SDI: Advanced Adventure vs Advanced Scuba

[stuartv]

I'm not an SDI instructor, but I believe that Nitrox doesn't count towards ASDDP. That is certainly how the sentence would have been written, if not for that first comma which doesn't belong in the sentence for any grammatical reason.

"Complete four SDI Specialty Diver courses or equivalent; only 1 course without dives[-],[/-] may be credited towards the SDI Advanced Diver development program, with the exception of SDI Computer Nitrox"

I suspect you are correct. But, even without the comma that sentence would still leave some room for questioning the exact meaning. It just needs to be re-written to make it very clear, if Computer Nitrox doesn't count as a specialty towards anything. I assume it doesn't count as a specialty towards even the Advanced Adventure Diver, either...?

Hopefully, Jon from SDI/TDI/ERDI or an actual SDI instructor will come along and give me a For Sure answer.

 

[World HQ SDI/TDI/ERDI]

Thanks, Jon!

There is still one question nobody has answered:



I would sure appreciate it if you could clear that up.

Sorry we missed that one, Stuart. Computer Nitrox MAY be counted towards Advanced Diver, in addition to one other non-diving specialty (CPROX, Equipment, VIP, etc). However, this is a minimum, an instructor may require additional ratings in order to sign a student off for Advanced Diver.

Safe Diving,
Jon Kieren
Training and Member Services

 

[RJP]

Sorry we missed that one, Stuart. Computer Nitrox MAY be counted towards Advanced Diver, in addition to one other non-diving specialty (CPROX, Equipment, VIP, etc). However, this is a minimum, an instructor may require additional ratings in order to sign a student off for Advanced Diver.

Safe Diving,
Jon Kieren
Training and Member Services

John - thanks for clarifying. However, if that's what you guys meant - even WITH the offending comma - that's not what this says:

"Complete four SDI Specialty Diver courses or equivalent; only 1 course without dives, may be credited towards the SDI Advanced Diver development program, with the exception of SDI Computer Nitrox"

With the comma... the sentence is incorrectly written, and therefor impossible to interpret correctly.
Without the comma... the sentence says Nitrox can't be the "one dive" course.

Quick fix for your website:

Complete four SDI Specialty Diver courses or equivalent. (Note: with the exception of SDI Computer Nitrox, only 1 course without dives may be credited towards the SDI Advanced Diver development program.)

I live a cursed life that began spending 8 years diagramming sentences in Catholic grammar school... only to end up spending the past 25 years editing advertising copy!

:d

 

[World HQ SDI/TDI/ERDI]

Thank you for the feedback, RJP. We will take a look at making the suggested changes to the standards as well as the course description on the website.

Save Diving,
Jon Kieren
Training and Member Services

 

[stuartv]

Sorry we missed that one, Stuart. Computer Nitrox MAY be counted towards Advanced Diver, in addition to one other non-diving specialty (CPROX, Equipment, VIP, etc). However, this is a minimum, an instructor may require additional ratings in order to sign a student off for Advanced Diver.

Safe Diving,
Jon Kieren
Training and Member Services

Thanks for clarifying! And, yes, I do understand that all those things are considered "minimums".

So, if I get Computer Nitrox and Advanced Buoyancy Control done, I could potentially meet the minimum requirements for Advanced Diver by taking Deep and Equipment Specialist, and then logging the remainder of my 25 dives on my own. Definitely good to know. And I think I might like to take Equipment Specialist so I can learn to do my own regulator maintenance. Or at least get the foundation for learning that.

John - thanks for clarifying. However, if that's what you guys meant - even WITH the offending comma - that's not what this says:

"Complete four SDI Specialty Diver courses or equivalent; only 1 course without dives, may be credited towards the SDI Advanced Diver development program, with the exception of SDI Computer Nitrox"

With the comma... the sentence is incorrectly written, and therefor impossible to interpret correctly.
Without the comma... the sentence says Nitrox can't be the "one dive" course.

Quick fix for your website:

Complete four SDI Specialty Diver courses or equivalent. (Note: with the exception of SDI Computer Nitrox, only 1 course without dives may be credited towards the SDI Advanced Diver development program.)

RJP,

That may be perfectly clear to one with so much experience diagramming sentences. For the rest of us, it's still not as clear as it COULD be. I think it would be better as:

Complete four SDI Specialty Diver courses or equivalent. (Note: SDI Computer Nitrox may be credited as a specialty towards the SDI Advanced Diver Development Program. Of the other available specialties only 1 course without dives may be credited, regardless of whether SDI Computer Nitrox is one of the 4 credited towards the SDI Advanced Diver development program.)

 

[boulderjohn]

PADI is (like SDI) extra confusing in that they also have a course called "Adventure Diver", but at least PADI doesn't use the word Advanced. PADI Adventure Diver is a subset of Advanced Open Water, where you only do 3 adventure dives, instead of the 5 for AOW.

I can clear that mystery up for you.

You do not have to do the deep dive to get the Adventure Diver certification. With PADI, young people with the junior OW certification cannot get the AOW certification because they will not be allowed to do the deep dive. They can get the Adventure Diver certification instead. This enables them to go on to get the Junior Rescue Diver certification. I have never heard of anyone other than a young person get the Adventure Diver certification.

 

[stuartv]

I can clear that mystery up for you.

You do not have to do the deep dive to get the Adventure Diver certification. With PADI, young people with the junior OW certification cannot get the AOW certification because they will not be allowed to do the deep dive. They can get the Adventure Diver certification instead. This enables them to go on to get the Junior Rescue Diver certification. I have never heard of anyone other than a young person get the Adventure Diver certification.

Well, that explains that.

It's still lame that SDI has two certifications with Advanced in the name.

"I have my SDI Advanced certification."

"Oh, which one? The one that only requires 5 dives? Or the one that requires 25 dives?"

/lame

 

[decompression]

Stuart, the equipment specialist focuses on general equipment. If you're considering working on regulators then look to a reg technician course such as HOG offered by TDI and UTD or a course direct from the manufacturer like Scubapro or AquaLung.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[BrewsKampbell]

SDI has two with "Advanced" in the name but only one is considered your Advanced Open Water cert. I wouldn't accept an SDI AAD card as advanced nor would I accept a PADI AOW card unless they could prove they had some experience, something the SDI card already implies by requiring a minimum of 25 dives.

 

[boulderjohn]

SDI has two with "Advanced" in the name but only one is considered your Advanced Open Water cert. I wouldn't accept an SDI AAD card as advanced nor would I accept a PADI AOW card unless they could prove they had some experience, something the SDI card already implies by requiring a minimum of 25 dives.

When you say "accept," could you explain what you are talking about? Accept for what?