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
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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.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!
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.
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'.