Difference between PADI AOW and deep diver

[Sbiriguda]

I am going to take the Deep Diver so that I can go -40 meters instead of -30
Please pardon my ignorance...
I am reviewing the manual and I don't see any relevant difference between what I was taught for the PADI Advance Open Water and the Deep Diver...
Is there something I am missing or indeed the two are very similar?

 

[SandyRobinson]

Probably very similar other than Deep Diver may may require 3 or 4 deep dives whereas you may only do one in the AOW.

 

[Southside]

For AOW you start the deep diver specialty, the main difference is the number of dives made to a sufficient depth while under the guidance of an instructor. It's just more experience gained.

 

[Storker]

IME AOW doesn't cover stuff like min gas. And the coverage of narcosis in the deep dive section of the AOWD manual is thin, to say it carefully. I haven't taken PADI Deep, so I can't opine on what you get from that.

But I'd like to suggest a bit of consideration. Is 40m/130' a good idea if you have less than 50 dives under your weight belt? Why do you want to go that deep?

 

[James C]

It all depends on your instructor. Officially, the deep dive specialty covers a lot more about diving at depth whereas the deep dive portion of AOW covers only the bare essentials. Nevertheless I’ve seen deep dive specialty dives being treated as no more than fun dives at deeper depths...

Bottom line, talk to your instructor / dive center to get an idea of what / how they will cover. You should be able to tell from their description if they are teaching seriously or just trying to get you your card.

 

[tursiops]

When you look at the Deep Specialty manual, look at only Dive 1 to see what the content of the AOW Deep dive is. What is in Dives 2-3-4 is not covered in the AOW single dive. So, with the full Specialty, you go to 40m, look in more detail at narcosis, practice with some emergency procedures, and spend serious time on gas and dive planning for dive 4.

 

[TMHeimer]

As mentioned, I agree that both AOW and Deep courses can vary some according to the instructor. My instructor for AOW was IMO very good (I had him for several other courses). But our "Deep" dive was to 63 feet. Well, that was where the only boat for a month was going in March on the FL panhandle (there was another group of Vintage Divers who booked the trip, so we were an add on).
From what I recall of the Deep Course (here in Nova Scotia), it was quite comprehensive--mainly because most of the time on the 4 dives we were in the 110-120-130 foot range. We shot a sausage from 120' and reeled it in to reach the safety stop (no easy task in 33F - +1C water --end of May-- diving wet-- only me....). We also did the "square peg in a round hole" task to check narcosis--I don't recall feeling slower at 120', but who knows). Also the crushed pop bottle and floating egg yoke ball, which was neat. Plenty of gas planning. Got to see how fast a tank empties down there. Proper descent technique at 45 degree angle to the anchor line but not holding it. I usually just pull myself down on it head first, but that was good to learn. Don't know what more could be included. There was a (20 question?) written test -- this was 2007

 

[BlueTrin]

I had confusion between AOW specialties and specialties when I did my AOW: for the AOW you select specialties but you get only 1 (I think) adventure dive towards each specialty.

In theory, you’ll have 1 less dive to do when you do the specialty although some shops will not want you to transfer the adventure dive.

 

[Frosty]

IMO the AOW deep "speciality" as outlined by padi really doesn't cover off the dangers and requirements in sufficient depth. Color changes,Gas consumption,recognition of narcosis,Incident recovery is skipped over fairly fast.
That said I wonder as to your motivation OP. --Theres no Policeman stopping you going to 40m but equally unless theres something specific you want to see down there the attraction isn't there.

 

[Graveyarddiver]

But I'd like to suggest a bit of consideration. Is 40m/130' a good idea if you have less than 50 dives under your weight belt? Why do you want to go that deep?

I think it all depends on the person, I was doing dives to 30m/100 ft in my first 20 dives. Within my first 10 dives I was almost exclusively diving doubles with a back plate and wing, by 50 more than half my dives required deco, some of which is done on O2. I think we need to move past the notion that number of dives equals competence and experience and focuse more on someone’s abilities.

Furthermore, I think scuba training is severely lacking in an understanding on decompression and decompression theory, every diver should have an understanding in the off chance a dive goes awry.