AOW required for diving in Maldives, Thailand, Seychelles?

[Peter Bomberg]

Ok I will admit it I am being lazy, but I cant find the info easily. Does any one know what are are the certification requirements for the Maldives, Andaman Islands, Seychelles or Phuket area. The question is in general is a regular OW enough or is and AOW needed/required? I know the merits of the AOW by question is there any dive that would only be allowed if you have and AOW?

Thanks for you assistance,
Peter

 

[Nick A]

Thay depends on which certification agency you're going with. If its PADI then a 200 yd or 300 yd mask, snorkel, fin no stop swim (untimed), 5 min tread and 10 min float, a test, and show mastery on diving skills. There 5 confined water sessions and 4 open water sessions. Dive skills include:
mask clear (partial and full flood)
regulator clearing
regulator recovery
Alternate air source breathing
Deep water entries (giant stride, back roll, etc)
Snorkel clear
Snorkel / reg exchange
Surface swim with scuba
Bc oral inflation
Weight removal and replacement at surface
Deep water exit
5 point descent
mask removal and replacement
No mask breathing
Tired diver tow
Cramp removal
Neutral buoyancy
Air depletion/alt air source
Free flow breathing
Controlled emergency swimming ascent (CESA)
Hover
BC ditch and don at surface
Weight removal and replacement at surface
BC ditch and don underwater
Weight removal and replacement underwater
Then there's a few skin diving skills in there as well in any od the confined water "dives"

And I think that's about it with PADI. Others I'm not sure. I know NAUI encourages their instructors to teach beyond the standards and pretty much come up with their own requirements (i.e. longer swims, buddy breathing, some rescue, trim, so on, so forth).

With PADI, AOW is really like OW 2, it introduces different skills like, search and recovery, deep, wreck, drift, DPV, boat, etc. Some charters require advanced for certain dives, or at least record of experience with similar sitea/conditions.

 

[Peter Bomberg]

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Thanks for the reply I am not asking what the AOW is or why get it, my Son and Wife both have only OW and when we where in Fiji and Indonesia they were NOT allowed to go on a bunch of the dives (the dive op would only take you if you had AOW and 50+ dives in Indonesia and in Fiji 100+ was the cut off.

I am asking do they need to get their AOW for any of these locations?

 

[tomfcrist]

It's a safe bet that if the dives you are wanting to do are 80' plus, the operators in those locations will want to see an AOW card. Realize that these are mainly PADI operators, and they want to be able to sucker you into paying for a course while you are there. Regardless of agency, I would suggest having them do AOW locally prior to your trip. The likelihood of actually learning something is far better when not in a touristy resort type location. Just my 2 psi.

 

[Peter Bomberg]

It's a safe bet that if the dives you are wanting to do are 80' plus, the operators in those locations will want to see an AOW card. Realize that these are mainly PADI operators, and they want to be able to sucker you into paying for a course while you are there. Regardless of agency, I would suggest having them do AOW locally prior to your trip. The likelihood of actually learning something is far better when not in a touristy resort type location. Just my 2 psi.

Maldives has a floor of 30M (by regulation) and the other do have deeper sites, so I suspect your right, and I sooo much agree about the local versus tourist aspect but my wife is dead against doing her dives in the St Lawrence (something about teeth shivering) I suggested she joins me in FL when I do my CCR courses but ....

 

[Nick A]

Thanks for the reply I am not asking what the AOW is or why get it, my Son and Wife both have only OW and when we where in Fiji and Indonesia they were NOT allowed to go on a bunch of the dives (the dive op would only take you if you had AOW and 50+ dives in Indonesia and in Fiji 100+ was the cut off.

I am asking do they need to get their AOW for any of these locations?

Gotcha, my reading comprehension skills were out to lunch I guess

 

[tomfcrist]

Tell her some folks would kill to dive SLR. Myself included.

 

[Peter Bomberg]

Broseidon , it's late and my writing befuddles most (myself included). tomfcrist we have been lucky GBR, Red Sea, Fiji, Bunaken, ..... and the best part is I will be on a CCR listening to them bubble away And I agree it's one of those dream locations (and if the Seychelles then we are on a chartered Catamaran too)

 

[meagicano]

I was in the St Lawrence tonight. In fact, I smell like river right now. Water was a balmy 74F. It usually gets higher in August. Some people wear 7mm year round, like me, but I've seen people out in August in 5mm, 3mm and even shorty wetsuits. I live in Ottawa and have instructor friends who do AOW all in the river (versus some quarry time).

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Ok I will admit it I am being lazy, but I cant find the info easily. Does any one know what are are the certification requirements for the Maldives, Andaman Islands, Seychelles or Phuket area. The question is in general is a regular OW enough or is and AOW needed/required? I know the merits of the AOW by question is there any dive that would only be allowed if you have and AOW?

Thanks for you assistance,
Peter

Diving in the Maldives is regulated by their government ... you can find the regulatory requirements here ... http://www.agoffice.gov.mv/pdf/subrege/Diving.pdf

All it says is that you must be certified to at least the OW level. As for local op requirements, they may vary ... so I recommend you check with whatever operator you are considering. The regulations do require a checkout dive, and limit depth to 30 meters regardless of experience level.

Based on what I saw when I was there, I'd say there are plenty of operators who only require the entry-level c-card ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)