Advanced Water Class Question

[o2 clean]

I'm thinking very strongly about signing up for the Advance Water Class after January.

What exactly do you learn (besides diving at deeper depths)? What should I expect out of this course?

Also, I only have 5 dives under my belt so far. Is that enough experience?

 

[Paco]

I'll bet you'll get a lot more expert advice on this than I can give, but if I remember, PADI requires 5 dives, two of which must be a deep dive and the other I think is a navigation dive, a little more than the up and back you did for you OW. I think that you (or your instructor can choose the other three dives from a list that includes a night dive, search and recovery, photography, naturalist and maybe some more. Hope this helps and someone else of more expertise can assist you.

I also think you're going to get a lot of opinions as to whether 5 dives are enough. Some say to do the AOW right away, others may recommend that you get a little more experience. My guess is that most will say that you can to the AOW now. My guess.

Good luck

Paco

 

[chepar]

The navigation, deep and night portions were mandatory during my AOW class.

I found the navigation portion of the class to be the most helpful, but that doesn't mean that I'm good at it. I've always been paranoid about "losing my way" from the boat or the entry point, and at least now I have the basic understanding on finding my way back to where I started from. This skill does require more practice than what you will get during the course's navigation dive, though.

The night dive was good in that I had the reassurance in knowing my instructor was there during a dive that I had some nervousness about - it's that question of what was "lurking" just beyond my beam of light that made me nervous. I haven't yet achieved the total love of night diving that some have - but it's something I'm working on getting more comfortable with.

 

[MechDiver]

One of the benefits of the AOW class is some charter operators will not let you do "advanced" dives without the card.

5 Dives is okay to take the class if its PADI. I'm not sure for other agencies. You will have some required dives and some electives. We always worked the electives depending on what the majority of the class wanted to do, existing conditions, etc.

You will also need the AOW to go on to rescue, which everyone should do.

Phil

 

[Walter]

What you can expect depends on what class you take.

Most advanced classes are a joke. Some actually incorporate academics and 10 or more dives. Shop around, and not for price, but for content.

Personally, I recommend about 25 dives after certification before taking an advanced class.

 

[Adrian]

Hey I see you are in Los Angeles, where are you thinking of doing your Advanced?

Need a buddy? I can take it with you or do some dives with you to get you more prepared.

 

[Walter]

I should have noticed...................

Since you're in LA, take the LA County Advanced dive program. It is literally the best in the world.

 

[DiverBuoy]

PADI USA Headquarters (located about 8 miles from Laguna Beach) recognized that in some areas of the world night diving could not be required (like very northern latitudes where 3 months are spent in total daylight).

... So PADI requires only Navigation & Deep in the standard 5 speciality AOW class (there is an Advanced Plus class with 9 dives). Though most Southern California dive shops tend to teach night as a 3rd leg - a very appropriate local diving speciality and particulary amazing in California waters.

If you didn't get any experience from a boat in your 4 OW dives - they will teach the boat specialty as a 4th leg.

The following are all very popular 4th and 5th legs in California:

Dry Suit Diver
U/W Photo
U/W Video
U/W Naturalist
U/W Hunter

 

[SubMariner]

The PADI Adventures In Diving Course (commonly referred to as the Advanced Open Water course) is designed to give a diver more experience under the supervision of an Instructor. It is not, nor has it ever been, a course that is supposed to make one an "Advanced Diver".

Adventures in Diving consists of 5 dives. The two core dives are Deep and Navigation; the other three are electives that the diver can choose.

In addition to the actual dives, there are Knowledge Development/Academics which must be completed.

FYI, "Advanced Plus" no longer exists.

~SubMariner~

 

[ABQdiver]

I'm a newbie as well, and very much looking forward to much more diving in my life time. However I feel I need more dives under my weight belt before I move onward.

It's interesting how the different organizations have very different qualifications for AOW certifications. I'm a SSI diver and they require 4 specialties with 24 dives for the AOW. I think this is kind of a good thing since the more experience as a diver you have the better diver you will be.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking any organization, but one thing you need to look at is how you feel underwater, and what level of experience makes you comfortable to move onward.
I've heard great things about the PADI Peak Performance
Buoyancy class and have thought that I might take that from the PADI shop next spring. It sounds really interesting and helpful