When and Why should I take an AOW course?

[mtnpool]

Hello All,

New to this board, but been reading and appreciating all the great advice over the 3 years that I've been diving. Done about 40 dives so far, starting in Great Barrier Reef on a liveaboard, Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and a few other Caribbean islands.

Always considered taking an AOW course, but not sure of the benefits or timing. Am going to Jordan on a tour later this week, and will end up in Aqaba to dive for 3 or 4 days in the Red Sea at the end of the trip, wondering if I should take an AOW course while I'm there.

I know I'll be "officially allowed" to go down to 30m, but I've already done that plenty of times, as most places don't seem to care, so I don't see the benefit there. But I figure things like navigation, digital photography, and night diving are things I'd be interested in. So I'm trying to decide if this is the trip for it, or if I should just enjoy myself on this vacation, and learn some other time, maybe in a "less exotic" locale (to me at least) where I can concentrate on the lessons more without feeling like I'm missing out on seeing the sights. What do you guys/gals think?
:multi: :multi:

 

[wedivebc]

Hello All,

New to this board, but been reading and appreciating all the great advice over the 3 years that I've been diving. Done about 40 dives so far, starting in Great Barrier Reef on a liveaboard, Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and a few other Caribbean islands.

Always considered taking an AOW course, but not sure of the benefits or timing. Am going to Jordan on a tour later this week, and will end up in Aqaba to dive for 3 or 4 days in the Red Sea at the end of the trip, wondering if I should take an AOW course while I'm there.

I know I'll be "officially allowed" to go down to 30m, but I've already done that plenty of times, as most places don't seem to care, so I don't see the benefit there. But I figure things like navigation, digital photography, and night diving are things I'd be interested in. So I'm trying to decide if this is the trip for it, or if I should just enjoy myself on this vacation, and learn some other time, maybe in a "less exotic" locale (to me at least) where I can concentrate on the lessons more without feeling like I'm missing out on seeing the sights. What do you guys/gals think?
:multi: :multi:

As someone with your experience you may find AOW to be less beneficial than a newbie who just wants to get some new experiences. Having said that some instructors really put on a good AOW and you may really learn some new skills. Be careful though. Some agencies don't even require the instructor to get in the water during AOW training and I have heard a few stories lately of students who felt they got less than their money's worth from AOW training (not my students).
Feel free to interview a potential instructor or ask for opinions here for your area.

 

[Upwelling]

You could probably do the dives in a two day period on your trip(that's what I did). But you might want to skip it this trip but then do it soon after (like maybe this spring or early summer) locally. Also you might not be able to research the schools in Jordan very well from here and might end up with some crappy instructor there--not sure about that. Also, I think if you wait until you have a lot more dives it might be somewhat useless (except for being "official") becuase you will have already learned most or all of the skills through your own experience. I don't know if you've dived in the New York area or not but maybe doing the AOW here would be a good intro to cold water diving, if you are interested in diving locally.

 

[mtnpool]

Thanks, "wedivebc" and "junko"
That does make a lot of sense, I wouldn't want to get stuck with a "crappy instructor" there, so I will probably research for a good instructor around here when I return. And like you said, AOW here would be a good intro to cold water diving - which I would definitely want to do in British Columbia someday!!!

 

[SCUBAMedicBill]

You have a good deal of dives under your belt, but I wouldn't say that AOW wouldn't be of some value. I don't think you need to worry about getting it before your trip, unless you know that one of the dive centers and/or sites require it, but thats unlikely. What I would do is when you get back, look into some of the dive shops in your area and see what their AOW course are going to cover. Different shops may cover different adventure subjecks, such as deep dive, navigation, night dive, search and recovery, in addition to others. If you find a shop and course you like, go for it. But at this point you have a good amount of expirience.

Enjoy your trip.

Bill

 

[wedivebc]

One thing I just thought of. If you take further training you may require the AOW as a 'proof of experience' for example a rescue course. If that is the case you may want to fast track the AOW.

 

[Rick Inman]

One thing I just thought of. If you take further training you may require the AOW as a 'proof of experience' for example a rescue course. If that is the case you may want to fast track the AOW.

This is what happened to me. I wanted the rescue course, so I had to do the AOW. We had a very wide verity of dive experience in the class, and the instructor geared much of the OW exercises to each of our experience. For example, he made the nav. exercise much more difficult for some than others. I really enjoined it. Make sure you have a good instructor.
Just a little story on how I managed to get the instructor to give me the finger at 100'. He was going around to each of us students, flashing two numbers and having us flash back the totals, to demonstrate our impaired mental capacity at depth. Well, when he finished with me, I gave him a little test back. I pulled out my dive slate, where I had pre-written a complex calculus equation. I guess he thought the answer was one...

 

[mtnpool]

That's true, Dave, I guess AOW is a prerequisite for many other courses!

And thanks, Bill, I will look into those classes when I get back.

 

[mtnpool]

This is what happened to me. I wanted the rescue course, so I had to do the AOW. We had a very wide verity of dive experience in the class, and the instructor geared much of the OW exercises to each of our experience. For example, he made the nav. exercise much more difficult for some than others. I really enjoined it. Make sure you have a good instructor.
Just a little story on how I managed to get the instructor to give me the finger at 100'. He was going around to each of us students, flashing two numbers and having us flash back the totals, to demonstrate our impaired mental capacity at depth. Well, when he finished with me, I gave him a little test back. I pulled out my dive slate, where I had pre-written a complex calculus equation. I guess he thought the answer was one...

Ha ha! That's hilarious! I would love to try that on my next instructor!!

 

[ScubaFreak]

Another point that's worth thinking about, you're quite an experienced open water, so you may at some stage look at insurance from DAN etc. If you do, and your certified to OW level only, if (knock on wood) you had an accident at 30 metres, it's unlikely your insurance would cover you for diving beyond your current cert level recommendations. Other wise as everyone has already said, find a good instructor and make sure the dives on your AOW will be beneficial to you!

Good luck