PADI Diving

[spirit]

i'd definitely do the AOW, but after a few more dives, to be honest its one of the most fun courses as there really no classwork and minimal bookwork - just diving. its kinda just there to interest you in specs.

the most useful specs if you are interested are: deep, nitrox, wreck, night, dry (for uk).

you can save 2 days whilst you are on holiday by doing your classwork at your local dive centre and then doing a referral. that way you have more time diving on your holiday . also definitely try and do a nightdive, its amazing.

 

[NotAGolf]

I also reccommend the Pherynthian Islands in Malaysia, the Similan Islands nr Khao Lak, Thailand, and Sipidan, Borneo. Phi Phi was poor for me (Currents, vis, marine life) and too many tourists.

Yea I'm in two minds about the Perenthians. I've heard lots of good things about them but we're probably not going to have much time in Malaysia so have been looking more and at the West coast and only really spending time in KL.

I'll keep an eye out for the Simians, not heard much about them. Won't be going to Borneo so will have to give that a miss.

I've also heard similar things about Phi Phi, I think it's going to be too touristy to enjoy it properly. I'm looking into the places on Phi Phi that are a bit further out the way which should limit the commercial factor.


As for the different 'modules' you can do in the AOW course, is there a standard set that all places must cover or does it very from place to place? There's the popular ones that have been mentioned on here; night dive, deep dive, wreck dive etc but I was wondering if there is a list you can look at with all available options?

 

[tres]

Phi Phi itself is too touristy, although i found the diving to be superb - 20m+ vis every dive we did, huge amount of marine life, and although a few other divers around, wasn't too bad at all

 

[carlazai]

I can only advice you to the advanced at the same time. Not being about to go further than 18m can be a hinderance at some dive sites you may want to visit later. The actual learning part is a bit of a joke, just read the second book they give you. Personally i love diving as deep as possible because its more fun watching the rainbow effects i get from the fish

 

[The_blue]

Erm... BSAC?

learn before you go, enjoy the whole time and learn more when you come back for free as BSAC clubs are a years membership not per course. (and cost less )


Anyway back on track...

If your planning on diving in gin clear tropics only then the only reason to do advanced is depth. The rest are pointless, navigation in 30 meters+ visibility isn't hard. Photography isn't much use at an early Stage you have enough to think about already without adding on. Nitrox is useful if you doing quite a few reasonable depth dives a day.

Remember you can add more next year. Or when you get home if you went BSAC as they teach you how to do these as part of normal learning.

Stick with Open water for now and enjoy your time, build up on the propper basics like not smashing the reef and bending yourself. Bouyency is the main issue with n00bs. Only practice can fix it.

Also, if you really want to do PADI you can do 1/2 here and 1/2 there. Do all the theory and pool work here and finish in the sea over there. The best option for maximizing you time if you dare not dive UK.

 

[Paul11]

generally i would agree to do half here and half when you get there, but, for koh tao i wouldnt..

the whole course is 4 days and includes the theory and it will be most fresh in your mind.

i was an instructor on koh tao, and would say if you have the time, do the whole course when you get there.

then you can see how you feel and decide if you want to do the AOW

 

[Mr_T]

As others have already said, get your OW first before deciding about your AOW. If you can do your theory & pool sessions in the UK first, it will just eat into your trip otherwise.

Once you've got you OW you can decide if you want to progress to AOW, some people book up to do both, get in the water and either have physical problems (can't equalise properly) or pschological issues (panic!!). So just relax and take it one step at a time.

I've never dived in Thailand but when you get to the east coast of Oz, make sure you go to a town called Ayr and dive a wreck called the SS Yongala. It's simply the best dive I've ever been on.

There are some pictures to wet your appetite here...
http://scuba.fotopic.net/

Oh yeah and as someone else said, you don't have to do the AOW in one go, if for example you did your Deep adventure dive (1 of 2 core dives for AOW) from the moment your instructor signs you off you are then qualified to dive to 30m - You don't have to complete you AOW to be then go and dive up to 30m.

Oh and you'll hear a lot of non-padi people bitching about the title Advanced Open Water... and to be fair Advanced is a pretty *oi langauge!* title choice because you can in theory become AOW after just 9 dives all of which are with an instructor, but thats another thread in itself!

Anyway enjoy your diving and do as much as you can because utimately experience in different places & conditions will do you more good than anything!