Is advanced certification necessary?

[Bob DBF]

Like any class it is up to you to make the most of it. When I took advanced I picked the dives, studied the book (all of it not just "my dives"), practiced the skills while diving before the class and was kind of dissapointed at easy the class was. However, the instructor took my questions serously and pointed out other ways to improve my skills regardless of the fact I passed easily. I did meet some divers there I still get out and dive with.

Rescue Diver kicked my butt, everyone in the class was ready and the ocean was kicking up enough to make it interesting. It was not the day to be a fat old man.

You can become a good diver on your own. You can also find a good instructor, and take a more structured approach and pick up a c-card you might need for a pesky boat operator someday.


Bob
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“One thing is for sure you can't lie about your skills when you get in the water. The water tells everything!!! “ Mayor

 

[AfterDark]

All depends. I started in the sixties,there were no AWO certs then, just a scuba cert. I've been diving 40 years without any additional certs. I've been able to dive anywhere, anytime. So necessary? These days I'd say yes because in the OW class all you learn is how not to kill yourself. Or a resort 2 day or 4 day class even less. My course was 12 weeks 2 nights per week 2 hours per night session. We learned enough to be able to advance through diving which IMO is when you learn how to dive.

 

[Mike Boswell]

I just got certified a couple months ago and just got back from a two week trip in Belize, which was amazing. I was looking at the description of the PADI Advanced diver certification, and saw it listed night, buoyancy control, boat, deep, and navigation diving as the specialties. In Belize I did a night dive and went down to 130' in the Blue Hole, even though I am only certified to 60' through the Open Water Certification. I talked to a couple people who had been diving their whole lives and they had never gotten certified above Open Water. The buoyancy and navigation aspects of the advanced cert sounded interesting but it seems like the rest is unnecessary. What are the benefits of getting an advanced certification?[/QUOTE]


You lean more stuff, you make more dives, you are qualified to do more things, you meet more people.

 

[likestodive]

I think the idea that a piece of paper automatically makes you an 'advanced diver' is ridiculous. Someone with basic certification and 500 dives in varying environments/conditions is probably way more qualified than someone that did their basic and advanced certs back to back and has 30 Caribbean dives.

Flame suit on, but IMO people shouldn't be allowed to be called 'advanced' without an absolute minimum of 50 dives (and more like 100).

That said, I did learn two things of value in the advanced class - better navigation and the fact that I was 'narked' when I wouldn't have said I was. They had us do simple math (6 X 6 X 6) at 130ft. I am normally pretty good at math and it took me much longer than necessary to come up with the answer. Effective lesson.

 

[DennisS]

If you are certifying through PADI, then in addition to any other reasons you may wish to take AOW, the best reason I can think of is that it's a prerequisite to taking a Rescue class.

To my concern, Rescue is the most worthwhile class you can take as a diver. It will not only give you some valuable skills, but it will teach you how to keep yourself from having to be rescued.

In that respect, think of AOW as a means to an end ... if you never take another class afterward, I highly recommend you do what you need to get into a Rescue class.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I took my AOW and Rescue from the same instructor. I'm not sure what the AOW purpose is, give a little experience to a new diver? The rescue course was excellent and was well worth the time and money. I don't know why AOW is a prerequisite, it didn't have much substance.

 

[dwhthediver]

Advanced open water doesn't make you an advanced diver, only diving experience can do that, what advanced open water class does, is give you 5 dives with an instructor, 2 are required...deep and navigation, other 3 designed to give you a taste of what different types of diving is like. I will parrot that I think everyone should get to rescue diver, so much information in the rescue class that will teach self rescue, and show you a different perspective in your diving.

 

[hg frogman]

As a matter of fact, some liveaboards (eg "Simply the Best" in the Egyptian Red Sea) require (by law) that you have at least an AOWD certification + more than 50 logged dives. This is only one example, but there are many others. Some dive centers I know won't let you go deeper than 60 feet/18 meters if you are only OWD.

And rightly so in my opinion. For instance, before going "deep", it's better to get some hints and warnings about the issues of the depth (that's the role of the course) than to learn by one's mishaps. And the many, many divers that are overweighted (often unknowingly) urgently need to learn about weighting, buoyancy and trim - which is the purpose of the Peak Performance Buoyancy program.

The AOWD certification is not sufficient to make you really "advanced" as a diver (it's marketing hype to call it "advanced" with only 5 training dives) but, with a decent instructor, if one chooses to do Peak Performance Buoyancy, (genuine) Drift Dive, and Multilevel/Computer Diving as optional dives, plus the two mandatory Deep and Navigation, one will certainly become a more competent diver.

 

[String]

Certain marine parks in Egypt have those AOW or equivalent rules. Also nationwide rules regarding recommended depths apply even outside those.

Maybe 1 in 20 divers i see carry DAN insurance if that. Most just use their standard travel insurance policy. The usually qualifies them to 30m or their qualification depth if shallower. So open water at 20m gets bent, insurance wont pay. It can and has happened.

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

Maybe this has been covered already but there are dive boats that won't let someone go out on certain days if all they have is an open water card. Advanced dive days required an advanced card.

I got mine well after 1000 dives and it opened the door.

 

[orm]

You did what!?! 130ft straight out your Open Water!!?

Am I the only one here who's shocked by this!? Tell us about your deco limits and how you planned them... perhaps I'm over reacting.


To answer your question...

It depends on the diver, an advanced course, done properly can be invaluable. If you're naturally gifted underwater and have commons sense, a good brain and are safe, you can work through it yourself.

It'll take you longer though.

130ft!?!?! Jesus.