When to take AOW?

[bs63366]

I been certified open water for about a year and a half, and I am looking at around 15 dives currently. I am wanting to further my education in diving, but I am unsure if now is a good time to be looking into AOW or should I wait an get some more dives under my belt before I go for AOW? Any advise is greatly appreciated.

 

[charlesg3]

Some people recommend waiting and some people recommend doing it right away.

In my experience, if you wait long enough then AOW will be a waste of time as you'll already know all of the information contained in the class. If you take it right away then in some way you'll be paying an instructor to guide you into some other aspects of scuba that may be unfamiliar to you as of yet.

 

[Arizona_SVO]

When I contemplated going to the 'next level' so to speak, I always thought to myself, am I ready?

As far as going from OW to AOW, that answer for you seems to be 'yes' because you are doing some soul searching and asking the question. That very fact means that you are probably ready to move forward. The question you are probably thinking is, am I going to get anything out of AOW and if so, what is it going to be?

You have the basics, and some experience - so yes, now is a good time to take the course by most peoples reckoning. Keep in mind that most things that are 'taught' in AOW are things that experience itself can get you as you have already posted - good bouyancy, good trim characteristics, proper techniques for a lot of things. But remember, you are getting to dive with an instructor for a lot of this - be certain to use them and get them to offer suggestions so that you can learn this stuff faster and make the gains all the easier. Take a look at the course, at the specialities offered and make the choice as to what will make you a better diver for YOU.

If you use the instructor for their wealth of knowledge, and do not just take the course to say you did it... and you actually listen and not go lemming, you can get some good things out of AOW.

YMMV.

btw, before you ask... the way I knew it was time to take Rescue (after AOW) was when I noticed that I was becoming concerned with how other people were diving and wondering what I would do if there situation went bad real fast....

Of course, this is just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Take it and have fun... just get everything you can out of it.

 

[Markho71]

I'm speaking from a PADI background, but I believe that OW, AOW, and Rescue should all be combined into one certification. I guess it's all based on the LDS and how they teach, but the initial OW class at our shop was almost too easy. But, we did it by the PADI book. (I may be opening a can of worms here) .... anyway take AOW now. The navigation and deep diving skills gained are worth it. While you're at it get Nitrox and Rescue.

 

[diverdowndude]

The natural progression for most divers is to get more education and training to make yourself a safer diver and to gain more overall diving experience in areas that intrest you. I would suggest taking a dive with a instructor if you are comfortable with your level of training / diving and want to expand to AOW.

Hope this is helpful

 

[Cave Bum]

PADI says you can take your AOW right away, back-to-back with your OW.

Even though I'm a PADI instructor, I disagree with that and tell my students they have to have at least 10 total logged dives after certification. But you have that and you're probably ready!

One thing I'd caution you on, and that's thinking you are going to be an 'advanced diver' when you complete the course. I feel it should be called 'Open Water 102'. It is simply one more step on your journey to being the best diver you can be, albeit an important step, but really doesn't make you 'advanced', it just gives you some more supervised experience (and I'm all for that!).

Be safe and have fun in the water! Bruce

 

[meierdierck]

In my experience, if you wait long enough then AOW will be a waste of time as you'll already know all of the information contained in the class.

I agree, if you get out on your own you will figure most of it out on your own,

I usually encourage students to do it right away, because right out of OW, most people are not quite ready to go it alone, and from a PADI perspective, i feel it is the icing on the cake, supervised diving, and experience, without being thrown in over your head, so to speak,

at 15 dives, it would depend on your comfort level, AOW is not rocket science, but it can be a fun excuse to blow bubbles, and you might meet some buddies with similar skill level and experience

 

[rsilva708]

Go ahead and take it now. It gives you a chance to improve your skills under the eye of a pro. But like the poster above stated, don't leave the class with a mindset of being an "advanced" diver, your still new to it.

 

[bs63366]

Ok, thank you all for the replies. I think I am going to go ahead and try to get into a class soon, need to see how the schedule works out. Any other advice on things to look out for in the class, or what they really want you to get out of the class?

 

[Hepcat62]

I just took PADI AOW. I was just shy of 50 dives (since getting OW-certified one year ago) prior to the class. I think you get out of the class what you want to get out of it. If you just want the card and a feeling of self-satisfaction, you can probably get that. I personally found the navigation dive to be the most interesting and fun, because it forced me to do a lot of things...

1) Make a formal navigation plan prior to the dive, which is something I often get lax on at familiar sites
2) Switch between compass and natural navigation at several points throughout the dive, as part of a single navigation plan
3) Focus on hovering while taking notes on elapsed-time in my notebook
4) Maintain a reasonable mental estimate of relative progress in the face of moderately stiff surge (+/- 2-3 feet of lateral movement/cycle), low visibility, natural obstacles, and a buddy who had to periodically stop to solve buoyancy issues

Did I have to maintain a hover while taking notes? No. Plenty of the other students weren't. Could my estimates have been less accurate, and still pass? Absolutely. Could I have been a worse buddy throughout, and paid less attention to my buddy's issues? Totally. I wouldn't have gotten so much value out of the exercise though. It's not like I performed perfectly on these things, but I decided to focus on them, so I improved. Again - you can get what you want to get out of the class, but it's really up to you to do that (assuming you have a good instructor, like I did).

The most important thing, like with all training, is to take it from an instructor you like working with.