What do you think about Advanced Open Water Diver Certification?

[fnfalman]

you don't know what you don't know........

And you can learn without having to pay for an AOW class.

regrettably, taking an AOW class can go either way...

So true, so true.

 

[Rhone Man]

Opinions vary. I dive regularly with at least two divers who have no AOW but each has over 2,000 career dives and I have done some pretty advanced diving with each of them.

Equally, you are going to find some dive operators all around the world who will tell you that if you don't have AOW they will limit where they will take you (some have already posted on this thread). You will also find some dive operators who just don't care.

 

[fnfalman]

And I have seen plenty of AOW classes that had no business taking place at all with the skill level of the students in them. I'd rather spend a day with a student or students doing fun dives shallow and giving them a few tips and pointers to work on before tossing them in an advanced class.

A local instructor in SoCal would dive and evaluate with the prospective students before he'd commit them to his AOW class. He wanted to see if they would even possess some basic diving/swimming skills so that they can handle his AOW dives. He also made them measure and calculate their SAC rate and do gas planning before making deep dives. His navigation portion alone is a 2.5-hrs lecture/practical (on land, of course) combo.

This dude is the only person I'd recommend people who wanted to learn something in AOW to go and take class from him.