Wow. What a thread. Sorry I couldn't get in here until post number three trillon or whatever. It's taken me a couple of hours to read all of this.
Anyway, for what it is worth, here it goes....
Like most educational systems, there are different certification agencies and then there are different teachers. This is not Burger King vs.McDonald's. There will be differences from one agency to another and inside one agency there will be differences between one instructor and another.
Recommendation: Try changing instructor as you progress through the system. Hopefully you will find a mentor.
PADI: You can knock it, but it is what it is and if it is the way most people choose to dive it is because it consistently enforces STRICT STANDARDS AT INSTRUCTOR LEVEL. It also allows people to move on with the same certification agency any where in the world.
OWD: You can go diving alone with a dive buddy now up to 18 meters. Most newly certified OWDs DO NOT FEEL SAFE doing that? It is not because of bad training or the system, it is that they still want to dive with people who can take of them. Nothing wrong with that. That's what Dive Masters are for, among other things.
AOWD: Personally, I think it is a great idea. It allows you to get further training, you become less self conscious and more aware of what is going on around you and you get some good basics in Deep Diving and Navigation and a chance to experience with an instructor say Night Diving or S&R or whatever it is that turns you on. Above all it is designed to make you also have FUN diving. All PADI courses should be FUN as well as enhance your training. This is another stepping stone on your way to becoming a Rescue Diver which is, in my own humble and very personal opinion the KEY PADI COURSE. I would like all divers to consider doing the RD Course and to progress from OWD to RD and it seems to me that AOWD is a great idea to get more RELAXED about your diving before moving on to RD.
Therefore taking AOWD pretty shortly after OWD sounds right to me. I think there should then be a certain gap before RD. "Have fun before you get serious", as a concept? Of course most people say, quite rightly that RD was their best course and enjoyed it. Sure, feeling tht you know what to if something goes wrong makes most of us feel more secure.
NAMING CERTIFICATIONS: I think PADI has done pretty good job. I have seen some pretty funny ones around the globe.
Examples: 2nd Class Diver, 1st Class Diver, Master Diver. Now that's a good way to get people to progress, who wants to be a 2nd Class Diver?
How about this, 1 Star Diver, 2 Star Diver, 3 Star Diver? Gee whiz, all Admirals in that organization!
A lot of the time, when working with kids, I "award" them funny titles like Super Master Advanced Open Water Diver or Senior Chief Rescue Diver. They love it.
As far as adults are concerned, I don't think of certs being titles at all, but rather an indication of the level of training somebody has. In larger dive centers, this gives us a chance if we have say three different boats going out in the morning to try to adjust the groups so that more or less the same level of training divers go together. Of course, one tries to monitor the number of dives done by asking to see a log book when people sign up and you also get a pretty good idea when looking at peoples equipment and then watching how they kit up both off and on the boat.
Fitness levels will also be a factor to take into account as well as other health issues (sinus prone, getting over a cold, feeling queezy) and so on.
I don't think that AOWD=BS. It's a great course and I recommend it to all.
There is a lot of PADI bashing and badge bashing going on. I think everybody knows in their own heart what they put in to get "a badge". So if you earned it, be proud. If you feel it was "given" to you, change instructor or DC and EARN ONE YOU FEEL PROUD OF or you can just dive through life feeling ashamed of yourself.
BTW: I LOVE SCUBABOARD AND IF WE DIDN'T ALL HAVE OUR OWN OPINION THIS WOULD NOT BE WHAT IT IS.
Anyway, for what it is worth, here it goes....
Like most educational systems, there are different certification agencies and then there are different teachers. This is not Burger King vs.McDonald's. There will be differences from one agency to another and inside one agency there will be differences between one instructor and another.
Recommendation: Try changing instructor as you progress through the system. Hopefully you will find a mentor.
PADI: You can knock it, but it is what it is and if it is the way most people choose to dive it is because it consistently enforces STRICT STANDARDS AT INSTRUCTOR LEVEL. It also allows people to move on with the same certification agency any where in the world.
OWD: You can go diving alone with a dive buddy now up to 18 meters. Most newly certified OWDs DO NOT FEEL SAFE doing that? It is not because of bad training or the system, it is that they still want to dive with people who can take of them. Nothing wrong with that. That's what Dive Masters are for, among other things.
AOWD: Personally, I think it is a great idea. It allows you to get further training, you become less self conscious and more aware of what is going on around you and you get some good basics in Deep Diving and Navigation and a chance to experience with an instructor say Night Diving or S&R or whatever it is that turns you on. Above all it is designed to make you also have FUN diving. All PADI courses should be FUN as well as enhance your training. This is another stepping stone on your way to becoming a Rescue Diver which is, in my own humble and very personal opinion the KEY PADI COURSE. I would like all divers to consider doing the RD Course and to progress from OWD to RD and it seems to me that AOWD is a great idea to get more RELAXED about your diving before moving on to RD.
Therefore taking AOWD pretty shortly after OWD sounds right to me. I think there should then be a certain gap before RD. "Have fun before you get serious", as a concept? Of course most people say, quite rightly that RD was their best course and enjoyed it. Sure, feeling tht you know what to if something goes wrong makes most of us feel more secure.
NAMING CERTIFICATIONS: I think PADI has done pretty good job. I have seen some pretty funny ones around the globe.
Examples: 2nd Class Diver, 1st Class Diver, Master Diver. Now that's a good way to get people to progress, who wants to be a 2nd Class Diver?
How about this, 1 Star Diver, 2 Star Diver, 3 Star Diver? Gee whiz, all Admirals in that organization!
A lot of the time, when working with kids, I "award" them funny titles like Super Master Advanced Open Water Diver or Senior Chief Rescue Diver. They love it.
As far as adults are concerned, I don't think of certs being titles at all, but rather an indication of the level of training somebody has. In larger dive centers, this gives us a chance if we have say three different boats going out in the morning to try to adjust the groups so that more or less the same level of training divers go together. Of course, one tries to monitor the number of dives done by asking to see a log book when people sign up and you also get a pretty good idea when looking at peoples equipment and then watching how they kit up both off and on the boat.
Fitness levels will also be a factor to take into account as well as other health issues (sinus prone, getting over a cold, feeling queezy) and so on.
I don't think that AOWD=BS. It's a great course and I recommend it to all.
There is a lot of PADI bashing and badge bashing going on. I think everybody knows in their own heart what they put in to get "a badge". So if you earned it, be proud. If you feel it was "given" to you, change instructor or DC and EARN ONE YOU FEEL PROUD OF or you can just dive through life feeling ashamed of yourself.
BTW: I LOVE SCUBABOARD AND IF WE DIDN'T ALL HAVE OUR OWN OPINION THIS WOULD NOT BE WHAT IT IS.
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