SCUBA shop that will issue be an AOW card after a few days diving?

[boulderjohn]

The Golf Ball Diver Specialty was one of the hardest courses I have taken. Zero Viz navigation and sticking hands in deep muck containing who knows what. The simulated alligator attack on dive 2 was most interesting and the last dive has you exiting the water while avoiding balls hit from the driving range. Not a specialty course for the weak.

A lot of people have died on golf ball dives. ScubaBoard has had a number of threads discussing those deaths.

Here's one example:

Yet another golf ball diver dead - Naples, Florida

https://www.fox4now.com/collier-county/collier-county-deputies-respond-to-possible-drowning NAPLES, Fla. — Collier County Sheriff's Office at the scene of a death investigation at the 1800th block of Crestview Way lake in Naples. CCSO says the call came in around 1:03 PM Friday. According to...

scubaboard.com

 

[Sevenrider860]

A lot of people have died on golf ball dives. ScubaBoard has had a number of threads discussing those deaths.

Here's one example:

Yet another golf ball diver dead - Naples, Florida

https://www.fox4now.com/collier-county/collier-county-deputies-respond-to-possible-drowning NAPLES, Fla. — Collier County Sheriff's Office at the scene of a death investigation at the 1800th block of Crestview Way lake in Naples. CCSO says the call came in around 1:03 PM Friday. According to...

scubaboard.com

Which is why there is a Golf Ball Diver Distinctive Specialty. I did not find diving for golf balls a fun dive experience.

 

[LI-er]

The Golf Ball Diver Specialty was one of the hardest courses I have taken. Zero Viz navigation and sticking hands in deep muck containing who knows what. The simulated alligator attack on dive 2 was most interesting and the last dive has you exiting the water while avoiding balls hit from the driving range. Not a specialty course for the weak.

I almost passed, I breezed through all of those parts you talk about. What got me was the underwater hearing test, you need to be able to hear "Fore!" at a depth of 15 feet while wearing a hood and vented ear plugs.

 

[Still Kicking]

I almost passed, I breezed through all of those parts you talk about. What got me was the underwater hearing test, you need to be able to hear "Fore!" at a depth of 15 feet while wearing a hood and vented ear plugs.

In my case, my biggest skills test was the solo CESA when my tender accidentally stepped on the power cord for the compressor and unplugged it without realizing it.

 

[stepfen]

Back to the OPs request.

Just after my OW course I had a couple of nice dives in Bali/Indonesia and it was apparent to me that I needed to work more on my skills and knowledge.

Back home, I walked in a random (actually the nearest to me) dive store to ask about AOW. It is the kind of shop that caters tourists and only tourists - a lot of them - on a daily basis. By chance, I talked directly to the instructor. His reply was: AOW? It is very easy. We go by boat, so it counts as a boat specialty, to a deepish site , so it counts as a deep dive, work a bit on your weights, so it counts as a peak performance dive, we do some navigation, so it counts as navigation, all these late in the afternoon/early evening, so it counts as a night dive. 1 dive and we are done. To be fair he also offered me a big discount (without me asking). They didn't see me again, as luckily, before all these, I was following scubaboard, so I knew what to avoid (I was not that lucky with my OW).

That shop didn't suit my needs, but, I think, it would suit OP's needs perfectly.

OP, if you insist that this is the right thing to do, I think than in any popular tourist destination, you will be able to find shops that can cut some corners to help you get what you need. Also another option is to do it during a LoB or a dive trip, usually with a big discount. You will probably do the same dives as everybody else does, with maybe a bit of discussion during surface intervals and the card will be issued to you.

Good luck

 

[Erich S]

Would an ice diving card work in place of an AOW?

 

[Wookie]

Would an ice diving card work in place of an AOW?

Why would anyone thing a specialty card would work in place of .....?

An AOW card works to verify AOW.

Likewise, Rescue, DM, or Master Scuba Diver, or instructor.

Not trimix, not nitrox, not ice diver, not drysuit diver, not Super duper cave wreck golfball diver.

 

[tursiops]

OP, if you insist that this is the right thing to do, I think than in any popular tourist destination, you will be able to find shops that can cut some corners to help you get what you need.

And when you find those shops, please report them to their agencies as breaking standards and committing fraud.

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

Been diving 20 years, 200+ dives. Running into an issue with people requiring AOW cards. I don't want to take a course to learn to "night dive" when I've already done it 20 times or wreck dive etc given what I've already done. Where can I find a shop to dive with for a few days and pay for the cert fee? Sick of the PADI shakedown scam such a terrible organization. 50 USD for a " digital card". The grift in this business is so frustrating. Don't get me wrong I get the purpose but back in the day your logbook was what counted not whether some 21 year old dive instructor gave you a piece of plastic.

Going back to the start and the question as originally posed. If having the card is the only objective so you can get on certain boats, there's not a lot required. "Where can I find a shop to dive with for a few days and pay for the cert fee?" That is the entirety of the AOW course (at least as some, if not most, cert agencies define it).

Go find an instructor. Do 5 guided dives. "Adventure dives" they call them. Get your card. Simple as that. One and a half days. Two days max.

One dive where you use the compass. One dive below 60 ft to maybe 100 ft. Three other blow off dives. One off a boat. One you look at fishes. One you look at a sunken boat. Pay their fee and "Presto!" you are now an advanced open water diver.

 

[admikar]

Hmmm, OP visited Scubaboard today, but no response here. I guess he did not like the way this thread piled up? I am so proud of all of you.