diver 85
Contributor
Sure, go for it----your instructors will love it......
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It would be helpful to know what certification agency you are talking about. The asumption is always that one is looking at PADI courses and the consinsus is that PADI Open Water should include everything in AOW so you should take both. If you are talking NAUI, or other agencies< then it is a different anamal all together.
I was lazy and waited until I had around 140 dives before I got my AOW and the only reason I did that was I needed it for Dive Master.
What is the general opinion on taking the open water and advanced open water in one go (over a week-10 days or so?). Is it acceptable or is it preferable to just do the open water, then dive a a bit at that level before taking it further?
I'm more concerned about you wanting to do OW in 7-10 days!:shocked2:
You mention your desire to dive when you're in Central America.....do you plan on diving back home in the UK?
If that's a possibility I would suggest you take your OW course at home before heading off to the nice clear, warm water you'll encounter on holidays. Get some dives in and then do your AOW at home too. You'll really enjoy the warm water diving but will acquire a taste/comfort level for colder water, heavier exposure protection etc.
Pixiefish,It depends on what you want to accomplish. If you just want the cards, go ahead. If you want to get a better education, look for the best open water class you can find. I've posted some tips on how to find such a class here. At that point, get some experience diving, about 20 - 25 dives, then take an advanced class that's more than 5 or 6 experience dives.
Just because it's done doesnt make it right.cool thanks guys :cool2: just to clarify, I'm not wanting to speed through this for the sake of it, but as the dive shop were offering it I wasn't sure if it was a done thing or not.