Specialty courses

[jbd]

dandan has already picked one of the elective dives and is trying to figure out which ones for the remaining two electives.

pchelp might be recalling that his/her PADI AOW was three required plus two electives as was mine a few years ago.

 

[chepar]

jbd once bubbled...
pchelp might be recalling that his/her PADI AOW was three required plus two electives as was mine a few years ago.

I'll be taking the AOW (aka Adventures in Diving) with Rusty (pchelp) next week -

Deep, navigation and night were required by our instructor, and we had to choose 2 electives.

 

[jbd]

you may want to check things out with your instructor. That night dive is doesn't seem to be a core dive any longer. You can trust Submariner when it comes to PADI course requirements at all levels. If you want to do the night dive thats fine but maybe you want to do diver propulsion vehicles or some of the other choices.

Walter, we are talking about the AOW class not specialty ratings.

chepar which electives did you pick?

 

[chepar]

jbd once bubbled...
you may want to check things out with your instructor. That night dive is doesn't seem to be a core dive any longer. You can trust Submariner when it comes to PADI course requirements at all levels. If you want to do the night dive thats fine but maybe you want to do diver propulsion vehicles or some of the other choices.

I'm sure Submariner is correct - but our instructor required the night dive and we could only choose 2 others. At any rate, it is one that I would have chosen anyway.

Rusty and I settled on Search and Recovery and Drift. I thought the DPV elective looked fun, but since the use of a DPV was not something I would have the opportunity to use very often, I figured the best use of my time was something that I could forseeably utilize on a more frequent basis.

 

[jbd]

you get to do things that you might use thats good. I enjoy diving at night. I had to do the DPV thing although I didn't really want to. I guess it was really a matter of convenience since all the others where doing it.

If you can at all work it out try to do the PPB with your instructor or even on your own. It can make a real difference. Our instructor added the PPB to the dives we did. IMHO it ws the best part of the whole weekend. I really wish PADI would include the PPB into their OW class.

Have fun!!

 

[chepar]

is something I'm definitely interested in. I think I may take the course on my own in the future - by the way, how much do these specialty courses run outside of the AOW curriculum? Just a rough figure - obviously everywhere will be different.

While I'm not crashing into coral and can reasonably maintain buoyancy control (at least as much as someone with only 17 dives can expect to do) - I am always looking into furthering my skills. I fantasize about the day that I can hover absolutely still, with no hand movement, just a few inches above the bottom, 25 fsw- just moving back and forth with the surge.

I'm looking forward to the night dive - if anything, to allay any residual fears of the dark I may be harboring. Have had many opportunities to go diving at night, but held back because frankly, I was chicken. Wanted to wait until I could do the first one with an instructor.

 

[jbd]

your questions about specialty course costs as I have never taken any of them.

I would imagine that the night dive would be really cool where you are located(I just now noticed you're in Hawaii).

Keep in mind that your instructor may count these dives as one of the required dives to obtain the specialty rating.

Work on getting your weights in the right place and the correct amount or switch to bp/wings and practice the motionless hover every time you dive and you will achieve it. For me the PPB got off quite abit of excess weights. If I move my weight belt up near my chest then I can hover motionless and horizontal. I should mention that I wear the weights forward of my iliac crest(what most folks call hip bone) This turns me face down when I descend. Also you can move the tank up on your BC. There is another thread that talks about correcting trim with tank placement. The idea is to find the proper balance point with your center of gravity and your center of bouyancy.

 

[pchelp]

Yes, I'm also looking forward to the night dive. We had also discussed various electives including wreck, but since the deep dive is to a wreck, another had to be chosen. Also, since I will be on vacation (after a long flight) for the class, scheduling was also a consideration (time to fly, etc). Given a choice, time and money - all would be great.

And no matter what, it's more dive time !!!

 

[jbd]

have a great time. Let us know how it goes.

 

[dandan]

oh yea, a typo error.. i am supposed to do 2 core, and 3 electives..
but after checking out the helpful discussions you people. i guess i most probably stick to night dive, peak performance buoyancy and wreck dive
Peak performance buoyancy shd be the most impt for me, bcoz I still having problems maintaining neutral buoyancy
Thanks fellas. can't wait to start my AOW