Advanced Open Water - a la carte?

[ashley25EC]

Hi there,

I need a little help from the scuba community to refresh my memory and give me some straight answers

My husband and I are going to Utila in two weeks and wanted to complete our Advanced Open Water certification while we are there. When we were in Belize we started the process by doing two adventure dives (deep dive and underwater naturalist). We have the paper work to verify that we completed them both.

Can we just show the forms to a dive shop and ask to do three adventure dives to make a total of 5 then ask them to file with PADI to complete the Advanced certification? Or are they going to try and make us sign up for the full course? I believe in Belize they didn't make us by any materials, they just charged us slightly more for an Adventure dive than a Fun Dive.

Comments or suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[Scuba.com]

It works much the same as a referral course in an open water class. So long as all the approriate paper work has been completed by the instructor you should only have to peform the necessary dives remaining BUT that really does come down to the instructor or shop you are dealing with. For liability reasons they could still require you to perform the entire course including those 2 dives as the instructor issuing your card in the end is the one responsible for ensuring you've completed all requirements.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

You also need to realize that you most likely will not pay any less so why not do the full course? You will have to do an UW Navigation dive along with the deep. Night used to be required as well but I don't think so any more. Deep, UW Nav, Search and Recovery, Night, and maybe peak buoyancy are the ones I;d consider if you are limited to PADI.

 

[--tom--]

My answer is cautiously given. An instructor could get him/herself into problems pretty quickly. So I will answer the question as you state it, then list some of the flags that would make me think twice, then present a strategy that I would try.

The perfect answer is that the original shop documented everything, and filled out a referral form so that everything is in order. All you would need to do is complete the Navigation portion and two more Adventure Dives to complete your Advanced Open Water certification. There is no expiration date on Adventure Dives.

So here are my flags:
• A book is mandatory, however, family members may share a single book. If you don't have a book, I am immediately suspicious (I know it happens that some centers have loaned books over the years but I teach in California--aka Litigation Central)
• The instructor must verify the Knowledge Review completion & understanding of the material- (I would ask to see the KR's on the Deep and Underwater Naturalist) just to protect myself.
• I would be curious as to why all this effort for a "short cut". You undoubtedly have a good reason, but it just makes me sit up and say "huh? that's weird." When working with students in an unfamiliar (to them) environment, and the students can't say something is going terribly wrong, the "huh? that's weird" feeling is where I start taking preventative measures to keep the student safe. I have learned to respect that feeling.

So how would I approach the new dive center? I recommend that you take your documentation with you and ask just as you stated here. If there is some hesitation, ask if you could book four dives with an instructor and pay for an "Adventure Diver Certification" with a remediation on Deep Dive (Adventure Dives require 3 dives) & requesting that one of the Dives is Navigation. The reason for this approach is that the Adventure Dive card with Deep and Navigation Adventur Dives gives you all of the advantages AOW (namely, it meets the prerequisite to take the Rescue class--a class you should take! [okay, I am off of my soapbox]), and covers the shop and instructor costs to issue the card (yes, the shop is charged an application fee). If, as your instructor I was comfortable in your abilities with the four Adventure Dives, I would be more compelled to accept the paperwork on the Underwater Naturalist, and sign off for the AOW. Of course, if you scare me with your lack of diving skills, then this is all moot (but I really don't think that is the case).

Sorry for the long answer, I couldn't see how to fill in the blanks with a short answer.

 

[boulderjohn]

I'm with Tom. Something about your description makes me uneasy. You really should have a book. How did you do the knowledge reviews for those two dives without one?

Can you describe what paperwork you were given to show that you completed the dives?

 

[Scubagolf]

PADI's AOW now only has two mandatory dives: Navigation and Deeper Water Diving (60 - 100').

 

[boulderjohn]

PADI's AOW now only has two mandatory dives: Navigation and Deeper Water Diving (60 - 100').

But you still have to do three more. I guess I am missing your point.

 

[ashley25EC]

If any one is still looking at this thread let me clarify a few things and hopefull that will help.

1) Cost is the main reason I'm asking. The adventure dives cost around $50 each and the full class is about $299 so we'll be saving almost $300 for the two of us. At least for me, that's a good chunk of change

2) We did reading and watched a DVD and did the skills test but we just used materials they had at the shop. Since we we're just doing adventure dives, not the full course they didn't make us buy a book.

3) Paper work, I don't have it in front of me but it looks like something PADI provides then the shop and instructor signed and dated the paper work so we could continue on at another dive shop at a later time.

Hope that clears things up

 

[iztok]

ashley25EC, I seriously doubt that anyone will give you credit (at least substantial) for you taking two adventure dives somewhere else.

 

[orm]

Hey Ashley

Best bet is to mail the center that you're going to and tell them what you've got\not got.

You mention that you have records? What are they? Do you have the Adventure Dive Training record from the previous instructor? If not, this is probably the stickie point.

There's nothing stopping you doing an Adventure dive in every location to complete your AOW, as long as the paperwork has been filled in and is all signed off.


Good luck! And enjoy the rest of the course.