Advanced

[Edward3c]

I guess everyone is focusing on the term "Advanced" instead of the actual equivalency. As far as I know, the equivalent to PADI AOW in BSAC is Ocean Diver.

Unfortunately, operators I’ve come across in the Caribbean and the Far East focused on the word ‘advanced’.

 

[David Novo]

Unfortunately, operators I’ve come across in the Caribbean and the Far East focused on the word ‘advanced’.

Unfortunately, "most operators cater to PADI" as @Barnaby'sDad mentioned. Nevertheless, I doubt it would be a problem with SSI or SDI equivalent certification.

P.S.: I always show my PADI EANX specialty card when requested and not my GUE Fundamentals card for the same reason, so I understand your pain.

 

[Belzelbub]

You are comparing apples to oranges.

PADI AOW = SSI Advanced Adventurer = SDI Advanced Adventurer

The three of them have the same program to increase the recommended depth limit to 100 ft.
On my limited experience, all operators that I saw requiring PADI AOW for a dive, would also accept SSI or SDI Advanced Adventurer.

I never saw any operator requiring a certification for limited vis dives and for dives deeper than 100', often AOW / Advanced Adventurer is not the prerequisite: deep diving specialty is.

You can check the equivalencies on the link below:

Recreational Sport Diver Equivalences - SDI | TDI | ERDI | PFI

As you can see, both SSI and SDI AOW are not a "level", but cards certifying that you completed a certain number of specialties.

That was pretty much my point. I’m not comparing apples to oranges. I responded to a posted referencing an AOW requirement. That’s what I was saying is arbitrary as AOW does not mean the same thing.

Requiring specialties appropriate for the dives makes sense for an operator. Requiring AOW does not.

 

[David Novo]

That was pretty much my point. I’m not comparing apples to oranges. I responded to a posted referencing an AOW requirement. That’s what I was saying is arbitrary as AOW does not mean the same thing.

Requiring specialties appropriate for the dives makes sense for an operator. Requiring AOW does not.

With the operators that I dived so far, the "AOW requirement" has the same meaning as a certification equivalent to PADI's AOW.

AOW / Advanced Adventurer trains (or at least is supposed to) you to dive to 100ft (so for all purposes is a "specialty" to dive to 100ft). I guess that is the rationale for it being often a requirement for dives between 60ft and 100ft.

 

[Erich S]

An ice diver Speciality cert would probably work in place of an AOW card.

 

[David Novo]

An ice diver Speciality cert would probably work in place of an AOW card.

I would not be so sure as you can do it immediately after OWD.

 

[Erich S]

I would not be so sure as you can do it immediately after OWD.

With PADI you have to have AOW to take the ice diver speciality.

 

[scubadada]

With the operators that I dived so far, the "AOW requirement" has the same meaning as a certification equivalent to PADI's AOW.

AOW / Advanced Adventurer trains (or at least is supposed to) you to dive to 100ft (so for all purposes is a "specialty" to dive to 100ft). I guess that is the rationale for it being often a requirement for dives between 60ft and 100ft.

AOW is the requirement for diving the Spiegel Grove and the Duane in Key Largo. All 21 dives I have on the Duane were greater than 100 feet, with a max of 122 feet. I think the main deck is below 100 feet. Twenty two of my 24 dives on the Spiegel Grove are below 100 feet, with a deep of 129 feet. Nobody ever asked to see my Deep Diver card.

 

[David Novo]

With PADI you have to have AOW to take the ice diver speciality.

With both SSI and SDI, you can do it immediately after OWD.

AOW is the requirement for diving the Spiegel Grove and the Duane in Key Largo. All 21 dives I have on the Duane were greater than 100 feet, with a max of 122 feet. I think the main deck is below 100 feet. Twenty two of my 24 dives on the Spiegel Grove are below 100 feet, with a deep of 129 feet. Nobody ever asked to see my Deep Diver card.

That is why I said often and not always. There are operators with which you can dive to 130 ft with OWD, while there are those that play by the agencies max training depth limits of 60 ft (OWD), 100 ft (AOWD or equivalent), 130 ft (Deep dive specialty or equivalent).

I never heard of any that required anything beyond OWD because the dive is by boat.

 

[jonhall]

Several dive ops require more than AOW for recreational deep dives (i.e. below 30m/100ft). I have been asked for an AOW card for dives between 18m (60ft) and 30m in Portugal, Cuba and Australia so it is not that rare.

It’s not uncommon for dive operators in the U.S to ask to see an AOW cert for deep and/or risky/non-standard dives.

Depends on who you dive with.

On an earlier Grand Cayman trip, both me with my OW card and my buddy with a Scuba Diver card (he's also AOW now) did multiple dives to depths at 100'. As we all agree, everyplace is not the same, but reading posts from people who have been diving in different places can help readers determine what requirements may be true for a particular area.

possession of a piece of plastic (c-card) doesn’t indicate that you’re an “advanced” diver. It just indicates that you’ve been exposed to more advanced skills and demonstrated the required proficiency to pass the course.

And how weak some required proficiencies may be - for neutral buoyancy, all I had to do was hover a few feet above the bottom for a minute and knock a block sitting on the bottom over with my nose!! This might indicate to the OP or anyone else, if you want to get something out of the course, take it with a good instructor who can spend some time with you and not with a resort dive op.