Aow

[tstormdiver]

It used to be that. SSI now requires that for the deep diving specialty, that 3 dives required for that specialty, whether combined with others or not. A wise move, IMO. The skills & comfort in deep diving are extremely important. When they are combined,... I personally put my students through all their skills for each of the combined courses.

 

[rick00001967]

At least one SSI shop I know of does SSI AOW in just fives dives to do four specialty courses. And the dives do not hace to be done with an instructor. I fail to see how doing five dives to get an SSI AOW card is better than fives dives with a PADI instructor to get a PADI AOW card.

as per the ssi 2014 standards:

8. Training Requirements: For Specialty training, the
number of Specialty training dives are left to the
Instructor´s discretion, based on student needs,
student ability and water conditions.

BUT.......

13. Credits: Each Specialty program, in order to qualify
towards Specialty, Advanced Open Water or Master
Diver Ratings, is to include at least two open water
specialty training dives. Non-diving Specialty may
not count towards Specialty, Advanced Open Water
or Master Diver ratings, if no dives were conducted
for certification.

AND.....

12. Use of Certified Assistants: An active Instructor
has the option to delegate responsibility for direct
supervision to a Certified Assistant for the purpose of
escorting students during all the dives except Deep
Dives. The Instructor has the responsibility of indirect
supervision during the program. The maximum
number of students a Certified Assistant can escort is
2.

are you sure you are not confusing the advanced adventurer cert with the advanced open water cert??

 

[spc751]

as per the ssi 2014 standards:

8. Training Requirements: For Specialty training, the
number of Specialty training dives are left to the
Instructor´s discretion, based on student needs,
student ability and water conditions.

BUT.......

13. Credits: Each Specialty program, in order to qualify
towards Specialty, Advanced Open Water or Master
Diver Ratings, is to include at least two open water
specialty training dives. Non-diving Specialty may
not count towards Specialty, Advanced Open Water
or Master Diver ratings, if no dives were conducted
for certification.

AND.....

12. Use of Certified Assistants: An active Instructor
has the option to delegate responsibility for direct
supervision to a Certified Assistant for the purpose of
escorting students during all the dives except Deep
Dives. The Instructor has the responsibility of indirect
supervision during the program. The maximum
number of students a Certified Assistant can escort is
2.

are you sure you are not confusing the advanced adventurer cert with the advanced open water cert??

I have not read the standards. I am going by what my local SSI dive shop tells me is needed to get "Advanced Open Water".

 

[kmurray719]

i have never done a total cost calculation but it think in the past, the road to instr with padi would have been cheaper than with ssi. now with the new ssi standards i think it may be more or less the same.

I don't understand this statement at all. The agencies don't set the cost of any course, the shop/instructor does that. And what would new SSI standards have to do with the price of certifications?

 

[rick00001967]

i am aware the agency does not set prices. that was not the idea of my post. it has more to do with the number of courses required by each agency to reach the pro level.
standards change (and actually are being rewritten again as we speak) so the requirements are different now then previously. but when i started my road to pro with ssi it required more courses than the padi program. so more courses would be more costly. i believe you are better trained, but it is more costly and more time consuming.

---------- Post added November 22nd, 2014 at 01:50 PM ----------

I have not read the standards. I am going by what my local SSI dive shop tells me is needed to get "Advanced Open Water".

i just thought i would post a couple of sections of the standards to let you know what they say. maybe they are of use to you. maybe not. perhaps you should point this out to the shop owner. maybe they are not aware ?

 

[Sharkbait2005]

When I started, I couldn't get enough.
I was lining up what class to take next.
The more I could learn and absorb, the better diver I believed I could be.
Holds true today.
Though the agencies are allowing for multiple specialties to be taken simultaneously, I believe that the more practice you can get under supervision, the safer it can be.
Practice, have fun, be safe.

 

[Goodtime Adventures]

From the OP's original description of what happened I also think there has been some confusion between Master Diver and Dive Master here. Taking 5 specs to get the Master Diver rating will provide you with more knowledge and skills to help accomplish you end goals, but as others have said is not necessary to get your DM cert - with any agency. Perhaps some clarification with the dive centre is required before too many judgement are made.

 

[The Chairman]

It's not the agency: it's the instructor.