Hi, Eric. I may be able to join you, keep us posted. As far as skills, not sure how many dives you have under your belt. But, I sometimes feel that the skills needed to dive the O are overstated (recreational type dive). It obviously presents more challenges than a sandy bottom wreck in 60’ of water. If you are comfortable and have controlled buoyancy and a safe attitude, the way to progress you skills is to progress ;). Take the right charter and stay close to the tower and descent/ascent line and I it isn’t too hard a dive. The two big things to watch (IMHO) are the deceptiveness of depth and not breaching your planned max depth, and paying extra close attention to your gas supply leaving plenty of gas and no deco time to find you way back to the ascent line and make your safety on the way up. Other than that current can be strong at times, hence stay close to the wreck and on the lines. Proficient skills with use of a surface marker is important too, if you were to get swept off the wreck. EAN definitely helps on the O.
Some charters do require AOW. I can recommend a couple of charters I’ve used if you want to PM me.