I think I'm ready for AOW

[Mustangfreak]

First off I hope I don't get flamed!

Today me and 2 friends who are both AOW cert. went diving twice. The first dive was during the day, and we went down to 100'. It was pretty cool. It was my 3rd time being down that far, and when we started to go back up, just like the 2 times before, I started to nark, so I just slowed my accent and breathing. And it went away.

Then later we did a night dive, which was cool! Though, one of my friends had to keep clearing his mask due to a small leak. One time when he was doing so, I got too close without knowing, and he kicked my reg right out of my mouth when I was inhaling. My first thoughts were "Well crap " But he had his light pointing at me and I saw my reg and grabbed it and returned it back to my mouth. I kinda surprised my self since I didn't panic.

During the night dive we saw an octopus, a cuddle fish, a coral banded shrimp. And I saw a puffer fish, he swam directly into my light :lol3:

 

[The Chairman]

Way cool! AOW will allow you to have more dive time with a professional and that should give you some great input about your diving habits. Classes are great, but nothing beats experience in the water. Don't stop having fun!

 

[m3830431]

Go for it.

 

[dive_lover88]

You can do it! Go for it

 

[spectrum]

I agree, go for it.

IMO that 100 footer was perhaps a bit of a trust me dive.

In either case you can now extract some real value from the AOW activities.

Pete

 

[TSandM]

Sounds as though you have made a lot of progress from the dives you first posted about - congratulations!

 

[**ping**]

Absolutely cool...

why should anyone flame you for it? It seems that you are diving responsibly and that your dive buddys are so too.

Get your AOW... and then possibly Nitrox and Rescue, when the time comes. These are the really fun and useful courses...



Way to go!

 

[boulderjohn]

Definitely go ahead.

I did my AOW very soon after my initial instruction for an odd reason, at least as many would see it. I didn't feel I was as ready for diving as I should be, and I reasoned that more time with an instructor would be beneficial. As it turned out, I was the only student in the class, and I had one-on-one instruction on five very good dives, and I got a lot of great advice and help that was not part of the actual curriculum. My abilities took a great leap forward as a result.

 

[spacemanspiff1974]

I read the AOW book, have done night, deep, current, low vis, and navigation diving and never actually took an AOW course. But I do say go for it.

While I may get flamed for this, I think the certification agencies do divers a disservice in not teaching all the elements of AOW in the basic OW class. All of these seem to be necessary skills. Not teaching these techniques to any diver seems analagous to not teaching highway driving at night during a drivers ed course.

If a pperson does not have the skills to dive in any of these conditions without a divemaster or instructor being present, that person should not be certified. Period.

Unfortunately, too much of the industry is geared towards sending "tour groups" to the mexican coral reefs. But I guess that is where most of the money comes from.

Sorry for my rant. Back to the AOW topic, go for it. You will want the skills.

 

[ShakaZulu]

You are already doing AOW dives, so get the required training........signup today.