Advanced Open Water certification experience
September 1st, 2006 Filed Under Uncategorized
I decided to go for the Advanced Open Water (AOW) certification while on a vacation in Maui. I haven’t taken any classes since my Open Water in 1998. My motivation for taking the class is I am interested in pursuing the Dive Master ranking.
I signed up with Lahina Divers to do the class, which consists of studying five ’specialties’ (subjects) in the AOW book, completing the corresponding knowledge reviews, and then going on five dives. Each dive corresponds to a subject studied. The Deep Diver and Underwater Navigator subjects are mandatory, and then Lahaina Divers said they usually do Underwater Naturalist, Peak Performance Buoyancy and Boat Diver. I bought the AOW book from a dive shop local to my home prior to the trip and finished the knowledge reviews on the plane to Maui.
My AOW class was a private session since no other people signed up for a group class the week I was out there. The class consisted of four boat dives and one shore dive (UW Navigation).
Did I learn much? I think reviewing buoyancy principles and practicing some UW compass tasks was helpful, but I wouldn’t consider this to be an advanced course in diving. I see it as “Open Water, Part 2.” I wish I had taken AOW right after getting my Open Water certification. Over time I learned many of the skills taught in AOW just from limited experience.
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