Im sorry,I thought you still havent gotten a cavern card.If so,I wouldnt bother with the AOW class unless you feel you need more skills in the ocean.Nice pictures of the consoles scraping the bottom.The last offshore dive I did some kid on the boat sitting beside me was holding his footlong console and sort of scoffing at my single diverite spg.
I found cavern class to be the single best class I have ever taken. Even more then cave classes, because cavern took me from a relatively (ok, totally) clueless OW diver to someone who started to get the idea that there was a better way to dive.
I found my original OW certification class to be worthwhile, since it taught me what a regulator was and how not to kill myself as I surfaced.
I found rescue class to be useful in techniques of helping other divers (Actually happened once)
I did not find AOW particularly useful, though I enjoyed the dives.
I did not find deep or wreck particularly useful, and I think they may actually encourage diving past your training.
I found Nitrox useful since I knew nothing about gas mixing at the time. Later, taking Advanced Nitrox and Decompression was a book exercise since I was already doing those dives in caves.
I should take a Trimix course so I can legalize the helium bottle in my garage
Bob K
Andrew hit the nail on the head, a cave certified instructor would be ideal. Unfortunately, as some have mentioned, an AOW card is almost a necessary evil, as it will make life a lot easier if you do any OW diving. So, IMHO, it would be your best bet to take the course as Andrew described.
Someone like Leslie would be what you are looking for, ie, someone with the correct skill set and attitude to make it worth your while.
Jay
Originally Posted by aainslie
"Is this thing on?"
I agree. Leslie [runawaylobster] would get you in tune with the skill set you are looking for to go forward with overheard training AND get that silly AOW card that can be very necessary on most dive boats...especially cattle boats.
Last edited by Line Squirrel; 03-13-2008 at 04:37 PM.
It's bad luck to be superstitious.
I, too, agree. I took AOW and Nitrox classes with an overhead certified instructor. It made a world of difference learning how not to be a Gumby. If you already have your certs, sorry, you know how not to be a Gumby, but can still glean a thing or two.
Does anyone have AOW?
I learned to dive in the ocean, doing progressively deeper dives year round for about four years, before I started cave diving.
Those first four years of diving I obtained Advanced Open Water, Nitrox and Rescue Certifications; I obtained one new cert each year. Each class was well worth the money, but experience doing the dives is what put it all together. There is no better teacher than time and experience, but it will help you to have a guide along the way. Someone to help you fine tune buoyancy skills. Someone to critique your trim in the water. Someone to look at your gear setup and help you streamline it. Ultimately, this person should be someone who will encourage you, but someone who will also be honest with you. Be mindful of these things when choosing your diving mentors.
I had a few excellent mentors from the beginning of my diving experience thirteen years ago. This help and the sheer love of diving kept me in the water, refining basic skills, learning new skills, and then seeking new diving experiences. Many steps are progressive, building on what you have already mastered. Take the time to master your diving skills and don't rush your entry into technical diving. But most of all, enjoy the diving and the journey!
Why not take a class from an instructor who is doing the type of diving you strive to do? Not only will they know the best way to get there, but they have the instructional and leadership training that is completely absent in all non-instructor training (as it should be). Just because someone can do it, doesn't mean they can teach you how to do it.
Especially in the case of AOW, you don't always get the same results. Sure there may be alot of cave instructors out there teaching a great AOW class that are above and beyond the standard requirements and catered to the cave diver(future or present), but likely not so in the rest of the states. As I said before, I learned nothing from AOW because I was already doing the types of dives discussed through the course. My trim and bouyancy were already above par for the AOW course. Was my intructor to blame? No, divers not diving regularly learned alot - he taught the course to the standards and likely a bit above. AOW is not an advanced course, its meant for the vacation diver and newer divers IMO. In the context of this thread the OP already seems to have atleast a bit of experience in the water, so the run-of-the-mill AOW course will likely be quite redundant and fruitless. I'll say it again, IMO.
At that point in training, I simply preffered diving often in different conditions to taking a course. The OW agencies aren't teaching anything you can't figure out naturally.
I learned more about perfecting good bouyancy and trim by simply watching better divers. Just being in the water with them helped fine tune things.
Sometimes they are teaching me without even knowing
Last edited by SuPrBuGmAn; 03-17-2008 at 08:29 AM.
being that all agency’s limit Open Water Divers to a Max depth of 60ft NDL and AWO to a max depth of 130ft NDL.
Being that an instructor certifying an OW Diver to Cavern is violating OW Certification Standards that instructor will be Liable if that person ever has an accident at least until another instructor violates standards and gives them a higher certification!
As a Cavern Instructor I will/would never accept an OW Diver into Cavern Training, not to mention that it violates the standards NAUI Cavern Diver Course.
It doesn't say that anywhere in my SSI OW manual.
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