AOW - Decisions, Decisions

[Zero]

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

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

[acelockco]

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.

[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.

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.

[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]

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.

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.

[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

[acelockco]

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)

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.

[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