Advantage of AOW

[Ireland865423]

Hi,

Sorry, I know this topic has probably been discussed a lot before but i cannot find the answer to what I am looking for.

My girlfriend is OW certified and I am AOW certified. I done the night dive, drift dive and peak performance & buoyancy for my AOW.

Am I correct in saying that I have not done any "speciality course" but the deep dive, drift dive, night dive I done as part of my AOW will count as 1 dive towards the respective specialities??? Can anyone explain what the specialities entail (I.e. what is the advantage of having them?)

Also, I would like to do a wreck dive and cave/cavern dive. Can I do one off dives in these with my AOW or do I need to do the speciality???


Now that's my questions in relation to what I want to do. Thanks for any help in advance.

My girlfriend wants to do some wreck, cave/cavern, drift & night dives. Can she do these as one off dives or does she need to do the AOW or Speciality in these? Can she do the deep dive speciality?? If yes to both then effectively she can dive the same as me without her AOW? Why do the AOW then???


I hope the above makes sense.

Thanks for your help.

Mike

 

[kr2y5]

There are operators in many places in the world who do not seem to bother to check C-cards, like the cavern dives in the Cenotes in Mexico, but it would be unwise and irresponsible to attempt these kinds of dives without a little bit of experience in various conditions, and AOW is a good way to try something new and more adventurous under a watchful eye of the instructor.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Completing AOW did not give you any specialty certifications. If you wish to do a specialty, do it to learn and grow as a diver. Don't look to "short cut" a class just to get a patch on a jacket. If you are interested in wreck dives and cave or cavern dives, you should certainly do some extra training.
DivemasterDennis

 

[sierrakilo]

Hi Mike,

Am I correct in saying that I have not done any "speciality course" but the deep dive, drift dive, night dive I done as part of my AOW will count as 1 dive towards the respective specialities??? Can anyone explain what the specialities entail (I.e. what is the advantage of having them?)

Yes, you're perfectly correct - doing the Advanced Open Water Course is like a taster-plate. You get to do the first dive of a number of specialties, two of which are always deep and navigation. As an example, the Night Diver Specialty is a three dive course. At the discression of your instructor, you may - with your precious night dive experience on the advanced course, complete the Night specialty by only doing dive two and three.

There's no benefit to having the specialties, the benefit is that by doing them with a good instructor, you'll learn something worthwhile and expand your knowledge by the safe practical application of specialty diving techniques. This is important. Most specialities can't "be used" for anything. You don't have to be a PADI underwater photographer specialist to carry a camera underwater. Anyone can do that. You don't have to be a PADI wreck diver specialist to dive on wrecks.

With the exception of a few courses such a rebreather training, enriched air or solo diver courses, you generally aren't required to show proff of certification other than to verify you're qualified to dive the planned depth. Many places they don't even care about that.

If you dive on your own, you can do what you want. Again, there's no scuba police. The lack of scuba rangers doesn't mean it smart to do so - deep diving has dangers, entering overhead environments such as caves and wrecks seem very easy - So much so, that far too many divers have died because they tried without the knowledge, training and requisite skills.

My girlfriend wants to do some wreck, cave/cavern, drift & night dives. Can she do these as one off dives or does she need to do the AOW or Speciality in these? Can she do the deep dive speciality?? If yes to both then effectively she can dive the same as me without her AOW? Why do the AOW then???
Mike

Your girlfriend can do the Deep Specialty if she has proof of more than 20 dives, previous experience with deep diving (deeper than 18meters) and navigation - and she's a certified adventure diver (which means she has done three out of the five dives of the Advanced Course.) Basically, with very few exceptions, that means everyone who does the Deep course has probably gone through the whole advanced course first. There's no reason not to, really.

Depending on the dive shop you go with, she can probably do drift and night dives, without any previous experience or specialties. If they want her to have it, then either respect it - they know the environment better than you after all; Or go with someone else. Wreck dives are fine, as long as you stay outside. Cavern dives are tricky - they range from basically just being under a very large overhang, to very deep grottos, where - although you can see the daylight zone, it's very easy to stray too far in. No, you won't get lost - but an air-sharing emergency becomes real serious, if you've got a long swim out of the cavern, before you can start swimming up. By PADI regulations cavern dives are defined as in the daylight zone, and no longer than forty meters to the surface (exiting the cavern + the swim up.) I'd definitely get the cavern specialty, if I wanted to go this direction. And remember caves (outside of the daylight zone) are very, very dangerous for divers without the requisite skills, training and redundant equipment.

I hope my answers helped clarify things a little,

Soren

 

[Hawkwood]

...
Am I correct in saying that I have not done any "speciality course" but the deep dive, drift dive, night dive I done as part of my AOW will count as 1 dive towards the respective specialities??? Can anyone explain what the specialities entail (I.e. what is the advantage of having them?)

Also, I would like to do a wreck dive and cave/cavern dive. Can I do one off dives in these with my AOW or do I need to do the speciality???
...

Mike,

Within PADI's "system", the Adventure Dive you did as each of your AOW dives is the first dive of the respective Specialty, complete with the Knowledge Development portion.

For example, for your AOW, you actually did Knowledge Review One and Dive One of the Deep Dive Specialty. You would still have a second Knowledge Review and three more dives to complete the Specialty.

Depending on when and where you did your AOW, the Instructor with whom you do a Specialty may or may not credit the dive you did during your AOW towards that respective Specialty. Time lapsed, environmental conditions, etc. can dictate how that will be handled.

You do not have to do AOW before doing a Specialty and here are many Adventure Dives available to do as part of an AOW program, or separately. There is a Wreck Dive "Adventure Dive", but I do not believe there is a Cavern "Adventure Dive" (I could be mistaken on that though).

 

[Colliam7]

Am I correct in saying that I have not done any "speciality course" but the deep dive, drift dive, night dive I done as part of my AOW will count as 1 dive towards the respective specialities???

Yes, that is correct.You have essentially done the first dive of each of those specialties.

Can anyone explain what the specialities entail (I.e. what is the advantage of having them?)

Each specialty entails completing additional dives, involving additional performance requirements. As for the 'advantage', one can argue that the additional training you receive is an 'advantage'. With specific regard to AOW and the Deep Diver specialty, AOW nominally certifies you to dive to depths of 100 feet (you are certified to dive in conditions equivalent to your training, and the maximum depth allowed for the Deep Adventure Dive, by PADI standards, is 100 feet. In contrast, the Deep Diver specialty certifies you to dive to depths of 130 ft.

Now, there are no scuba police lurking on that wreck at 110 feet, checking your C card to make sure you have the proper credential (or any credential, for that matter). Some / a few boat operators require AOW for deeper dives, and a smaller number may even require Deep Diver for diving on wrecks in the 100-130 ft range.

Also, I would like to do a wreck dive and cave/cavern dive. Can I do one off dives in these with my AOW or do I need to do the speciality???

Yes, you can do a Wreck Adventure Dive, as a 'one-off' dive. I am not sure about Cavern (not Cave in any event). That Adventure Dive would have to be conducted by a Cavern Instructor, who must have a Cave Diver certification.

My girlfriend wants to do some wreck, cave/cavern, drift & night dives. Can she do these as one off dives or does she need to do the AOW or Speciality in these?

In general, she can do virtually any Adventure Dive as an OW Diver.

Can she do the deep dive speciality??

Technically, no. She must be certified as an Adventure Diver (completed three Adventure dives, and paperwork submitted for certification) in order to be certified as a Deep Diver. But, that becomes a matter of sequencing and paperwork flow, and a good instructor can work with the two of you to properly sequence what dives are done, and paperwork submitted, to meet PADI standards.