Go for advanced open water cert or no?

[AbsolutWeezer6]

Hey all, I have been staying in Australia for 4 months and I am finally finishing my open water certification. I am loving it and want to get into scuba more. I will be in Fiji for 9 days and have the oppurtunity to do alot of diving over those 9 days. My question is does anyone think it would be worth it to go for my advanced open water course whille in fiji so I can do some deeper dives or is it beter to get some dives in before the advanced course. Also, I want to enjoy the diving so if the advanced course is more work then fun....if that is possible whille diving....I wouldnt want to do it. Any input would be appreciated.

Cheers
Vinny

 

[voop]

If you feel comfy in the water, I'd say go for it. The PADI AOW course is made such that it can (and, indeed, should) be taken relatively quickly after the OW course -- it's mostly "OW part II", giving a bit more experience under supervision, while teaching some good-to-know skills too.

While in my experience, the PADI AOW course is more fun than work (both for the teacher and the instructor), with a good instructor you will be able to use it to advance your diving. However with a less-than-good instructor, it may just be "5 guided dives with some minimum exercises". As always, try to get an instructor who puts his heart into it.....

As for other agencies AOW courses, I do not know them well enough to say anything. Anyone...?

I've never been diving Fiji nor Australia, so I cannot speak to good instructors there nor to the usefullness of an AOW-card in these locations

 

[Scottri]

It's kind of an individual thing. If you feel comfortable in the water and good about your skills I say go for it. If on the other hand you are still working on the skills you learned in Open Water you may need a few dives to get it all sorted out.

Good luck and welcome to the sport!

Scott