I just got my open water cert, looking at taking the advanced OW class. If I do not have a lot of experience diving, should i still take the advanced OW class? After completing the Advanced OW class do you wet a new card saying my level is Advanced OW instead of Open Water?
Just finished OW training looking at advanced OW
- Thread starter Seville
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A lot depends upon your situation.
In my case, the people who taught my OW class skipped a lot of standards to get it done quickly, and I felt a bit unprepared. I took a trip to Cozumel soon after that and immediately took the AOW course. I had a great instructor who moved my up a number of notches on the scuba skill continuum in a real hurry. It was the right decision for me. No question about it.
If you feel you got good OW instruction and have reasonable access to good diving with someone who really knows what he or she is dong, it might be good to get some dives under your belt and improve your comfort level first. Don't wait too long. The purpose of AOW is to introduce you to different kinds of diving with the help of an instructor. Pile up enough dives and experience on your own and the AOW class will not do anything for you.
When you get AOW, you will get a new card. You will get a new card with a new number for everything you do, unless and until you become an instructor.
In my case, the people who taught my OW class skipped a lot of standards to get it done quickly, and I felt a bit unprepared. I took a trip to Cozumel soon after that and immediately took the AOW course. I had a great instructor who moved my up a number of notches on the scuba skill continuum in a real hurry. It was the right decision for me. No question about it.
If you feel you got good OW instruction and have reasonable access to good diving with someone who really knows what he or she is dong, it might be good to get some dives under your belt and improve your comfort level first. Don't wait too long. The purpose of AOW is to introduce you to different kinds of diving with the help of an instructor. Pile up enough dives and experience on your own and the AOW class will not do anything for you.
When you get AOW, you will get a new card. You will get a new card with a new number for everything you do, unless and until you become an instructor.
I thought I would add more advice.
1. When I had AOW students (I almost only teach technical diving now), I would sit down with them and listen to their plans and goals. I would assess their skills carefully on the first dive. I would then make sure the rest of the class was designed to get them as far as possible on the path to diving excellence. If you can find an experienced instructor with that approach, take the class as soon as you can.
2. Choose your dives carefully while consulting with your instructor. One of my AOW dives in Cozumel was Fish ID, which a lot of people mock. For me, it was one of the most valuable training dives I ever had. The instructor was very thorough, and I grew to understand not only the names of fishes, but I learned how they behave and interrelate. For example, when I later saw a big midnight parrotfish being followed by a small trunk fish, I had an idea what was happening and went in for a closer look. Sure enough, the midnight parrot was biting off big chunks of coral, creating a floating cloud of debris with each bite, and when it moved away, the trunk fish would come in, blow away the light dust, and pick off the leftovers. My knowledge made dives much more interesting. It also made them memorable. Science tells us that if you can name something you see, you will remember it much better.
If you asked me teach the Fish ID dive in my home area of Colorado/New Mexico, I would refuse. There is no point in identifying one crawdad after another.
3. On the other hand, there can be a benefit to doing a dive that does not teach too much during the dive itself. Here in Colorado, there is no point in doing a number of the common dives--like boat diving, drift diving, and videography (videos of silt???). One of the least valuable dives as a dive is altitude. There is nothing to do on the dive itself--nothing except make adjustments if you are using dive tables, which you aren't. All the instruction is academic and completed on land. I liked to teach it as part of AOW, though. I went way beyond the course in the academic instruction, and then used the dive itself as a wild card where I could focus on whatever skills the diver needed most.
1. When I had AOW students (I almost only teach technical diving now), I would sit down with them and listen to their plans and goals. I would assess their skills carefully on the first dive. I would then make sure the rest of the class was designed to get them as far as possible on the path to diving excellence. If you can find an experienced instructor with that approach, take the class as soon as you can.
