AOW - Decisions, Decisions

I'm one of these people that is completely hopeless at making decisions.

Even though I'm land-bound for the next couple of weeks, I'm looking at taking my PADI AOW at the beginning of August. I know I need to take the Deep Dive and Underwater Navigation as these two are compulsory.
For the three others, I'm thinking about Night Dive and Peak Performance Buoyancy...but....I can't make up my mind which other one to do.

It's out of either the Fish ID, Underwater Photography or Wreck Dive as all three of them interest me.

Has anyone done these as part of their AOW and did it add any value to their diving post-AOW - I'd really like to know about the U/W photog in particular.

Thanks for any help

Lottie :)

If you are going to pursue the PADI curriculum (I am not a fan), do the wreck diving. It will give you additional skills that will be easily utilized in other areas of diving. What I would encourage you to do, after your ear issues are resolved is do as much diving as possible. Nothing replaces diving! Do not push your limits and your comfort level.

Hey, thanks for that amtrosie. I think you might be right plus wreck diving sounds cool.

Considering what's in my backyard - I'd go diving every day......but, money is an issue at the mo, so once i've sorted out my ear...it's back to diving 3, maybe 4 times a month.

Lottie :)

He is right, wreck diving is going to teach you many more usefull things than the other two options. Remember you can always take them later if you so desire.

Glad to see you are getting some more training! I am thinking about some classes as well.

Night Dive, Wreck Dive & Underwater Photography would be cool.

I don't know. I teach those adventure dives and I don't think the wreck one stands out above the rest. Recently I had an AOW student who chose Fish ID because she was learning to shoot u/w digital too. Her pictures and the fish ID course dovetailed beautifully because she was able to identify the fish she had decent photos of, and she actually looked at a lot more fish than she otherwise might have if she hadn't had shooting assignments to do as well, which really sparked her interest in fish families, distribution, and even behaviour.

See, that is why you have the choice. What do you feel suits you the most? I guess the bottom line is you will learn some great stuff no matter which ones you choose. You may also have to take what the group is taking. It goes that way here sometimes for classes.

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Originally Posted by lottie

I'm one of these people that is completely hopeless at making decisions.

Even though I'm land-bound for the next couple of weeks, I'm looking at taking my PADI AOW at the beginning of August. I know I need to take the Deep Dive and Underwater Navigation as these two are compulsory.
For the three others, I'm thinking about Night Dive and Peak Performance Buoyancy...but....I can't make up my mind which other one to do.

It's out of either the Fish ID, Underwater Photography or Wreck Dive as all three of them interest me.

Has anyone done these as part of their AOW and did it add any value to their diving post-AOW - I'd really like to know about the U/W photog in particular.

Thanks for any help

Lottie :)

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Ok .. my view may not be what you want to hear :(

Forget the frilly 'adventure dives' ... underwater photography & Fish ID ... IMHO should not be a valid way to ADV (but let's not go there now)
You can look at fish on any dive, and once you are happy with your basic dive skills start taking pictures..... hey even use your pictures to teach yourself fish ID and avoid PADI fee ! :)

Do adventure dives that will improve your basic tool kit ...

Deep Dive & Underwater Nav ... mandatory
Wreck, Night & Multi-level would be a good choice.


Peak performance buoyancy should be something you practise and improve on dive by dive, so why pay separate for this.

Also think of which ones you would like to convert to a full speciality in the future - and then this would count as Dive one.

I personally think the most improtant training a diver MUST have as part of any safe dive certification program is:

Manta Ray Awareness Speciality ;)

I think I would choose Wreck Diving. I'm STILL wanting to do that one. I would have done it in Hawaii last year, had I not run out of time.

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Originally Posted by Argonaut

Peak performance buoyancy should be something you practise and improve on dive by dive, so why pay separate for this.

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I used to think the same as this but i have changed and think it would be a good course if you had a good instructor to teach it. While you may not get a huge amount out of it it may give you the pointers to get yourself right in the water.
As with all courses though they are only the start to what else is out there. You would never leave a wreck course knowing everything about wreck diving but it gives you a good starting point to kick off from. No wreck course will teach you about penetrating a wreck at 70m but how many of us have done it? I know i have but i also worked up to it over a few years not just straight out from the course.
Do the ones you feel will enhance your diving. No point doing an ice specialty if you are never going to dive in cold water.

