From PADI OpenWater to SSI Advanced Open Water Diver?

[Roberto Inzerillo]

I am PADI OpenWater (OW) certified and I'd like to progress.

Is it possible to switch to SSI and get their Advanced Open Water Diver (AOWD) certification without already being SSI Open Water Diver (OWD) certified?

 

[Mod63]

Yes.

 

[Roberto Inzerillo]

Ok ... is the process transparent? Will there be any resistance from the SSI certifier in accepting me or are they generally happy to "steal" PADI customers?

 

[James79]

Ok ... is the process transparent? Will there be any resistance from the SSI certifier in accepting me or are they generally happy to "steal" PADI customers?

Should be transparent. All major agencies cover the same ISO standard for autonomous diver (open water) so they all will accept each others training. Like many will tell you, find a good instructor rather than focusing on an agency.

Edit to add: I'm padi OW, and had this conversation when my oldest got certified through SSI.... Now my youngest is starting with SDI. When it's time we will all do AOW together.

 

[Mod63]

The process is straight forward. SSI recognises the PADI OWD as equivalent to their OWD. You then have to complete 4 speciality courses with SSI and have a minimum of 24 dives logged. Please see below the extract from the SSI standards (I took the liberty to use the Italian version),

Advanced Open Water Diver
V. Prerequisiti dell'allievo
• Età minima: 10 anni.
Essere in possesso di una delle seguenti certificazioni, oppure di una equivalente, rilasciata da un'altra agenzia
didattica riconosciuta:
• Open Water Diver
• Junior Open Water Diver
NOTA: Possono essere accreditate solo 2 specialità, emesse da altra agenzia didattica riconosciuta, per l'ottenimento del grado Advanced Open Water
Diver. Tutte le certificazioni non-SSI devono essere inserite su MySSI del soggetto interessato, dal Training Center SSI, affinchè vengano accreditate allo
stesso.
VI. Requisiti per il completamento
• Completare quattro (4) corsi Specialty o di livello XR SSI.
• Aver registrato 24 immersioni in acqua libera.
NOTA: Il numero di immersioni deve essere inserito nel profilo MySSI degli allievi.
VII. Rilascio di una card di riconoscimento
• Una volta raggiunti i requisiti necessari e aggiornato il profilo MySSI dell'allievo, verrà generata la certificazione
digitale Advanced Open Water Diver, senza spese.

 

[Scraps]

Ok ... is the process transparent? Will there be any resistance from the SSI certifier in accepting me or are they generally happy to "steal" PADI customers?

Nobody's stealing anybody. You're a free agent who holds a proper prerequisite credential for the advanced course.

And you'll still be a free agent after you take the SSI course. You can jump right back to PADI or another agency to take your rescue course.

 

[Roberto Inzerillo]

I've found SSI's "Recreational Scuba Standards". It reads as follow:

I guess I misunderstood something in the first place: it looks like SSI's "Advanced Open Water Diver" is not PADI's "Advanced Open Water" equivalent. Right?

 

[oly5050user]

No issues going from one agency to another , but with SSI you will do full specialties (more expensive and takes much more time) rather than just 5 dives 1 each from various specialties as with PADI. How much improvement in your skills depends on yourself and the ability of the instructor with any agency chosen. Quantity is not always better than quality.

 

[kmarks]

Correct, PADI AOW and SSI AOWD are not the same thing. PADI AOW is equivalent to SSI Advanced Adventurer. There is a little course work and then a sampler of one dive from each of 5 specialties to earn the AOW/AA card. That one dive can then be counted towards the full specialty. SSI AOWD is an automatic recognition, not a class, that is automatically awarded to you after you complete 4 specialty courses of your choice and 24 total logged dives. In a way, SSI AOWD is a higher because it requires you to have taken four full courses, plus logged a few more dives, but they can be any four courses. PADI AOW requires that you do one dive each from deep and navigation (I think).

As for your other question, there is no problem bouncing back and forth between the two at the recreational level. Once you get into the professional pathway it becomes a little trickier. I did OWD with PADI and everything since with SSI.

 

[oly5050user]

Correct, PADI AOW and SSI AOWD are not the same thing. PADI AOW is equivalent to SSI Advanced Adventurer. There is a little course work and then a sampler of one dive from each of 5 specialties to earn the AOW/AA card. That one dive can then be counted towards the full specialty. SSI AOWD is an automatic recognition, not a class, that is automatically awarded to you after you complete 4 specialty courses of your choice and 24 total logged dives. In a way, SSI AOWD is a higher because it requires you to have taken four full courses, plus logged a few more dives, but they can be any four courses. PADI AOW requires that you do one dive each from deep and navigation (I think).

As for your other question, there is no problem bouncing back and forth between the two at the recreational level. Once you get into the professional pathway it becomes a little trickier. I did OWD with PADI and everything since with SSI.

Deep and navigation are considered “core” dives, need 3 other dives from various specialties agreed upon by student and instructor.