Northwest Dive Club

Can I get some recommendations on a good place for the AOW cert? Looking at price alone looks like Argonaut has a great deal, but don't know any of them. TLSea has a pretty good rate as well and have been in the shop a lot and dive with a few from there on occasion. I have done most of the dives in the coarse, but want the card for an upcoming trip and always good to learn and advance. Thanks for any suggestions, and what dives do you recommend to take in the coarse?

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Are you looking for the cheapest class/card or the best one?

Would like to do the best, if I'm paying for a card for stuff I already do... I would like to come out learning something in the process.

Depending on your experience AND the quality of the course you may or may not learn much. I had ~200 dives when I took AOW just to get the card and move on to Rescue. Rescue was definitely a good course. Learned almost nothing in AOW, but again, I had a lot of dives and just not bother to take the course.
Suggest you interview any prospective instructors and be frank about your experience and expectations. Maybe you can audit/help out with a course and get the card for a better price?

fmerkel wrote:Depending on your experience AND the quality of the course you may or may not learn much. I had ~200 dives when I took AOW just to get the card and move on to Rescue. Rescue was definitely a good course. Learned almost nothing in AOW, but again, I had a lot of dives and just not bother to take the course.
Suggest you interview any prospective instructors and be frank about your experience and expectations. Maybe you can audit/help out with a course and get the card for a better price?

Ditto

I suggest you consider which of the specialties you would benefit the most from, then focus on those. Perhaps UW Navigation, Deep and Night would be good to start with.

Echo wrote:

fmerkel wrote:Depending on your experience AND the quality of the course you may or may not learn much. I had ~200 dives when I took AOW just to get the card and move on to Rescue. Rescue was definitely a good course. Learned almost nothing in AOW, but again, I had a lot of dives and just not bother to take the course.
Suggest you interview any prospective instructors and be frank about your experience and expectations. Maybe you can audit/help out with a course and get the card for a better price?

Ditto

This is pretty much par for the course for your run-of-the-mill AOW course - read a chapter on your own, talk a bit, do a dive, and move on to something else. If you are just interested in the card that's the way to get it.

However, there are instructors out there that go above and beyond, and it sounds like that's what you're looking for? They include class/learning time plus diving, and the information in those classes can definitely be invaluable - gas management, SMB deployment, lift bags, more in-depth navigation skills, buddy skills....er....and more, it's been a long time since I took it.

There's always something to learn. In nearly a decade of diving, I'm still learning every time I participate in diving in some way. Talk with the instructors - the good ones will work with you and tailor the experience and education.

Also, some dive operators can be sticklers about certifications. They may not let you on "advanced" dives regardless of how experienced you are if you don't have the certification.

In some circles AOW is kind of a "throw away" cert, and strongly encouraged post Open Water.

For a newbie it is a way to keep the dives coming, and if you don't have a dive buddy you will get several dives in with instructors / dive masters. Picking the specialty's (PADI) gets you a bit of experience (navigation, boat, deep) -- Not a bad thing, in and of itself, and I understand the perspective of the shops that operate this way.

But especially in those shops "advanced" is a misnomer in my opinion. You may come out with another cert that will help you on vacation if the operator is persnickety, but there is not very much continued work with skills, and if you thought you would now be an "advanced" diver.... well, I'll just leave that one alone.

Some independent instructors or even some shops really add value to the cert, and they drill you, they work you, they push you, they evaluate you, and you actually come out of the class a much better diver.

I understand the value of both, and the cost of one is usually much more than the other.

Since you are a more experienced diver, and want more, I would interview shops, and perhaps even go the independent instructor route or make it clear what you want and pay a little more for one on one time rather than being in a class of 6-12 people where you might be the best diver in the group, including the instructor who only has 100 dives.

Penopolypants wrote:However, there are instructors out there that go above and beyond, and it sounds like that's what you're looking for? They include class/learning time plus diving, and the information in those classes can definitely be invaluable - gas management, SMB deployment, lift bags, more in-depth navigation skills, buddy skills....er....and more, it's been a long time since I took it.

Is Bob Bailey still doing certifications? If so, that'd be #1 on my list. It'll cost you more, but you'll come out that class so squared away, you'll be proud to look in the mirror

I chose to go AOW quickly simply because doing the math I was going to be able to do a bunch more dives. I didn't own any gear yet and really wanted to dive more.

Unfortunately (for the dive community) Bob retired.

Yeah bob was the first person I asked, unfortunately I waited too long.

You might contact Peter Rothschild although I am not sure if he's still teaching or even diving honestly.