How long before taking advanced class?

[beautybelow]

I do know of a lot of instructors who enforce the 60' thing. Some to sell advanced courses for sure. Like it has been said, the padi open water is designed to be followed by the aow. The aow in most padi dive shops will give you the option to dive more aggressive profiles and learn more from the diving you are doing.

 

[shark_tamer]

I'm a new diver in a diving paradise... It's fairly easy to get in 3 dives a weekend, between a walk in and a morning or afternoon of two boat dives.

:shakehead Well that's one way of putting your foot in !!!!! I hate you !!! Living in paradise, easy diving access ...



OK .. jokes asside, I took my AOW 1 month after OW cert. In the new year, I'm getting E.F.R. & Nitrox courses.

And when the ice melts :shakehead :shakehead ,wreck diving specialty !!!

 

[The Horn]

Did mine 16 years after OW and found it a waste of money, but they offer nothing else and charters now want to see the card for some dives. Get comfy with your gear and go for it

 

[Eduardo]

My 2 cents:

I did the OW certification in Sept....2 dives in Oct...and am now in HI taking AOW (boat departs at 2 p.m. today!). My thinking was to keep up momentum and refine skills through AOW while things are relatively fresh. I probably won't be able to dive in the ocean again until June and I want to be prepared to more fully enjoy those more challenging dives in USVI.

Also, in my case the cost of the AOW course is only $75 more than just booking 5 boat dives.

 

[GA Under Water]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Open Water [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]10 Sep 2006 [/FONT]​

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Adventure Diver [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]30 Sep 2006 [/FONT]​

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Advanced Open Water [/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]14 Oct 2006 [/FONT]​

4 Specialties since

I say go for it as quick as you like.

Also, PADI states that you are only certified up to 60' for OWD. Deep Diver Specialty for up to 130'. However, I have NEVER seen anyone with a red or blue light on their head comming after me with a citation if I hit 63 feet.

I don't have the "Perfect set up" But 20 min away from a Quarry and a buddy that can train me and doesn't mind cold water helps.

Also. I have found that they have the Advanced Open water Specialty Knowledge Reviews on-line these days.

http://www.aberdeenwatersports.com/kb/kb-details.asp?kbnum=41

 

[String]

While there are no scuba police to patrol depth limits there is the issue of insurance to consider - if you had an incident and had been found to be deeper than certification recommends it could cause complications.

(Not talking of 2m here, thinking more of OWDs ive seen at 30m and 40m!). A small variation can be accidental - a 20m variation is deliberate.

As for AOW id say do it soon after OW. Maybe 4 or 5 dives max before doing it. It doesnt teach much new so if you do OW then do say 40 dives then id say its not worth doing AOW as you'd learn nothing.

OW/AOW soon, get some dives in then go to rescue. (and rescue is the minimum level id say any diver should train to)

 

[Cheekymonkey]

Hey Clancy, my suggestion to you is to go ahead and take the AOW class. I promise AOW will not hurt it will certainly be more experience, and more experience is always a good thing. SO go ahead and take it right away, its a good thing.
But, don't get caught up in AOW making you an advanced diver it doesnt really mean anything except a C-card.
The important thing however is that you want to continue your diving education and continue doing more dives and learning new techniques, that is what will make you the advanced diver.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

Hey some agencies allow you to go to advanced open water the weekend after you do open water checkouts.

In my mind after about 20 dives most divers are at the point where they'll get the most benefit from taking the class.

 

[Sharky1948]

Completely agree with the others that are recommending 15-20 dives in between. I think you will (1) get a lot more out of the training, and (2) benefit from having an instructor point out any bad habits you may have developed.

BTW, my wife took OW and AOW back-to-back. Now, with 125 dives under her belt, she wishes she had spaced them out.

 

[plot]

I had 24 or 25 dives before taking my AOW, mainly becuase SSI requires 24 dives to get the AOW cert. PADI has no such requirements.

There's not a whole lot to the advanced course, just makes you feel more confident under water and gives you a peice of plastic saying you're advanced afterwords. If you're already confident under water, depth and limited vis don't bother you, etc... you won't take away a whole lot from the class.

In short, most people can take AOW immediatly after OW and pass it with no problems.