2. Choose your dives carefully while consulting with your instructor. One of my AOW dives in Cozumel was Fish ID, which a lot of people mock. For me, it was one of the most valuable training dives I ever had. The instructor was very thorough, and I grew to understand not only the names of fishes, but I learned how they behave and interrelate. For example, when I later saw a big midnight parrotfish being followed by a small trunk fish, I had an idea what was happening and went in for a closer look. Sure enough, the midnight parrot was biting off big chunks of coral, creating a floating cloud of debris with each bite, and when it moved away, the trunk fish would come in, blow away the light dust, and pick off the leftovers. My knowledge made dives much more interesting. It also made them memorable. Science tells us that if you can name something you see, you will remember it much better.
If you asked me teach the Fish ID dive in my home area of Colorado/New Mexico, I would refuse. There is no point in identifying one crawdad after another.
3. On the other hand, there can be a benefit to doing a dive that does not teach too much during the dive itself. Here in Colorado, there is no point in doing a number of the common dives--like boat diving, drift diving, and videography (videos of silt???). One of the least valuable dives as a dive is altitude. There is nothing to do on the dive itself--nothing except make adjustments if you are using dive tables, which you aren't. All the instruction is academic and completed on land. I liked to teach it as part of AOW, though. I went way beyond the course in the academic instruction, and then used the dive itself as a wild card where I could focus on whatever skills the diver needed most.
Andrew Dawson
Contributor
I took OW and AOW back to back. I really wanted more oversight in my diving early on. Also, I wanted to build good habits early on instead of having to break bad ones later on. I really am glad I did it. Having a great instructor for both is really important...they can help you grow as a safe, competent diver instead of just moving you through the required exercises.
Just because you have an AOW cert, does not mean you must do those dives every time...but it might make you safer on every dive you do
Just because you have an AOW cert, does not mean you must do those dives every time...but it might make you safer on every dive you do
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Belzelbub
Contributor
A lot of people go directly from OW to AOW. I’d prefer to wait a bit, tough you don’t need to wait as long as I did (~30 years). Get comfortable with your gear, and diving in general. Then the AOW will be more beneficial and seem like less of a cram.
Regarding cards. Yes, you will get a new card, and depending on the agency, it could be several new cards. The PADI AOW is not the same as AOW from most of the other agencies. With PADI, they give you an a overview of several specialties. This is the equivalent of Advanced Adventurer in SSI. SSI AOW is not really a course, but more of a recognition of completing 4 specialties. I took Enriched Air Nitrox (in 2004) and Night, Deep, & Navigation (in 2019). Completion of those courses got me certification cards for each of the specialties, a recognition card as a Specialty Diver, and a recognition card as Advanced Open Water.
Take the specialties that interest you and you think will help you be a better diver. The EAN course is a good next step.
Diverlady13
Contributor
First, yes you do get a new card (if you're talking about PADI).
My opinion is to go for it and get your advanced certification. However, do NOT come out of that thinking that you are an advanced diver. Think of those dives (and that certification) as enhancing your skills and filling in holes that the OW class either skipped or didn't cover in depth.
I did my OW and AOW back to back over a week. I know lots of people say to wait, but I wouldn't be diving at all if I hadn't gone on to the AOW right away. After doing AOW I felt much more confident and comfortable with my gear and with being in the water. Now I can't get enough of the ocean!
The PADI way is the way the course was created by Los Angeles County and then NAUI. SSI is the only one I know who does it differently, but I certainly don't know how most agencies do it. The idea of the 5 dives was to spark an interest in some aspect of diving that they hoped would keep divers diving. They had seen that divers tended to get the OW course and then quit. (Personally, I think southern California water temperatures and the state of thermal protection in the 1960s was a big factor.)
There is an advantage to the one introductory dive AOW version. My three dives other than deep and navigation were night (required back then) ,fish ID, and drift (a natural for Cozumel). In all 3 cases, I did not see any reason to do the specialties; I felt I had gotten all I needed to know. I am glad I did not sign up (and pay) for the specialties first and then realized that I had had enough after the first dive.
Another tip is not to do the nitrox introductory dive. That is a specific case where you want to take the specialty instead. To give you an idea how valuable the nitrox dive is in the AOW course, for most agencies, you do not do any dives at all to get the specialty rating. You need the specialty certification to get nitrox fills, but the nitrox AOW diving gives you nothing.
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