What really is an "Advanced Open Water" diver?

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it means nothing. just like most certs for most divers. many of us have a long list of certs and are still average divers.
?? This is a surprising statement from a tech instructor!
 
What really is an MSDT? Means the same thing, the person took a certain number of courses and funneled a certain amount of $$ into PADI, beyond that……nothing much.
 
?? This is a surprising statement from a tech instructor!

i am not an active technical instructor.
having some of the certs i do makes me some what qualified to make, and stand by my statement.
many feel because they have their name on a piece of plastic it makes them some how superior to some other divers. i am not one of those who feels that way. i have knowledge i can share with others that can help make them better divers, but what i know is a drop in the bucket compared to many other highly qualified and experienced divers.
i am proud of some of my accomplishments but am always aware that i still have much to learn.
 
Kind of a new twist on a very old subject.
If you mean, say, a PADI Advanced OW Diver (which I think you do), that means you passed a course and got a card (or something on your phone nowadays).
If you mean what is a truly advanced diver, that's just too vague to really answer. My usual response is that someone can be VERY advanced with certain types of diving-- what they routinely do-- and not at all advanced with other types. I'm an extremely advanced Nova Scotia shore diver. I've never done a true drift dive and maybe only 3 night dives--not advanced.
 
Disclaimer: I am not an instructor or DM.
Having made the disclaimer, I think most divers know in their hearts what level diver they are, regardless of the cert cards held. Of course, there are the exceptions when some folks think they are far more capable than reality would dictate.
 
Please reread at least some of the many threads on this on SB before you rush off and say something you might regret. The point is that the card means advanced beyond OW, NOT that you are now an advanced diver. The name is ancient, and has not changed. Only the misinterpretation of it has evolved. PADI -- who did not invent the name -- explicitly says it just means advanced beyond OW. You are only going to add to the confusion, I fear. Your presentation ought to be about "what is an advanced diver." Trying to build upon a term that already exists, is already well-defined by the training agencies, and is already confusing, serves no one well.

Not that I feel strongly about it, of course.

Point well taken. My concern is that because they have a card that says "Advanced Open Water" they have it in their minds that they are now free to push the envelope. So to follow your suggestion I'll ask the question: "What skills must a diver possess in order to be an Advanced Diver?" I'd like to weave that into my prevention which may now be on the theme of what separates and AOW certified diver from a truly Advanced Diver. Keep the ideas coming! And thanks!
 
It saddens me to read statements that ow certified divers are not autonomous and must be guided.
 
It saddens me to read statements that ow certified divers are not autonomous and must be guided.
Yes, it also saddens me to read incorrect statements like that. It is a rather harsh generalization based on some poor training.
 
It saddens me to read statements that ow certified divers are not autonomous and must be guided.
When I got PADI OW certified we were taught that we were able to plan and conduct a shore dive on our coast where we certified, with another OW certified buddy with no guide needed or any supervision. Also, nothing was mentioned about needing to stay at 60’ or above. We were taught PADI RPD tables and the tables went to 130’ so we just figured we had permission to go that deep. We were never told that 60’ was the limit. I don’t know if that was a standards violation or not, but whatever.
An old salt diver I knew back then had some good advice, he said “Underwater is underwater. It doesn’t matter if you’re 50’ or 130’ you’re still underwater breathing air. Either way you’re probably too deep to make a break for the surface, so make sure you get real good at dealing with sh__ (problems) at depth because coming up probably ain’t an option”.
He was a hunter and most of what he was telling me was aimed at dealing with big lingcod.
It makes sense, learn to deal with your problems underwater because for one of these newfangled open water divers thinking that they can make a break for it and get to the surface safely from 60’ is somewhat silly. They can even get in trouble at 30’ and freak out and drown or embolize if they’re that unstable. The training needs to focus a lot more on core skills and comfort because the 60’ rule is a little moot if the diver is a total train wreck to start with. It shouldn’t even be 10’ if the student can’t deal with diving.
Being guided by a divemaster is another false sense of security for a fresh OW diver without confidence.

By the time I took AOW I had already dived to over 100’ in Monterey off charter boats and did shore dives past 60’. So when the deep dive was 63’ I thought it was a little lame, but I don’t really blame the Instructor because where we went that was about the deepest we could find within reason.
I Just got AOW because I thought that’s what everybody did and it was a natural progression in scuba. I liked it, I met a few good dive buddies so it was worth it. Not to mention it helps on dive boats, not necessarily in California because they don’t give a damn, but in Australia and Hawaii they wanted to see it.
 
Yes, it also saddens me to read incorrect statements like that. It is a rather harsh generalization based on some poor training.
Was I generalizing? Nope. Just addressing the comments made in this thread.

All ow certified divers should be autonomous. It is an egregious failure if they are not.
 
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