PADI AOW Started; Now What?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Aerosynth

Contributor
Messages
114
Reaction score
1
Location
Midwest/Central U.S. is where I hang my hat. Where
# of dives
25 - 49
I just signed up for my AOW today. I am very excited. I think this is going to be a step in the right direction for me. I just have questions about how the whole thing works.

So basically, here's my understanding... please someone correct me if I am wrong.

There's not an AOW advanced academic unit, per say. Rather, once I master 5 PADI specialties, I will get my AOW certification. I study the book and do the knowledge reviews, do 5 on-site skills reviews for the specialties we've selected, plus the Adventure Dives that go with them. In my case, my specialties are: Deep, Night, U/W Nav, Search/Recovery, and PPB.

After these 5 dives are completed, I will be certified AOW. Correct?

*BUT* even though my AOW certification will be gained by mastering those specialties, I will not be specifically "certified" for the specialties I took as part of my AOW. If I want certs for deep, night, nav, s/r, or PPB... I have to take the more intensive specialty courses. But my AOW specialty dives for each of those will be credited towards the full courses??

The instructor and shop I am doing the AOW through are awesome. I've dove with them and bought equipment from them and I can say that they are very skilled, friendly, and professional. But I don't think I left the shop today with a 100% perfect explanation of the whole PADI learning system (my OW was not through PADI).

So...

5 Specialty Dives = AOW Certification (but not certifications in those specific specialties)

Right?

LOL... thanks in advance.
 
For PADI:

5 Adventure dives + 5 Knowledge Reviews = AOW

Each Specialty is 1 classroom session and 2-3 dives each

AOW does not certify you in any of the chosen adventures, but merely gives you a few skills and insight.

Depending on instructors, your Adventure Dives may count towards your first Specialty dive
 
Okay, that's what I thought. Got it.

I actually did get my EANx Cert from PADI... but it was exactly what I expected it to be. Read a book, do a knowledge review, sit through a class, take a test, and get a cert card.

I suppose I thought there would actually be an AOW academic unit... [-]rather than[/-] in addition to the 5 [-]brief[/-] units on the specialties that you pick. I don't know. This might have been a dumb thread/question. If so, I'm sorry. There was just something about the whole AOW certification process that felt wrong to me and I thought I was missing something.
 
Last edited:
I found that it made more sense to me if I though of PADI AOW as "advanced beginner," which kind of makes sense since PADI OW is like "beginner." I realize that the depth and breadth of the content can vary quite a bit depending on the instructor, but it seems like it's set up as a sampler plate and then later if you wanted to go back and learn more in a particular area that's when you would get the "real" certification for it (Deep, PPB, Wreck, etc.).
 
Last edited:
AOW is a cash cow for PADI and the other cert agencies. You have probably already done most of the dives already anyway. But you need it to go forward with other specialties. Most divers stop at this stage because with this cert and a few deep dives you can go out on the ships and deep reefs with no questions asked.
 
@Garrobo - Yeah, actually... I have dove deeper than the lowest point of where I will be doing the deep dive. I've also dove in pitch black conditions, LOL. The deep and night specialties seem a little silly to me. I do somewhat look forward to ppb, s/r, and nav. We'll see how it turns out. In any event, you are right, I have to have my AOW to get where I want to be... so I'll do my best to enjoy it all and try to learn something new. :)
 
Night diving is my favorite pastime. Especially if you are in a small group. You get to see a lot more activity and colors at night. Lots of creapy-crawlers and feeders are out at night. If you haven't tried a night dive you'll probably like it too.
 
AOW consists of five dives, which are on different topics or areas of diving. Once you have completed AOW, should you wish to go on and complete the entire speciality in one of those topics, the "adventure dive" you did as part of AOW does count toward the required number of dives for the specialty.
 
SDI has you do 5 different courses to get AOW.... seems like a hugh difference in what each agency requires.
 
AOW consists of five dives, which are on different topics or areas of diving. Once you have completed AOW, should you wish to go on and complete the entire speciality in one of those topics, the "adventure dive" you did as part of AOW does count toward the required number of dives for the specialty.
Actually, the Adventure dive may count towards the specialty, but that is up to the discretion of the instructor conducting the Specialty course. Generally speaking, if you do your AOW and Specialty training with the same instructor, it's customary for the Adventure dive to be credited towards completion of the Specialty, but if you switch instructors, there's a good possibility that the new instructor will want you to do all of the dives for the specialty.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

Back
Top Bottom