What to expect on PADI AOW checkout dives?

[BORG]

I am long overdue, say 25 yrs., on getting my PADI AOW cert. done. What should I expect on the AOW checkout dives when I finally get around to it after the 1st of next year.
In particular, the deep dives and the navigation dives. The deepest I've ever dove is around 55'. How best to prepare for when I take AOW class in '08?

THANKS!

 

[bajashack]

25 years how many dive do you have? You will have 5 dive 3 usually include the following 1 deep dive, 1night dive, 1 underwater navigation and two other specialty dives that you choose they are usually fish ID and buoyancy.

 

[BORG]

I have made between 150 -200+ dives over the last 20 years. What depths do the AOW checkouts usually occur. I know it has to be below 60ft.
What do I do during the deep dive check out?

THANKS!

 

[Trixxie]

Actually - the 2 required dives are Navigation and Deep - Deep doesn't mean 100'. It means anything over 60' but no deeper than 100' for this dive. How to prepare? Guess it's different for everyone. Just don't panic if you feel like you may be getting narc'd (nitrogen narcosis) Just ascend a little until the feeling goes away (it will) and then continue your dive. You will be doing a timed task at the surface and then the same timed task at depth to compare your reaction time between the two.

The BEST way to prepare for any dive is to keep in good physical condition, stay hydrated before during and after a dive, limit your physical exertion after diving, avoid alcohol.. you know, the basics.

Other dives you can do for AOW are: Night, Dry Suit, Boat, Wreck, Fish ID, Underwater Naturalist, Photo, Search and Recovery, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Nitrox (I may have forgotten some). Each dive will apply towards the first dive of each specialty course (you will not be certified in any of these courses) then after 5 specialties, rescue and Emergency First Response you can be a Master Scuba Diver.

 

[BORG]

I usually do my diving at Lake Lanier when I can't get to Fla. So I will work on my skills when I'm up there soon. It's definitely 7mm wetsuit time now. I 'm wanting to get a drysuit after the 1st of the year. I don't even take cold showers.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[Trixxie]

Anytime. Also on the navigation dives, your instructor should do compass work with the class before getting in the water to do your actual dives. Say doing a square pattern. 4 ~ 90 degree turns, making sure all you can see is the compass. Maybe out and back on a straight line.

I have never dove in Lake Lanier. I usually go up to Lake Jocassee in S.C.

 

[Colliam7]

I usually do my diving at Lake Lanier when I can't get to Fla. So I will work on my skills when I'm up there soon. It's definitely 7mm wetsuit time now. I 'm wanting to get a drysuit after the 1st of the year.

A popular dive for us in AOW is Peak Performance Bouyancy, and we usually encourage students to do the additional PPB dive for specialty certification. If that turns out to be the case for you AOW, you can prepare by making certain you are properly weighted for you 7mm. The usual exercises are swimming through a line of hula hoops, anchored at different levels off the bottom. For the deep dive, your problem may be a multiplication exercise, or some other cognitive activity, that you do on the surface for time, then repeat U/W for time. The biggest issue for deep dives, inland, in winter, is the water temperature. I have had AOW divers bail simply because they were waiting to descend to depth to work with the instructor, and it was too cold and too dark, even at 50 feet. If Lanier is where you will be doing it, you may want to get some idea of the temperatures and level of thermoclines in advance, to know what to expect.

Also on the navigation dives, your instructor should do compass work with the class before getting in the water to do your actual dives. Say doing a square pattern. 4 ~ 90 degree turns, making sure all you can see is the compass. Maybe out and back on a straight line.

For navigation for AOW we do both. Have the students buddy up, and do an out an back on a particular compass heading and back on the reciprocal. We also have them calibrate their kick cycles to distance – e.g. set up a 100ft line, have them fin at a normal rate from start to finish, to determine individually what their kick cycles / unit distance is. Then we have them as a buddy team complete a square, with 90 degree turns as Mauigal notes. The first time around, one buddy is compass person, the other is kick person, then we switch roles for another round.

 

[BORG]

I may opt to go to the Florida springs for the AOW. Lake Lanier is cold in the summer at 30ft. much more I know in the winter or early spring.

What are some tips or techniques to ease anxiety in diving deeper depths(60-100'), other that making controlled deeper dives on a regular basis?


THANKS!

 

[Trixxie]

I may opt to go to the Florida springs for the AOW. Lake Lanier is cold in the summer at 30ft. much more I know in the winter or early spring.

What are some tips or techniques to ease anxiety in diving deeper depths(60-100'), other that making controlled deeper dives on a regular basis?


THANKS!

Well just got back from Vortex. Had an AOW class. Talk about cold. 66 deg water temp with outside temp in the mid 50's and the bone breaking, chilling wind. I opted to stay in the water the entire time the first day, 131 minutes. 2nd day we were supposed to head out the gulf but sat and sun were a wash out due to high seas. Not sure how these temps compare to Lake Lanier. Morrison was not much warmer.

Stop, think, breathe, act. Keep your whits about you and don't panic.
The deepest I have ever gone is 106' and to be honest, I haven't experienced any more or less anxiety going deeper than on shallower dives. Try not to dwell on the fact you are going "deep". Think of it as just another dive that is going to be so much fun that you can't wait to get into the water.

 

[BORG]

Thanks, I'll remember that. I believe I will get and get certified with a drysuit before I take my AOW. I don't even take cold showers!
Cold water and me don't mix. I want to be able to dive and not be affected so much by the colder temps that I would feel at Lake Lanier, springs or even in the northern Gulf of Mexico this time of year.