AOW with other Cert. Agency

we should keep in mind that padi aow and ssi aow are two different things all together. i hold both cards myself.

the padi aow is a course you pay for and receive the book along with a mandatory deep dive and a mandatory navigation dive. then you choose 3 other dives (i think i got 3 others if memory serves). remember, these dives are only introductions into those specialties. they are not full specialty courses.

however, ssi aow is not a course. it simply is recognition for achieving a certain level of training. once you have 24 logged dives along with completing 4 specialty courses of your choice, you qualify for an ssi aow card. so the ssi aow is not a course in itself.

something to keep in mind however is this.......if you were to ever want to go further with ssi (like the guide, dive master, dcs) you would normally be required to complete several specific specialties as prerequisites. but if you hold a padi aow card and have 5 logged dives in each of those specific specialties required, you do not have to take those specialty courses. that will save a bunch of money in training costs. so the padi aow card can have its advantages later on.

also.......if you want to achieve "master diver" status (not dive master - two different things) please remember that ssi will recognise padi specialties towards that master diver rating. but padi will NOT recognise ssi specialties towards their master diver rating. i found this out through personal experience.

it can get complicated depending on your goals. if you are only looking to improve as a diver and have no plans to achieve a specific rating with a specific agency, then it really doesn't matter which agency you choose. as stated above......the instructor is far more important than which agency they represent.

all that said......we do hope you choose SSI for any training you require !!

 

Because PADI AOW is just a teaser, as is SSI AA, a normal student that just received their card wouldn't necessarily have 5 dives in each specialty. In most cases students have 1 dive in each specialty and get the card (in some parts of the world they combine 2 specialties into one dive so you can do AOW in one day/3dives).

Knowing this, when someone comes into the shop with a PADI AOW or an AA card, instead of a Deep specialty card we normally require them to take the full specialty course before going on a deep-'fun' dive.
That being the case: if deep is a specific specialty tahat is interesting to you, skip the AA as it is not going to save you any money.

 

please remember to use quotes within the context they were given. i was referring to prerequisites for guide, dive master or the dcs course.