AOW - Decisions, Decisions

[lottie]

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

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

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 !

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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???

[lottie]

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

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

Thanks

[BamaCaveDiver]

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

Thanks

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.

[acelockco]

BamaCaveDiver,

That is some great advice.

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

Ace

[rubber chicken]

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

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