How long before taking advanced class?

[Clancy]

I'm a new diver in a diving paradise. I recently certified open water and have gotten my equipment. It's fairly easy to get in 3 dives a weekend, between a walk in and a morning or afternoon of two boat dives. How many dives before I'll get my worth out of an advanced class? The only reason I press the issue is that local army regulations require me to certify to advanced within 6 months, and there's a bit of a stigma attached to open water divers who can't go deeper than 60 feet. That makes it a bit tougher to get to dive with more experienced divers.

 

[tgiscuba]

Clancy - I'm not aware of any agency that restricts OW certified divers to 60 feet.

If you've got 10 to 20 dives, and feel comfortable in the water, go ahead and take the advanced class. Advanced fine tunes a lot of what you learned in open water, and will help make you a more confident, self-sufficient diver.

Good luck.

 

[CheddarChick]

Well we waited for 2 years to get our AOW. Mostly because we live in WI. Given the choice I would have done a bunch of dives for a month and then get the AOW. Gives you the chance to become familar with your equipment and work on boyancy. Do you have the time left there?

 

[spectrum]

Clancy,

I agree with the others. Once you have enough dives under your belt to feel comfortable with those "shallow" dives you are prime AOW material. My logic is that you will be exposed to some new stuff and if you have the basics firmed up some you have more attention to devote to the new adventures.

If you wait too long you will eventually have done it all and learned most of it yourself here, from reading and from mentors. So if you have between 1-2 dozen dives you are probably juuuuust right. It's probably best to do it and learn it with an instructor to avoid gaps.

Pete

 

[Walter]

If you're talking about AOW, there's no reason to wait at all. If you're thinking about taking an actual advanced class, about 25 dives. There is no 60 ft restriction for OW except during the actual training dives.

 

[DiveMaven]

I agree, 15-25 dives after OW certification is a great time to take AOW. It gives you enough experience that you will likely get the most out of the class, but not too much that the class will be boring.

 

[halocline]

I believe PADI designed AOW to immediately follow OW certification. In a perfect (or at least better) diving ed world, the two combined courses would function as a reasonable recreational certification class. I would not wait at all to take the class if you want to, especially considering the environment you're in.

What you get out of the class is directly dependent on the instructor and your ability and motivation to practice the skills. Sounds like you have an ideal situation to do this.

 

[drew52]

You can definitely take the course straight from Open Water but it is probably best to do a few dives before.

As far as being limited to 60feet this is a suggested depth as you are only certified to your training (Depth & Conditions). I have heard of insurance companies who have not payed for people who have gone beyond their training.

ie A PADI OW diver going to 110ft and getting into an accident. This is definitely beyond the scope of training. (PADI OW - 60ft/18m; PADI AOW - 100ft/30m and Deep Diver Specialty -130ft/40m).

Some places inforce these limits and others don't. Where I am from you can be sure you won't get on a boat for a wreck at 120ft without your AOW. If parts of the wreck are within the OW limits then you will be able to dive and no one will stop you from going deeper.

 

[Paco]

Yup, just do it. And then make plans for Rescue. It is the most valuable of the three.

 

[Sveta]

I did my Adventure right after Open Water and Advanced -10 days later (and i have only dozen of dives). Go ahead!