PADI AOW Deep Dive Question

[shotthebreeze]

What tasks do you have to perform throughout the dive? In the manual it says the following:

At depth - Assembling and positioning emergency equipment, suiting up, predive safety check, entry and decent, timed task on bottom, depth gauge comparisons, etc.

What exactly is the "timed task on bottom" exactly? Can anyone walk a newb through the dive for AOW?

 

[TSandM]

Well, I can tell you what we did for ours. We did a math problem on the surface and at depth, and looked at a color chart. It was a very simple dive -- We got the in the water, swam down to 95 feet, sat in the silt and did our math and colors, and then swam back to shore.

Don't get me started on what you SHOULD do or know on a deep dive . . .

 

[Catt99]

Yup - my experience was pretty similar to TSandM's. We dropped to ~100 ft. and checked out a color chart, compared depth gauges / computers, examined the compression of our wetsuits, and did a "task" that we had previously done at the surface. The task our instructor selected for us was to count from 10 - 250 or 5 - 125 (by 10's or 5's respectively) by crossing off numbers which were arranged randomly in a checkboard pattern on a dive slate; i.e., imagine a slate with a checkboard pattern and the numbers 170, 20, 40, 200, 220 written in the top row, plus 4 more rows of the same random placements, and then counting by locating and crossing off 10, 20, 30 etc. in order.

The "timed task" isn't a reference to getting something done within a time limit in order to "pass" -- it is to compare to your surface task time on the same exercise and, perhaps, show you some effects of nitrogen narcosis even when you don't feel at all narked. My bottom task time was just a bit slower than at the surface; my wife's and another student's bottom times were actually a bit better than they'd done at the surface.

 

[teddyg04]

I've done timed tests with 2 different instructors. One had us open a combination lock at the surface and at depth to compare times; one had us do a version of the number chart with 1 - 25 written in random order in 5 rows. We crossed of the numbers in order. As previously stated, it's to show students the difference in time for physical and mental tasks on the surface and at depth.

 

[MelissaExplainsItAll]

I think the main point is to be able to dive to a depth of about 100 feet and not die. Just a guess..

 

[Peter Guy]

Although NOT a part of the PADI deep dive program, some of what TSandM referred to is the whole idea of "gas management" -- otherwise known as "How to figure out how much air (gas) I need to take with me to do the dive I'm planning on doing -- and do it safely for me and my buddy!"

I wrote a one page "cheat sheet" on this a while back -- you may find it of value:

Basic Gas Management Cheat Sheet

BTW, my experience was the same as the others -- that is, NOT what you need to know!

 

[spectrum]

BTW, my experience was the same as the others -- that is, NOT what you need to know!

Unfortunately the adventure dive format simply exposes you to different things and there isn't enough devoted to making you good at anything.The modular format SSI AOW offering at least attempts to build some competency.

 

[shotthebreeze]

Alright, so the basic idea is to become competent with gas management at depth. Also, the charts/problems will also show the effects of Nitrogen Narcosis. Is this correct, lol?

 

[goldenbear01]

for my aow task, my instructor had me remove an item that was clipped to one of the d-rings on my bcd, clip it to another d-ring, remove it, clip it to a third d-ring, remove it, clip it to a fourth d-ring, remove it, and clip it to the original d-ring. from what i picked up in the padi manual, basically, the task was to show the effect of getting narc'd at depth.

personally, i had a more difficult time w/the navigation portion of the aow cert--kept getting knocked off-course by the surge at the reef bottom.

 

[shotthebreeze]

from what i picked up in the padi manual, basically, the task was to show the effect of getting narc'd at depth.

Is getting narc'd at depth something that isn't really noticeable until you try to do something like that or is it more like getting drunk?