Adventure Diver to AOW

[JackD342]

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course completions are required for MSD if all you have is exposure dives you can not go any further than AOW
SO IF pRIOR TO GETTING YOUR AOW you do the specialty courses they should be able to count towards both aow and msd.

I seems that AOW is nothing more than a step put in the process, that step entails nothing more than exposure dives. needing nothing more than exposure dives is a short cut to get an AOW with out any real further training.

So If I came to you well papered with all requirements for a MSD except AOW completion, what would you do. (forget agency policy). If there is nothing to gained by an AOW class except the instructor getting a couple hundred for the teaching what he does not have to do. would you ask for a waiver for AOW training citing students training level already exceeds the required AOW course goals and request a card or would you actually go through the AOW class to get your 200$.

What IF I showed up with a rebreather to take the course and a log book with 200 ft dives logged? I dont think that AOW is a prereq for RB.

FYI I have a friend that is a retired navy diver ,, hard hat,/ dive coordinator/ dive instructor He can not get air because he dies not have a OW card Despite he being a deep water hard hat diver he is told he has to take the OW course to get air. They will not accept his military record and know nothing about doing the waver process to convert military training to civilian training.

Each of the 5 Adventure Dives for Open Water is the 1st dive of that Specialty.

For example, Deep Diver is a 4 dive specialty. If you have done AOW, then at the instructor’s discretion only 3 more dives and Knowlege Reviews need to be completed to earn the Specialty. It is up to the shop or instructor just how to price that.

As another example, Drysuit is a 2 dive course. If you do the Drysuit Adventure Dive, you have done half the course, and it is odd/foolish not to finish it. I encourage my AOW students to include Drysuit and make it a full weekend. Saturday is 2 Drysuit dives and 1 Adventure Dive, then Sunday starts with the Deep dive, using the now certified for use Drysuit in that frigid 80 ft hole quarry hole, followed by the remaining 2 Adventure Dives. So with 6 dives, student has accomplished a 2 dive Drysuit course and a 5 dive AOW course. On my end, I have not charged for two courses in full; I have discounted the AOW price in recognition of the 1 less dive. And the student has did not to brave that hole In a wetsuit!!

Now, yes I think it would be nice if PADI had a lower cost “Thinking Like a Diver” pamphlet available for use with earning AOW via the 5 Specialty route. But I also think that if produced, that would just sit on a shelf collecting dust for lack of any actual real world demand.

 

[boulderjohn]

Now, yes I think it would be nice if PADI had a lower cost “Thinking Like a Diver” pamphlet available for use with earning AOW via the 5 Specialty route. But I also think that if produced, that would just sit on a shelf collecting dust for lack of any actual real world demand.

I think that's the point. It is almost unthinkable that anyone would get five full specialties and then ask for the AOW certification.

One reason is that you cannot get the deep dive specialty without already having either the AOW or the Adventure Diver certification first. That means a diver who demands AOW after getting all 5 specialties first would have to already have the Adventure Diver certification, which is in itself an extreme rarity.

I think demanding that PADI have a policy like this in place is on the order of the Catholic Church having plans in place for when a Pope converts to Islam.

 

[shurite7]

Someone correct me please if I missed something, but I don’t find a PADI standard that Deep Adventure can’t be the first dive.

What I was referring to was the AOW course in which the Deep dive cannot be the first dive of the class.

As for the Adventure Diver route and conducting the Deep dive first see tursiops post #44.

 

[shurite7]

Now, yes I think it would be nice if PADI had a lower cost “Thinking Like a Diver” pamphlet available for use with earning AOW via the 5 Specialty route. But I also think that if produced, that would just sit on a shelf collecting dust for lack of any actual real world demand.

Can't say that I am a fan of title/label "Thinking Like a Diver". It should read, "Be a Thinking Diver".

I think demanding that PADI have a policy like this in place is on the order of the Catholic Church having plans in place for the possibility that a Pope converts to Islam.

Quite the analogy. I agree with you on this point.


What I find odd about this whole thread is how something that is so rare has been blown out of proportion as if this was a common issue. I've never met anyone who went the route posted above.

 

[JackD342]

What I was referring to was the AOW course in which the Deep dive cannot be the first dive of the class.

As for the Adventure Diver route and conducting the Deep dive first see tursiops post #44.

PADI refers to these "Specialty Sampler" dives as Adventure Dives, regardless of whether the card received is Adventure or AOW. I do not find a PADI standard restricting Deep from the first dive. Please point me to it if it exists.

 

[boulderjohn]

PADI refers to these "Specialty Sampler" dives as Adventure Dives, regardless of whether the card received is Adventure or AOW. I do not find a PADI standard restricting Deep from the first dive. Please point me to it if it exists.

I don't see it, either, but I certainly remember it. Perhaps it was in a training bulletin. Perhaps it was only true for a number of years.

 

[JackD342]

I think that's the point. It is almost unthinkable that anyone would get five full specialties and then ask for the AOW certification.

One reason is that you cannot get the deep dive specialty without already having either the AOW or the Adventure Diver certification first. That means a diver who demands AOW after getting all 5 specialties first would have to already have the Adventure Diver certification, which is in itself an extreme rarity.

I think demanding that PADI have a policy like this in place is on the order of the Catholic Church having plans in place for when a Pope converts to Islam.

Good point. You have to have completed an agenda that included "Think Like a Diver" before doing Deep, so it is not possible to just do the 5 Specialties alone.

Which means the only scenario for such a pamphlet would be for use by a diver earning Adventure Diver by doing 3 Specialties, excluding Deep. Who has an analogy for how rare THAT would be?

 

[boulderjohn]

Which means the only scenario for such a pamphlet would be for use by a diver earning Adventure Diver by doing 3 Specialties, excluding Deep. Who has an analogy for how rare THAT would be?

I think Adventure Diver excluding deep is the most common of the possible scenarios, since it would include students too young to do the deep dive.

 

[JackD342]

I think Adventure Diver excluding deep is the most common of the possible scenarios, since it would include students too young to do the deep dive.

Right. But doing Adventure via 3 Specialties rather than 3 single dives?? A 12 year old? I could maybe see it with PPB, Fish ID or Drysuit, and one more, but still...

 

[shurite7]

PADI refers to these "Specialty Sampler" dives as Adventure Dives, regardless of whether the card received is Adventure or AOW. I do not find a PADI standard restricting Deep from the first dive. Please point me to it if it exists.

It is not in the standards. I can't remember when and where I first learned about it. I want to say it was in a training bulletin and then covered during one of PADI's annual update seminar conducted by the regional rep. Since I've never conducted the Deep dive first, during the AOW, I simply noted it in the back of my mind and left it at that. I do remember, when living in the tropics, some instructors would conduct the Deep dive first, then later tell horror stories of what went wrong. In the vast majority of cases the students weren't mentally prepared for the Deep dive. They would have benefited from doing other dives (navigation, buoyancy) first then move onto the Deep dive.

Remember, this is the AOW course, not Adventure Diver.