Is PADI bad?

[the_kuang]

I received my OW certifcation from SSI -- it was a 6 week course, 4 trips to the pool to practice and 2 to the lake for certification. I looked at their AOW program and it was another month or so with two dives per specialty offered as part of the package. I just got back from another LDS where the teacher goes through PADI for AOW certificaiton. He said it's all done on a single Saturday, no in class instruction. Just head up to the lake, receive some simple instructions and perform the 5 dives.

Is this how most AOW classes are conducted? What's the best route to go for AOW?

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

Personally I like Padi. My wife recently did her PADI advanced course on Maui. There were 5 dives done on 3 different days. She received an information CD that contained all the info for her individual courses which she went over in the evenings.

I have done PADI, NAUI and SSI. I think the big difference usually is more in the dive shop than in the agency. A LDS I know does only SSI and it takes several weeks for a person to do the AOW. I don't think she would be a better diver because she took their course compared to the one here. Diving makes you a better diver. Talking to experienced divers makes you better. Diving with experienced divers is great.

I would say she and I have learned mostly from hanging out at the dive shop, at scuba club meetings and from diving than from any course we've taken. Now if we were to get ourselves involved with tech diving then I'd say I would really want to get the best instructors available. But AOW is mostly review stuff anyway.

 

[Jonathan]

that it is within standards to do 5 training dives on one day - I wouldn't want to be the instructor doing that, let alone the student...

Jonathan

 

[Northeastwrecks]

I believe that PADI says no more than 3 training dives in one day.

This particular instructor sounds less than acceptable.

Our PADI AOW course (which we do not teach until the student has completed buoyancy and nitrox), requires a full evening of classroom, followed by at least a two full days of diving. Each dive is preceded by skills lectures and demonstrations. A post-dive brief follows each dive. At that time we try to review the videotapes we did of the dive, otherwise, we do it later that night.

This instructor sounds like another good reason to remember that you need to check out your instructors carefully, regardless of what agency they purport to represent.

 

[Big-t-2538]

Northeastwrecks once bubbled...

Our PADI AOW course (which we do not teach until the student has completed buoyancy and nitrox),

Can I ask what need there is for an ow diver to have an EANx card before taking AOW?

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

Sounds like a plan to push nitrox. No reason to ever demand someone get that. I have zero need for nitrox myself, none.

 

[farrakhan]

I think everyone is missing the point. Although it is called an Advanced Open Water Course the whole point of the cource isn't to all of a sudden become some sort of "advanced" diver. It is to advance an OW diver's skill levels and confidence to a level where they can explore and dive in new environments. To not teach an AOW course because someone doesn't have a Nitrox certification is nothing short of ludicrous. On my AOW we did a night dive, a deep dive (30m), a wreck dive, a naturalist dive, as well as a navigation dive. Once completed I just felt more confident in my abilities as a diver in these new conditions. Because I did a wreck dive as part of this course it didn't all of a sudden make me an "advanced wreck diver". Instead it opened the door that there was a wreck diving specialty course which I could take in order to further my knowledge and skills in this field. I have asked around to all the dive shops in the area, and not one requires a nitrox certificate for an Advanced Open Water course. Not only that, the Nitrox certification is not necessary for the Rescue Diver, Divemaster, AI, or Instructor Course either. As for PADI I've done all my training with them and have been happy doing so. Students are limited to two Open Water Dives a day, Instructors know thier limits and because of the shallowness of the water in which the training is done it is not uncommon to do three to four training dives in a day. With a nice surface interval of course. I'm new to the post so I hope I've added something useful to you all.

 

[DiveTub]

Maybe you are getting confused with the

Adventure Diver Certification

 

[Jonathan]

we were just chosing not to open that particular debate again....

If there's one thing just about everyone on this board agrees about it is that the name advanced open water is the most inappropriately named course out there....

 

[Al Mialkovsky]

Jonathan once bubbled...
advanced open water is the most inappropriately named course out there....

Have to completly agree with you. Maybe a better name would be Level 2