Going from OW to AOW

[New Moons]

I've had my PADI OW cert for over 4 years, did one trip with 8 dives (Red Sea) a year after that, and just got back from Cozumel where I did another 8. I had a private DM the first day since it had been so long since my last dive, and that was well worth the money. I promise not to let so much time go by before I dive again. I live in Alaska, so any diving I do here will be dry suit. My question is, will my drift diving and night dive in Cozumel count as electives towards my AOW, or will I need to start over with electives after doing navigation and deep?

Jane

 

[Dive-aholic]

They can, but it depends on the instructor/shop. Most will charge you full price anyway, so you might as well take advantage of it and do the 5 dives.

 

[rawls]

Jane,

If you got your cert through PADI those two courses will count toward your AOW. You have to have Deep Diver and U/W Navigation and 3 specialties. So you already have 2 specialties completed.

 

[shurite7]

Most shops (including myself) will not count the dives towards your advanced.

Reason being is the instructor (the one you will have) did not witness the dive. Anyone can fill out a log book and claim they made the dives. I'm not impying you did this, but most shops will not take the liabilty risk of accepting the dives.

Look at it this way, you had a couple of good (hopefully they were) dives and gained a little experience. This will give you a little comfort going into your advanced course. Just keep in mind the term "advanced" is a misnomer. Think of aow as gaining more experience in the water with supervision.

Salaam

Chris

 

[fisherdvm]

I've had my PADI OW cert for over 4 years, did one trip with 8 dives (Red Sea) a year after that, and just got back from Cozumel where I did another 8. I had a private DM the first day since it had been so long since my last dive, and that was well worth the money. I promise not to let so much time go by before I dive again. I live in Alaska, so any diving I do here will be dry suit. My question is, will my drift diving and night dive in Cozumel count as electives towards my AOW, or will I need to start over with electives after doing navigation and deep?

Jane

As I recall, the deep dive is accompanied by some cognative task, so it is ingrained in you the effect of nitrogen narcosis. Second, you discuss the difference between DCS and nitrogen narcosis. Third, you discussed about the NDL and the reason for the safety stop. Without these, simply going down to 90 ft should not count as an AOW deep dive.

The same, I feel with the drift dive. If you did everything wrong, and no one witnessed it, and critique you, have you learned anything??

You can do all the dives of an advanced open water dive, but if you have not learn, I personally think it should not count. The whole reason for doing AOW is to have more supervised diving and instruction, right?

 

[DiveMaven]

I can't imagine any instructor counting those dives toward your AOW unless you did them as specialties.

 

[Steve50]

To have them count on a referral basis, you would have had to have them signed off on the appropriate form by a current PADI instructor, who should have also witnessed your completion of the appropriate knowledge reveiws for the particular type of dive.

This assumes you are referring to a PADI AOW.

 

[Carribeandiver]

here is my 2 cents. Why try and circumvent training to gain certification? Isnt more training a good thing? Take all the training you can, gain as much knowledge and experience as you can. Remember, you life is on the line when you are diving. You depend on your knowledge, skills and experience as well as your gear. Dont short change any of those.

 

[spectrum]

I've had my PADI OW cert for over 4 years, did one trip with 8 dives (Red Sea) a year after that, and just got back from Cozumel where I did another 8. I had a private DM the first day since it had been so long since my last dive, and that was well worth the money. I promise not to let so much time go by before I dive again. I live in Alaska, so any diving I do here will be dry suit. My question is, will my drift diving and night dive in Cozumel count as electives towards my AOW, or will I need to start over with electives after doing navigation and deep?

Jane

Opting out of AOW dives based on logged experience is not unheard of. But with your scattered experience I would discourage you from letting go of any potential mask time with an instructor. There are plenty of other dives you can roll into AOW.

However since your experience was in mild water most cold water instructors will not accept those dives.

Pete

 

[Blackwood]

You've been out diving (albeit not much) subsequent to your initial cert. What is it you think you will gain from AOW that you can't go out and learn as well (or better) yourself?

Personally, I see AOW as a "I want more instructor time to work on my basic dive skills" sort of certification.

Just a couple of cents.