let the buyer beware." Good luck.

 

[jhelmuth]

Consider getting a logged dive of each type you'd like to go on with your LDS instructor or staff through a dive trip. Log the dive and ask for a letter from the LDS instructor stating that you are skilled and educated well enough to participate. This works for us and we have no problems participating in deep wreck dives (albeit no penetration), etc.
I feel pretty certain that the main concern of the dive ops are that they are not allowing divers into circumstances which they may not be prepared for - which could be tragic in many instances.
While I want to get my AOW (for the purposes of pursing more education and higer certifications), I am currently spending my time and $ getting the experience. IMHO, AOW is just a marketing stepping stone toward better educational opportunities. You might consider that similar thought - spend your money on the dives and forego the card(s). If you keep up with the diving in these "advanced" catagories, I don't think dive ops will give you much of a problem (but the responsibility of documenting your abilities will be yours).

 

[chrpai]

I don't suppose you could take this flame fest to a more approriate group? As far as I can tell none of you guys are local divers to the Mid Atlantic region.

 

[cameokid]

Well you would be wrong about that. At least one of us is from the Mid-Atlantic region.

And despite the initial offensive comments, I think this thread worked itself out rather nicely. I appreciate the comments made by jhelmuth just prior to yours. He hit the nail on the head.

My only fear is that I will go to Hawaii or something and be required to have an AOW card for some dive I want to do, then be extorted into paying high resort fees for an AOW "course" in order to do my dive. So I would like to at least hold that credential - and I am willing to pay for some dives in the presence of an instructor to demonstrate my competency in advanced skills. But I have mastered buoyancy and I conscientiously review all the fish and plant life local to my dive site before I dive. That should count for something without having to pay extra, PADI.

So, if someone out there has a used book and is an instructor in the Mid-Atlantic region who is interested in helping...please email me at came0kid@yahoo.com (that's a zero in came0kid). Hurry while the water's warm. I'll wear a shortie if necessary.

Thanks