Matt

Really all of the electives are just a joke anyway. Do you really think in one afternoon you can learn Advanced and 5 specilaties? I don't think something like Wreck Diving can be taught on its own in 1 weekend, let alone with all of the other things.

Nothing replaces experiance.

I for one feel this is an area that needs to be looked at. Far to often new divers go head first at becoming "Advanced" divers. I know of one guy who was convinced he was going to be the next big name in diving. His lack of experiance kicked his ego's ass.

By the by, there is no industry standard, that I know of, that clearly define what an Advanced diver is. As far as I am concerned an advanced diver is just someone who has taken the courses. It does not necessarily mean they are a better diver.

I am not saying this is the case for Lottie, what I am trying to get across is that nothing in Scuba is a race. Take your time. If you can take the courses over the year. Not in one weekend. (From Ace's post I am assuming that it is a weekend course, I hope I am wrong)

I support your goal, and I strongly believe that the courses will only help you become the type of diver you want to be. (regardless of the certifing agency)
Experiance is a great teacher, and having the course will help you in your experiances.

Good Luck, and I hope this is taken as being harsh, this is just my point of view.

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Originally Posted by Argonaut

Ok .. my view may not be what you want to hear :(

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Oh I'm sure I do want to hear it (but you can't hear on here LOL)..... :D

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Originally Posted by Argonaut

Forget the frilly 'adventure dives' ... underwater photography & Fish ID ... IMHO should not be a valid way to ADV (but let's not go there now)
You can look at fish on any dive, and once you are happy with your basic dive skills start taking pictures..... hey even use your pictures to teach yourself fish ID and avoid PADI fee ! :)

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That's a good point and one that I was thinking of when considering fish id and uw photog. After 9 dives I already know most of the fish, and can easily ask the DM/instructors if I don't know.

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Originally Posted by Argonaut

Do adventure dives that will improve your basic tool kit ...

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That is at the fore-front of my mind and the reason why I'm being very indecisive and why I wanted to get other peoples opinions as well.

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Originally Posted by Argonaut

Deep Dive & Underwater Nav ... mandatory
Wreck, Night & Multi-level would be a good choice.

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If my memory serves me correctly - multi-level might not be available at my LDS. But, wreck and night seem to be good ones to do, Plus I think I might feel more comfortable and confident with doing a wreck dive with an instructor to start off with.

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Originally Posted by Argonaut

Also think of which ones you would like to convert to a full speciality in the future - and then this would count as Dive one.

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Yeah thats another thing I'll have to think about - if I did go the DM route, don't I need to do full speciality courses for that???

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Originally Posted by Daddy-h2O

Nothing replaces experiance.

By the by, there is no industry standard, that I know of, that clearly define what an Advanced diver is. As far as I am concerned an advanced diver is just someone who has taken the courses. It does not necessarily mean they are a better diver.

I am not saying this is the case for Lottie, what I am trying to get across is that nothing in Scuba is a race. Take your time. If you can take the courses over the year. Not in one weekend. (From Ace's post I am assuming that it is a weekend course, I hope I am wrong)

I support your goal, and I strongly believe that the courses will only help you become the type of diver you want to be. (regardless of the certifing agency)
Experiance is a great teacher, and having the course will help you in your experiances.

Good Luck, and I hope this is taken as being harsh, this is just my point of view.

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I'm not taking it as being harsh. I think you've got a good point there as well. It all depends on the capabilities of the diver in question and what he/she feels comfortable about doing. As you so rightly say, being an advanced diver means diddly-squat unless they are followed up with further dives and gaining more experience. The training is only the beginning (think about your driving-test, you only really start learning to drive once you've passed the test...I know I did :))

I could have done the AOW right after my OW, but wanted to get a good number of dives in and getting used to all the equipment and the underwater world and take in what I'd learnt on the OW and generally enjoy the experience.

With the AOW, you can take the 5 dives over 2 days or individually over a longer-time period.

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Originally Posted by lottie

If my memory serves me correctly - multi-level might not be available at my LDS.

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My mistake - they do do multi-level... Now my curiosity is getting the better of me - what is multi-level???

Thanks

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Originally Posted by Daddy-h2O

Nothing replaces experiance.

