How important is the AOW ?

[scubajunky17]

I don't have it, have over 200 logged dives and it's never stopped me from diving so far.
Where in the world can you not dive deep without it?

 

[Thalassamania]

Some charter boats will not take you out.

 

[scubajunky17]

Which countries? I have so far done liveaboards, twice in Komodo, the Galapagos and Palau twice.

 

[USVet96]

Why not just take the deep specialty course and be done with it

Just curious

 

[birdwrasse]

that's right...!!! if you break 61ft the scuba police will pull you over and write you a ticket! you might even be forced to turn in your c-card or be forced to wear pink and lavender colored wetsuits from the 80's... be very careful...

 

[USCScubaboy]

Which countries? I have so far done liveaboards, twice in Komodo, the Galapagos and Palau twice.

The U.S. In particular, southern California. Some of the dive locations, such as the oil rigs and the wrecks in San Diego, are only accessible by boat. In order to get onto the boat you need to have an AOW cert.

 

[bletso]

In the key's some of the wrecks. A little formal training by a good mentor/instructor never hurt anyone and as a side benefit, you might just learn something you didn't know. You may also get bragging rights and recount what an a..hole course it was.

To be frank, most AOW courses are at best a laugh. Most agencies just require 5 additional dives covering deep/night, navigation, etc. One dive apiece will make only card collectors AOW. Now the old NAUI Advanced (their Master Diver course now) did impart a lot of knowledge and skills. They had to change the name to stay competitive.

So if you want to learn more take the NAUI Master Diver course or the GUE equivalent. You may be surprised at what you just thought you knew.

Safe Diving


Dale
TDI/SDI IT

 

[Insta-Gator]

To be frank, most AOW courses are at best a laugh. Most agencies just require 5 additional dives covering deep/night, navigation, etc. One dive apiece will make only card collectors AOW. Now the old NAUI Advanced (their Master Diver course now) did impart a lot of knowledge and skills. They had to change the name to stay competitive.

I took the SSI AOW course. I already had my Nitrox card, so all that was required were a few specialties. What a laugh. Perhaps if I have been a newbie I might have learned something, but mostly we sat around the table sharing dive stories. When I asked a question that I thought was relevant it only lead to another anecdotal story or them trying to sell me some piece of gear. I still have not been able to schedule my check-out dives. I'm retired and have lots of time but they don't seem too. It's been months and I still do not have my AOW card (for what that's worth.) If some of the dive operators didn't explicitly have "AOW required" on some of their dive site descriptions I would not have bothered or spent (wasted) the money. IMO, AOW is truly a joke!

 

[stairman]

Mine was a joke but the dives were fun. Its a way for alot of dive shops to make more money by selling you a compass and adding you to the trip list since a deep dive has to be made. Some cavern instructors require it before training in that specialty but not all. To a new diver I would say go ahead and get it. To someone with your experience I wouldnt bother with it at this point.

 

[DeputyDan]

Mine was a joke but the dives were fun. Its a way for alot of dive shops to make more money by selling you a compass and adding you to the trip list since a deep dive has to be made. Some cavern instructors require it before training in that specialty but not all. To a new diver I would say go ahead and get it. To someone with your experience I wouldnt bother with it at this point.

I agree - I would not say mine was a joke (but it didn't have substance) and it was fun!