How Long Before AOW

[gkwaldee]

I am of the impression that the very least cert that I will feel "comfortable" with is rescue........for many reasons.

Im in the the Submarine Fleet, and training is paramount to sucess. Therefore, more training just "feels" right when your life or someone elses may be in the swing. While everyone may not have that chance to go that far, we do since we live on Guam and the water is always warm and inviting.

We (my wife and I) took AOW imediately after completeing OW. Of course, were able to dive 8 times a week.

THe question we should all ask ourselves is a simple one:

With the training I have, can I handle an emergency in a safe, calm manner? I personally dont think that just a OW cert can give that certainty............But thats JMHO

tiny bubbles

 

[Ari]

Allowed for some more instructor time and helped my UW skills.

I guess you can also wait between the two, but I see no reason.

Later on I took my DM class, after having some more experience. I feel that my progress was relatively quick but not too much.

Ari

 

[Mick L]

I did the OW and then the AOW straight away, didn't have any problems. In fact it worked out pretty well, the instructors knew us and what we were like in the water and things went very smoothly. The only thing I would have done differently would to have done the dry suit speciality before the AOW. Boy was it cold!!!

 

[SA-Diver]

My wife and I did OW and AOW back-to-back without any problems. We
also view AOW as additional experience after OW and not as an advanced qualification.

 

[jhelmuth]

As short a time as possible, but ONLY after you have a great grip on the "neutral buoyancy" skill! This might only take a dozen dives if you really put yourself into it with a great deal of enthusiasm and physical ability (sense of your physical skills/control/awareness that is). But for many it will take much more. Many experienced divers will relay quite a few more dives as required to get there - and they are not wrong.
You be your best judge of when, but be honest with yourself on your skill readiness before you take the next step.
In the meantime you might consider taking some of the specialty courses along the way.

Happy bubbles!

 

[large_diver]

I guess it depends on the person...but I guess I would recommend you get in at least 20-30 dives after OW to try AOW. If nothing else, if gives you a chance to do some unsupervised dives and to figure out what you still need work on -- buoyancy, navigation, etc., etc. You can then get the most out the AOW by not only learning about the specific topics on the formal course agenda, but also by taking the opportunity to have the instructor work with you on some of your personal "development areas" which you have already indentified.

If you jump right into AOW, you don't even really know what you don't know yet. I would use the analogy of someone jumping from an undergraduate degree right into an MBA (Masters in Business). If you work for a while first after college before pursuing an MBA, it really helps put the coursework in persepctive, since you may have already faced many of the issues you are learning about in class. Same thing for AOW.

My $0.02.

 

[drbill]

32 years to get AOW. Why? Because my original LAC certification allowed me to do everything the AOW card does. However a PADI card was more recognizable whjen I travelled than my LAC card, and didn't really cost me anything more than the GBR liveaboard trip I did it on.

I advise waiting slightly less than that!

Dr. Bill

 

[justj]

I think I will be waiting and not doing it on my first real trip. That way I can just get some diving done and just have some fun "no classwork" and grab it on the next go around.

thanks again for all the input