While there are excellent instructors who add to course requirements and actually teach a true advanced class, they are the exception and not the rule.
I strongly support the concept of advanced classes. I teach an advanced class, it includes lots of academics and 10 dives. The direction many agencies have gone with AOW makes the class a waste of time.
I strongly recommend searching carefully for an advanced class.
Sound advice, Walter. I got my OW from PADI last May/June & felt that I should put in some dive time before pursuing more advanced certifications. I was not impressed with the instruction that I received, to put it mildly. A house is only as strong as its foundation.
Some of the discussions that I have read here having to do with actually practicing the skills that I was taught have made me even more aware that experience and good sound basics are critical to my advancement & enjoyment of diving. Concious attempts at mastery have always characterized my involvement in other sports, how much more important is that level of commitment in one that is potentially fatal? Certainly, after a winter off, I know my underwater skills are rusty & I need to sharpen them up a little before moving on. That's one reason that I am looking forward to diving weith you and many of the other members of this group- it is apparent to me that, despite the joking around that we do, this is a bunch of people who are devoted to diving & have a lot of combined knowledge that I can benefit from. I hope that I will be able to pass some of that knowledge on to someone else some day.
(Now, back to the light-hearted version of Marvel)