Redesigning AOW

[DevonDiver]

Cheers Leapfrog... if you're ever in Thailand. I may be back over to Europe sometime in the summer (Ibiza maybe), so if we're ever in the same area... love to dive with you.

It's seems we are not providing enough entertainment or adventure for some people. .....Or they wanted to be spec ops frogmen but their parents talked them out of it?

As I said in a previous post... there is a lot of ego out there... and a lot of daydreamers, who use diving as a way to delude themselves that they are fulfilling a fantasy.....

 

[PvtStash]

a lot of daydreamers, who use diving as a way to delude themselves that they are fulfilling a fantasy.....

you say that like its a Bad thing....

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Personally, I find it ridiculous. I won't drop names but it seems like a good amount of people on this board seem to think they know everything there is to know about diving and therefore have the "correct" opinion on everything including AOW.

With respect, coming from someone with less than a year's experience ... and almost as many C-cards as dives ... I find that statement a bit presumptuous.

Nobody knows "everything there is to know about diving" ... and I haven't met too many on ScubaBoard who think that they do. I do, however, know a bunch of folks on here with massive amounts of experience in a wide variety of conditions and circumstances. Personally, even if I don't agree with them I'd be a fool to dismiss what they have to say without even considering the validity of it based on their experiences and perspectives.

At 50 dives, I thought I had it all figured out.

At 500 dives, I was starting to get a glimpse of just how much I had yet to learn.

Food for thought ... I'd be careful about dismissing those with the experience as simple "know-it-all's" ... maybe they're trying to tell you something important ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[String]

I may be back over to Europe sometime in the summer (Ibiza maybe), so if we're ever in the same area... love to dive with you.

Hey im there this summer too! Surprisingly good diving for the med.

 

[leapfrog]

Hi, String and Andy. Ibiza is pretty good. Most of the Balearics are clean water, good dives. Menorca is pretty good too. If you want reccos, let me know. Be nice to meet you.

 

[Buoyant1]

I personally don't have a problem with the word "ADVANCED" being there, or what it stands for..I DO have a problem with the mindset that someone with 9 dives, all under the watchful eye of an instructor, can walk onto a boat, do a dive that's well above their skill level, but has no questions asked of them vs. someone with XX amount of dives, several that are more advanced than the dive they want to do, but gets turned away because they DO NOT have that particular C-Card.

There has to be some sort of clearinghouse for this. I know that some of the Key's operators WILL scan your logbook for you to do advanced level dives, but I know of operators that won't, and rely exclusively on whether you have the card. (not how many dives you have)

THAT is my problem with the whole thing. Having the "Advanced" certification does NOT make you an ADVANCED diver, it makes you a "learned" diver.

 

[leapfrog]

I personally don't have a problem with the word "ADVANCED" being there, or what it stands for..I DO have a problem with the mindset that someone with 9 dives, all under the watchful eye of an instructor, can walk onto a boat, do a dive that's well above their skill level, but has no questions asked of them vs. someone with XX amount of dives, several that are more advanced than the dive they want to do, but gets turned away because they DO NOT have that particular C-Card.

There has to be some sort of clearinghouse for this. I know that some of the Key's operators WILL scan your logbook for you to do advanced level dives, but I know of operators that won't, and rely exclusively on whether you have the card. (not how many dives you have)

THAT is my problem with the whole thing. Having the "Advanced" certification does NOT make you an ADVANCED diver, it makes you a "learned" diver.

AOWD means an advanced OPEN WATER DIVER as opposed to simply an OPEN WATER DIVER. Specifically the AOWD course is designed to TRAIN YOU to do A. a deep recreational dive and B. navigate.

Having said that, if you dive with a center that does not take into account both certifiction level and logged dives as well as WHERE those dives have taken place (varied, all boat dives, shore dives, deep dives, wreck dives....etc) then go to another dive center.

Diving is fun until it gets serious. Those of us involved with the industry take training and experience very seriously. We don't want incidents and when something goes wrong we often have to face long term enquiry processes from both certification agencies and the local authorities.

We also want you to ENJOY your dives so you will come back and dive with us and tell other divers what a great time you had. If you feel up to do doing something more than your certification in theory qualifies you for, tell a DM or Instructor about it and most of us will oblige you, no extra charge. Don't get angry if we then try to sell you a course. That is what we do for a living. Train people so they can be better divers. Better divers have more fun. Trust me

 

[jviehe]

I personally don't have a problem with the word "ADVANCED" being there, or what it stands for..I DO have a problem with the mindset that someone with 9 dives, all under the watchful eye of an instructor, can walk onto a boat, do a dive that's well above their skill level, but has no questions asked of them vs. someone with XX amount of dives, several that are more advanced than the dive they want to do, but gets turned away because they DO NOT have that particular C-Card.

There has to be some sort of clearinghouse for this. I know that some of the Key's operators WILL scan your logbook for you to do advanced level dives, but I know of operators that won't, and rely exclusively on whether you have the card. (not how many dives you have)

THAT is my problem with the whole thing. Having the "Advanced" certification does NOT make you an ADVANCED diver, it makes you a "learned" diver.

The other issue is that boats are not required to require a certification in the first place, unless they are a PADI Resort. For all it matters they can be a taxi. You pay them to transport you to the water and return. Whether you have training or not is not their problem. In fact it works that way in a lot of world. I do dives all the time where no one is there to check my cert.

 

[ucfdiver]

The other issue is that boats are not required to require a certification in the first place, unless they are a PADI Resort. For all it matters they can be a taxi. You pay them to transport you to the water and return. Whether you have training or not is not their problem. In fact it works that way in a lot of world. I do dives all the time where no one is there to check my cert.

Simply put, if a dive boat requires me to have AOW to dive with them, I'll refuse to do business with them. No questions asked.

 

[seaducer]

Simply put, if a dive boat requires me to have AOW to dive with them, I'll refuse to do business with them. No questions asked.

And if they are the best choice for safety and value for the diving you want to do? By the by I have heard many ops require such certification as an insurance requirement...