PADI AOW Course

[markieb]

My partner and I have recently completed our advanced open water course. Having done so, I have a question - is it normal practise for the dives to be led and undertaken by divemasters, to be signed-off by an instructor back in the office? Futhermore, would it be normal practise to take along two novice open water divers, when we were undertaking our 'course wreck dive'?

Thoughts, please......

 

[ppo2_diver]

The answer is "it depends". Instructors must accompany students on the deep dive. On other dives, the instructor must have indirect supervision. That means the instructor could be watching from the shore. The wreck dive, I'm pretty sure the instructor would need to be there to stop people from going into the wreck.

 

[laserdoc]

did my AOW in March. My instructor signed my course off after we got back to the shop,he was my dive master. Don't worry about it. It is not that big of deal,,,,as you saw from the course. It is really just a money maker for the shop. I had done everything a ton of times before I got my AOW. It was just another dive. But at least I got the card

 

[Azza]

It is not that big of deal,,,,as you saw from the course. It is really just a money maker for the shop. I had done everything a ton of times before I got my AOW. It was just another dive. But at least I got the card

Actually if the instructor is so inclined...it can be a brilliant course...even for divers that have been diving a while

 

[DiveMaven]

When we did ours, our instructor was with us on every dive and we learned a LOT in every dive except the "boat" specialty.

 

[BrianS]

If you didn't learn anything, find a new instructor.

did my AOW in March. My instructor signed my course off after we got back to the shop,he was my dive master. Don't worry about it. It is not that big of deal,,,,as you saw from the course. It is really just a money maker for the shop. I had done everything a ton of times before I got my AOW. It was just another dive. But at least I got the card

 

[BigBill]

I just completed my AOW course and found it to be educational and fun. Yes, they were "just another set of dives", but my instructor was very experienced (20 years) and added some helpful tips to be stronger and better divers.

One thing I did notice, the dives are advanced in that they are different skills which may be new to open water divers; some were new for me, others were not. Another thing I noticed in my class was some of the "advanced" divers-to-be had not been in the water since their initial check out dives for Open Water!! That was frustrating as I had done my bookwork, and practiced, and have more experience! I wanted to learn these additional skills, and had to wait for these numbnuts to get their stuff together (suits, bcd, etc.). I wish there was some way to screen these students, ie. # of dives or types of dives.

Bill

 

[ScubaKimmie]

When we did ours, our instructor was with us on every dive and we learned a LOT in every dive except the "boat" specialty.

Well with boat you should learn how much to tip, it was covered wasn't it

 

[jaydub]

Well with boat you should learn how much to tip, it was covered wasn't it

kimmie your hair keeps getting darker and darker with every change of your avatar

 

[Lukiedukie]

On my recent AOW (this past weekend) on the deep dive we had a ratio of 1 student to 1 DM and 1 Instructor. It was a small class only four students on the other dives we always had 1 instructor in the water and DM with every buddy team. So we had a total of three pro's in the water for each dive.