Is Padi advanced worth taking ?

I'm considering doing my Padi advanced, but from what I've heard people who have taken it said it was just diving that you could have done with your buddy!
I would be interested in people's opinions on this!

torbaydiver once bubbled...
I'm considering doing my Padi advanced, but from what I've heard people who have taken it said it was just diving that you could have done with your buddy!
I would be interested in people's opinions on this!

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SSI (Scuba Schools International) teaches a GREAT AOW. Now would be a good time to try them out, and broaden your perspectives, if there is an SSI store near you.

The SSI instructor will normally tailor several specialties for you, depending on what you and the others in the class want to do. SSI has great books on each of the specialites as well. Deep diving, night diving, advanced navigation, and search and recovery are would be my recommendations.

SSI is fairly well known internationally as well.

Well ....while half the boats I have been on only wanted to see the money....

the other half would not let me on until they saw the AOW card because the dive site was over 60 ft. My last trip to Barbados wouldnt even let you on the boat before they saw the card. One lad had to make an hours drive back to the hotel to get it.

I would agree some instructors really dont teach much...but some do. Give it a shot. If it is the cost that is bothering you.....are you in for some surprises. Diving isnt cheap and sometimes you just dont get your moneys worth.

jmho

I don't really see much use in it alone, except maybe for the reasons Rich has given. Doing some dives with a good buddy and maybe a specialty course like navigation is worth more IMHO. The real reason that I see you should take it is that it is a requirement for Rescue. That's a course worth taking, or at least mine was.

From my perspective, the AOW class from PADI is predominantly an opportunity for you to dive in conditions that you haven't dived before WITH a qualified and experienced Instructor. Is it possible to do the same dives without an Instructor -- sure, but it depends on who you are buddying with. There are many divers who you could buddy with who have hundreds if not thousands of dives. The only advantage an Instructor might have versus one of these buddies is having a broader sense of experiences in providing valuable feedback to the diver. But then again, your buddy might be able to give you excellent feedback, tips, techniques, etc..

While some (others may say 'many') Instructors see this as an 'quick and easy' class to teach, I try to create as much as value as possible for my students. It makes me feel like I am delivering a quality service and hopefully prevents my students from having the feeling I had when I took my AOW class (wow, was that it?).

As has been said many times on SB, it all depends on which Instructor you get. Talk to him/her and ask her/him exactly how the class is run. If you get vague generalities or "its completed over a Fri-Sat-Sun, then unless thats what you want, try a different Instructor. I say that because there are some students who have many, many dives already and are just getting through AOW so that can get to Rescue and beyond.

Good Luck

Edited - self to cleanup misc. typos

I learned quite a bit from the course actually.
Part of it was the course & the dives that were done.
Part of it had to do with the conditions ugh... the first day of the ocean dives was hellish. A lot of chop, a strong current, and a high tide which resulted in a long surface swim.
Part of it was the instructor

The date on my card is 04/26/81.

We did a seriously advanced diving course.
Every thursday evening was classroom and some pool work.
Every saturday morning was diving.
This lasted 12 weeks.

Most of todays 'specialities' were part of the course.
Some of todays specialities didn't exist yet.

Even today the lighter version is worthwhile, especially if you find an instructor who is more into training good divers than simply feeding the machine.

Remember that it is only one step of many in the education of a diver.

As many people on the board here will tell you, much of the worth of a course depends on the instructor. Personally, I got a lot more out of my AOW course than my OW course. (In fact, some of those things I probably should have gotten out of my OW course originally). For that I credit my advanced instructor; he was eager to share knowledge.

Also, to go farther in learning or deeper into the water with safety-conscious operators often requires some form of advanced certification.

My advice, if you plan to continue diving (and we all hope that you do), is that you find an instructor who can teach you something and teach you well. Agency does not matter so much because many levels of certification can be interchangeable for later training.

D

If not anything else it got me diving more and met some cool new dive buddies. So, if you're able to get something out of it, why not....

You should take this or any other advanced course. and then you can use it to take the rescue course.

I personally believe that all divers should be taught more rescue. that said, i think that divers should go on and dive as open water divers for a while with a DM / Instructor then do advanced and then Rescue.

This is my own personal belief.