That will work. If you do the course work at that shop just will have to find an instructor of the same institution at the destination. I think you said PADI. That should be no problem.

What about your wife? Wife and I dive together. In your picture in the thread above your wife's stature to you looks about the same as my wife is to me. Change the heads on the picture and it could be my wife and I.

They have got the course down to where it is pretty easy (compared to when I originally did it many years ago). About the only tricky part for some people is the math. Not sure why they go as in depth as they do because everyone uses a dive computer anyway these days. I suppose it is to just emphasize the importance of physiology changes under water. But a person can take the math portion of the quiz however many times they need to to get it right so no one fails it. It can just be a little frustrating to people that mostly limit their math knowledge to addition and subtraction. Other than that if a person can read they can pass the written stuff by just reading the material.

When I got into it years ago it was a sport. Now it is an industry so is designed to get as many people involved as possible. If you want to get into cold water diving you could even do the water portion locally. There is some great cold water diving but it is a lot more work and takes more dedication. Have a buddy I have dove with in Seattle and up in Canada and some great stuff to see there. Just takes a lot more effort and a dry suit or thick wetsuit to get it done.

John

Edit: I just realized the last course I did as a refresher was a Nitrox course. It had quite a bit of math. The advanced open water I don't think has much at all. Brain lapse.