PADI AOW Certification

[stuartv]

Right. Yes, the AOW class just gives you a subset of each specialty. Specifically, it gives you one dive from each specialty. It might be good for someone who isn't sure what specialties they want to invest in, so they want to pick 3 and try one dive of each. I say 3 because you get 5 dives in the AOW class but 2 of them are mandated to be Deep and Underwater Nav. So, if you were thinking about U/w photography or Night or whatever, you could get a taste of each in the AOW course and then decide which ones to pursue for full specialty certification.

That said, you sound just like me last November. As soon as I finished OW, I took Buoyancy Control and Nitrox and then proceeded from there. I don't care about the card. I'm just interested in being a better diver, who is properly trained and qualified to do the dives I am interested in (which is, currently, visiting wrecks, mostly).

Good luck with it!

Oh, and something I wish someone had told me: There is the Recreational Nitrox course, which SDI calls Computer Nitrox. I'm not sure what PADI calls it. Then there is a Technical Nitrox course, offered by TDI. I imagine other technical agencies offer something equivalent. Anyway... I took the SDI Computer Nitrox course. Then, later, took the TDI Nitrox course. The courses were exactly the same except for the TDI course teaching all the SDI material plus tables and related formulas and basic arithmetic. Both courses were one evening in a classroom with no dives required. Both courses result in you being certified to use Nitrox with up to 40% oxygen. You need the Advanced Nitrox certification to use gases with greater than 40% oxygen.

I would have saved myself some time and money if I had just taken the TDI Nitrox course to begin with, versus taking the SDI course and then the TDI course. But, I only say that because I am now moving on to taking TDI Intro to Tech and then TDI Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures (2 courses combined). The TDI Nitrox course is a prereq to Advanced Nitrox (big surprise). So, if you think you might EVER eventually want to move up to doing decompression diving, you might want to skip the PADI or SDI Nitrox course and go straight to the TDI Nitrox (or equivalent) course. It costs a little more, but it's the same time investment. OTOH, if you are confident you will never care about moving on to deco diving, then the extra money may not be worth it to you. The extra money does get you some extra education, though - at least compared to how a lot of people teach the recreational Nitrox course, I think - so you might still think it's worth it.

 

[Bob the Diver]

I might be wrong here but it was explained to me that if I took the deep class then took the AOW, I wouldn't have to do that module of the AOW. I could choose another module to take. This would be fine if there were others in the same situation as you... Otherwise if you're the only one, you wind up doing the same skills, knowledge reviews, checkout dives as everyone else.

 

[stuartv]

The AOW card by itself has value. In many places, it is required by dive operators for certain more advanced dives. In addition, it is required for some more advanced training, inlcuding technical diving (depending upon the agency). I cannot accept you into my tech program without it.

So, if someone came to you with 100 dives logged, full specialty certs for Deep, U/W Nav, Night, Wreck, Boat, and Nitrox - but no AOW card - you would not accept them for your tech program until they went and paid PADI for the AOW card?

It seems to me that most everywhere that says "Advanced required" USUALLY says (or accepts, when asked) "or equivalent", which means relevant full specialties and logged dives obviate the need for the AOW card. At least, that's been my very limited experience (in real life and in researching possible dives to do).

 

[bmlbytes]

OK... All this discussion has me really confused. I was thinking of getting my AOW to get experience in doing deeper dives. Given the attitude toward the AOW in this thread, I figured I'd look up the Deep Diver Specialty, instead of the AOW. PADI's website says that an "Adventure Diver rating" or higher is required before doing "Deep Diver".

Additionally, one of the local dive shops around here says that they require AOW or higher to do the Deep Diver specialty.

Is all of this BS? How do I even go about getting an Adventure Diver rating?

 

[Bob the Diver]

The Adventure dives are all part of the AOW. It sure seems the depending on where you look they use Advanced open water and Adventure diver interchangeably.

Adventure Diver Course from PADI - Experience Specialty Scuba Diving

and direct from the link above: "After your PADI Adventure Diver certification you can take the next step by completing two more adventure dives. If you've completed five total adventure dives that include deep and navigation, you're an PADI Advanced Open Water Diver"

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Most likely you won't. They'll sell you AOW.
Why limit yourself to PADI? SDI does not require AOW for Deep. I'd expect though that your buoyancy and trim are pretty well established before I'd take an OW diver on for deep though. Those BTW are open water diver skills - buoyancy and trim.
Though the standards require two dives for deep, I require 4 for my students.

---------- Post added July 29th, 2015 at 05:37 PM ----------

Adventure diver means that you didn't do all the dives for AOW. It's marketing.

 

[bmlbytes]

It sure seems the depending on where you look they use Advanced open water and Adventure diver interchangeably.

PADI has them listed as two separate things on their certification flow chart.

 

[bmlbytes]

Adventure diver means that you didn't do all the dives for AOW. It's marketing.

So if I do only one of my checkout dives for AOW, I'm an Adventure Diver? Wouldn't that mean I have to sign up for an AOW course to be able to get Adventure Diver?

So with PADI, I can't do the Deep Diver cert with just an Open Water.

 

[Basking Ridge Diver]

Here are the Padi Specialty Dives that you can do for AOW - Note as has been said before Navigation and Deep are required.
From OW you can advance to AOW with 5 specialty classes - really 3 because 2 are noted above.

If you want more classes you can take them but they are not required - they are for your benefit only... Some folks love classes.

https://www.padi.com/scuba-diving/padi-courses/course-catalog/specialty-diver/

[h=4] See what’s available from this list of great courses: [/h]
Altitude Diver
AWARE - Coral Reef Conservation
AWARE - Fish Identification
Boat Diver
Cavern Diver
Deep Diver
Digital Underwater Photographer
Diver Propulsion Vehicle
Drift Diver
Dry Suit Diver
Emergency Oxygen Provider
Enriched Air Diver
Equipment Specialist
Ice Diver
Multilevel Diver
Night Diver
Peak Performance Buoyancy
Project AWARE Specialist
Public Safety Diver
Search and Recovery Diver
Sidemount Diver
Underwater Naturalist
Underwater Navigator
Underwater Videographer
Wreck Diver
Distinctive Specialties – Project AWARE and PADI

 

[Bob the Diver]

PADI has them listed as two separate things on their certification flow chart.
View attachment 213686

Yeah I see that now... never noticed it before. [-]But they do say in that link that if you complete 5 adventure dives ( and presumably the modules associated with them) you have completed the AOW. If you only complete 2 then you are an adventure diver.
[/-]


Disregard this... I completely miss read it.