Padi Scuba Diver Cert. vs. Open Water Cert.

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Going for the open water is the standard first step, its how people normally start (if through padi). In my experience people who do the scuba diver cert only do so because there is some reason why they can not go straight for OW
 
A side-note: regardless you go OWD or SD, I recommend a place where you really enjoy the training dives. I did my confined water dives in a sea-pool, full of fish and my OW dives were practically half drills half fish ID :D.

Regarding costs, I painfully agree with windapp:(...
 
Your instructor is correct. Scuba Diver is very limiting, and if you continue diving at all is likely to soon cost you more than if you had finished OW. It's ok as an interim thing if you don't have time to finish OW right now, but is really not the usual choice. Much better to finish OW, even if you don't dive again soon and need to do a refresher next time, and no matter if you dive yourselves or with a guide. If nothing else for safety reasons it's better to do the whole OW and not just part of it, more knowledge and practice is better.

And as said, if the price difference between Scuba Diver and OW is a huge deal, diving may not be the right thing to be getting into. You actually don't have to spend a fortune to dive, there are lots of ways to save money, but training is not one of the better places to do this.
 
The only times I have seen someone get a scuba diver certification were unusual cases in which something prevented the person from getting the OW certification. In one case the person's autism made OW certification a poor choice. In another case the person could not complete the 4th OW dive on the last day that the local lake was open for diving before closing for the winter. In another case it was the only offering on a cruise ship.
 
Thanks for the excellent advice! We tend to go to the beach in Italy between April and late September. Since we've never dived before this course, we don't know how often we'll do it so we wanted to get an idea of the pros and cons. If we don't do the OW now, I'll get a wetsuit instead. I'll have my boyfriend read everyone's suggestions and then decide. Any further info is certainly appreciated. Thanks again!
In that case, since it's only early June now, it seems you'll have plenty of time to do more diving before late September, so if you've got the resources--time and money--to carry on and complete the Open Water course, it almost certainly will save you some money in the long run as well as permit you to do the sorts of dives fully certified divers are allowed to do. If you like your instructor and you are happy with the course, then you probably would be better off to go ahead and finish up sooner rather than later.
 
Simple view: Do the OW course just to get it done as you're probably going to do it anyway so you can dive without an instructor and go deeper than 40'.
 
The only times I have seen someone get a scuba diver certification were unusual cases in which something prevented the person from getting the OW certification. In one case the person's autism made OW certification a poor choice. In another case the person could not complete the 4th OW dive on the last day that the local lake was open for diving before closing for the winter. In another case it was the only offering on a cruise ship.

We signed off on the Scuba Diver this weekend for a lady who simply could not complete dives 3 and 4. Water temperatures were 4C and they opted to do the class in a wetsuit, much to our surprise.....silly them. She was just too damn cold to continue. She still came away with a certification and is happy.

This was the first time I've been involved in issuing the Scuba Diver certification.
 
I am going to add at the risk of repeating another poster..the more training you have under good instructor supervision, the more confident and skilled you will be in the water...this translates directly to more enjoyment, more flexibility as to the types of diving you can do and lower stress and better air consumption. It is win-win all the way.
 
Simple view: Do the OW course just to get it done as you're probably going to do it anyway so you can dive without an instructor and go deeper than 40'.

Given the OP's listed future locations they will probably not be diving independantly, rather they will be part of a dive group led by a Divemaster/Instructor. 40' is plenty deep enough for beginners to gain underwater experience.

Personally I like the Scuba Diver course and wish more people took it. It really depends on the individual but there are plenty of people who look to get in to scuba without the watermanship skills to be an OW diver. SD sites are usually 'easy' with shallow, pretty reefs. OW divers are often getting dropped in to some 'advanced' dive sites- even though they have the license, they sometimes don't have the skills to dive safely.

It's kind of like electric cars in a way: people don't have them because there is not the infrastructure to run them. The infrastructure is not being built because not enough people have them. Unfortunately there are simply not enough Scuba Divers to justify a dedicated boat in many locations.
 
My feelings go in the opposite direction: even an OWD is a minimalized course. I don't think, that with 4 ow dives one can really feel confident in the water, using scuba gear. 2 dives are not more, than a simple skills presentation, with no or very little repetition. It also gives the instructor very little chance to correct any bad habits/"instincts".
 
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