TN-Steve
Contributor
Hey Gang,
I got my AOW this weekend from a different set of instructors than I got my OW from, and all I can say is "What a world of difference". I'll just say that I wish I had taken my initial training from them, it seems like a higher level of standards are expected in terms of performance, and better instruction overall.
I wasn't planning on starting my AOW this soon, but with absolutely no pressure Cecil said that it made sense to get more exposure to the basic fundamentals, and learn to do things correctly early, before I develop a lot of bad habits that I'd have to un-learn later. They also said that it would be more accurate to consider AOW as "Advanced Beginner".
Diving was at Pennyroyal Scuba Center (a quarry set up as a dive park). It was great, and it I honestly think that my knowledge level and skill level made a monumental jump upward during the weekend. (considering my very slight experience, that was setting the bar pretty low however).
One of the best dives I had over the weekend was when they took a group of OW students out. They were on the platforms at 15 feet or so, and my job was to simply spend the entire dive NOT TOUCHING The platform. I had to practice hovering, they would occasionally put me in the 'lotus position", upright, horizontal, move up a few feet, down a few feet. Damn... that was a bit challenging.
I also found that once I actually had a visual reference, I wasn't varying up and down as much as I thought I had been.
Lots of emphasis on doing things the same way each time, hell, they might just make a diver out of me yet.
Steve
I got my AOW this weekend from a different set of instructors than I got my OW from, and all I can say is "What a world of difference". I'll just say that I wish I had taken my initial training from them, it seems like a higher level of standards are expected in terms of performance, and better instruction overall.
I wasn't planning on starting my AOW this soon, but with absolutely no pressure Cecil said that it made sense to get more exposure to the basic fundamentals, and learn to do things correctly early, before I develop a lot of bad habits that I'd have to un-learn later. They also said that it would be more accurate to consider AOW as "Advanced Beginner".
Diving was at Pennyroyal Scuba Center (a quarry set up as a dive park). It was great, and it I honestly think that my knowledge level and skill level made a monumental jump upward during the weekend. (considering my very slight experience, that was setting the bar pretty low however).
One of the best dives I had over the weekend was when they took a group of OW students out. They were on the platforms at 15 feet or so, and my job was to simply spend the entire dive NOT TOUCHING The platform. I had to practice hovering, they would occasionally put me in the 'lotus position", upright, horizontal, move up a few feet, down a few feet. Damn... that was a bit challenging.
I also found that once I actually had a visual reference, I wasn't varying up and down as much as I thought I had been. Lots of emphasis on doing things the same way each time, hell, they might just make a diver out of me yet.
Steve
