Advanced vs open water??

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islandchica

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Hey all...wanting to know what the exact differences are between the basic PADI open water diver course, and the PADI Advanced diver certification. I am planning on doing the Advanced but wanted to know what l was involved and what you come out with over and above the open water diver...let me know Megan
 
a Patch!

*wink*

Just kidding.

I'd imagine a hand full of specialties, probably including night diving, deep diving, navigation, boat diving, etc. That's kind of typical in the AOW classes from agency to agency.
 
I'm certified through SSI, so it may be conjecture if I make the assumption that advance courses are intended to introduce a variety of dive specialties (night diving, navigation, deep diving, photography, wreck diving, rescue...) that were not really addressed with any depth (no pun intended) in open water courses. The term "advanced dive courses" can be somewhat misleading if the assumption is that completing the course makes one an advanced diver. A more reasonable perspective would be that it advances one's own dive skills. SSI has a Dive Control Specialist course, probably comparable to PADI's Divemaster training, that is intended to train a diver in a leadership role. If you are speaking about a different PADI certification, I don't have any information about it.
 
In the PADI parlance (terminology) you aren't completing 5 specialties per se (which typically require two dives of a given type per specialty), but you will have dived five different dive types, at least including the nav and deep dives.

You have several choices for the remaining three dives.

Basically, what you end up with is more experience in a variety of dive types.

Although I haven't experienced any diving where the AOW is required as compared to OW, I am told that some dive boats will not let you dive below 60' unless you are advanced. they may enforce this by not providing deeper dive sites when they don't have all AOW divers on board....

If anything, at least you might do some dives that you've never done, such as a night dive, or a nonpenetrating wreck dive.

Good luck!
 
Thanks all for the answers posted...I'm a little more clear on it all now! Keep me updated if you find anything else out...thanks!
 
Somehow, I'm getting the feeling you might have been turned off to the idea of an AOW class. Especially with my humerous yet lacking post. For this, I am sorry.

If you're a new diver with maybe a handful of dives under your belt, or perhaps a little experienced, yet not intirely comfortable yet, and or would like some further instruction before you begin doing night dives or diving a little deeper, an AOW course is an excellent way to achieve these things and all under the watchful eye of an instructor. It's a great way to get more dives under your belt, but to keep you diving as you'll have even more of a chance to get comfortable, gain some more valuable experience and instruction. And yes, it is true, some boats will exclude you from diving certain trips without the AOW cert, there are several out here that I know of. Continuing education never hurt anyone and I'm betting you'll enjoy the class.
 
I just completed PADI AOW. It was as described, you do five of what PADI calls their specialtly dives. Of which they have many.

We did a navigation dive, deep dive, night dive, altitude dive, and search & recovery dive. I live at altitude and most dives are at 3244 so altitude is a good choice for us.

You can follow up the OW with no further experience right to the AOW, and as posted above this class does not make you an advanced diver, only practice, training and bottom time can do that.

I did not do AOW till I had 50 dives and feel I got much more out of course that those in class with nothing but OW cert dives.

Get several dives under your belt and then go for it!

"What you get out of it is directly proportional to what you put in"
 
The PADI AOW course, as written, isn't much of a course, IMHO. PADI once had a class called Advanced Plus that was pretty good. If your PADI instructor will teach that old (no longer available course) and issue the AOW card (I'm sure he'll charge more - he should) you'll get a good deal.

Other options are taking the YMCA Silver Advanced Course. Don't take the YMCA AOW, it's no better than PADI's. Other than LA County's Advanced program, the Silver Advanced from YMCA is the best advanced class of which I'm aware.

NAUI has an Advanced which is better than the YMCA or PADI AOW, but not as good as the old PADI Advanced Plus or the YMCA Silver Advanced.

I also recommend getting in about 25 dives on your own before taking any advanced class. You will have a better reference for what is being discussed.
 
Adventures in Diving (aka AOW) is a program by which a diver can gain experience in an assortment of dives under the supervision of an Instructor. It's a good way for someone to get a taste of the variety that diving has to offer.

Basically, the course consists of five (5) dives: Deep and Navagation are mandatory; the other three (3) are up to you & your Instructor. In some geographical areas certain electives are pretty much a necessity. WVMike pointed out that since he lives at Altitude, that elective was a given. But after that....

Look at it as an opportunity to play with all sorts of great "toys" without having to put out all that money yourself. Where else could you get to use a full u/w photo or video setup for basically the price of the course? :thumb:

FYI, PADI no longer offers or supports AOW+. It has not been in the curriculum for several years.

Feel free to email me if you have any other questions.

~SubMariner~
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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