I for one feel this is an area that needs to be looked at. Far to often new divers go head first at becoming "Advanced" divers. I know of one guy who was convinced he was going to be the next big name in diving. His lack of experiance kicked his ego's ass.

................. If you can take the courses over the year. Not in one weekend. (From Ace's post I am assuming that it is a weekend course, I hope I am wrong)

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I agree with you 100% NOTHING rerplaces experiance, not even all of the classes in the world.

Now ALL of my LDS's offer an Advanced class which includes 4 specialties. They all only offer them as the "Advanced Weekend". NO CLASSROOM SESSIONS!!!! You meet at the local quarry, have a discussion at a picknic table about the class and then do 2 dives, then later you do 1 night dive, and then the next day 2 more dives.....THAT IS IT!

I think it is so much crap! I don't think there is anything really "Advanced" about the class. It is all about selling a class and a card.

I am actually looking into a private instructor so I can get my DM, I don't want to take some cheezy class, but instead I am looking for a indepth class that will help to make me the best DM I can be.

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Originally Posted by lottie

My mistake - they do do multi-level... Now my curiosity is getting the better of me - what is multi-level???

Thanks

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Multi-level will have you using the wheel to plan dives where you spend so many minutes at your first depth then move up to your next depth and stay there for a while. Most folks today shrug this training off since we have computers that can compute the dive parameters in real time, but that can be an invitation for disaster. I would highly recomend the multi-level if for no other reason than to get into the habit of planning your dives rather than diving your computer screen (the one you carry uw.)

My choices Lottie would likely hinge upon the instructor's strengths and weaknesses (I can teach you anything you want to know about mathematics, but all I can teach you in chemistry is how to blow your hands off.) Every instructor is going to have a favorite portion of the curriculum, as well as those areas where they stink. My AOW instructor knew very little about how to use a compass (so I wound up teaching him that weekend) but yet he was great at working out bouyancy issues. So I would say sit down and talk to your instructor to get a feel for what their strongest areas are and take advantage of them. It all has some importance, so it is all something that you will learn with time.

BamaCaveDiver,

That is some great advice.

Now you sparked my intrest on another subject, I will start a new thread on that later.

Ace

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Originally Posted by lottie

- if I did go the DM route, don't I need to do full speciality courses for that???

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No. AFAIK there is no requirement for any full specialty courses to become a DM as far as PADI are concerned.

When I did my AOW, the 3 electives that I did were Wreck,PPB and Search and Recovery. However, I read, ( and completed the Knowledge Reviews for), every section in the Adventures in Diving manual. I found it quite useful in terms of giving me a basic grounding in the incredible variety of diving available around the world.

Not knowing you, I cannot advise you as to which course is the one for you, but i would suggest that whichever you choose, make the most of it! Pester your instructor with questions, ( it is what they are for!). Ask the DM as well. Treat it as an opportunity to learn something new as well as an opportunity to get a couple of dives in. Meet some new potential buddies. Have fun! And come back and tell us all about it.:)

Safe diving

Get a book, or even look at the net for the fish ID and unless you are planning on getting a camera why bother with photo. Wreck knowledge is something that could save your life, or you could die and know the name of some stupid fish:)

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Originally Posted by hbh2oguard

Wreck knowledge is something that could save your life, or you could die and know the name of some stupid fish:)

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ROFLMAO - thats a good one.....

Thanks for all your responses, its definitely given me (and hopefully some others) food for thought....

I'm now going to do the Wreck, Night and PPB....now its just a case of my ear getting better then I can do the AOW.

Sounds like a plan. Can you get the book work started before your ear gets better?

That's what I was thinking, At least it'll help with the cold turkey :D

There are better ways to spend a long SI. But that way is a close 4th...

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Originally Posted by Daddy-h2O

There are better ways to spend a long SI. But that way is a close 4th...

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Now the question is - Do I want to know what the top three things are?? ;)

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Originally Posted by lottie

Now the question is - Do I want to know what the top three things are?? ;)

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Best left to the imagination, as my top three might not be in the same order as your top three:D

Who's on top of whom?


Whats going on with you two?


Now you can really be the daddy---o...o....O....OOOOO

ROFLMAO - think this thread should be in the Me?Flirt? thread

Maybe this should be the meflirt board?