Minimum required training to dive to 30m (100ft) with Padi

[Porris]

Hey

My training days are 15 years old, and I have done AOWD. My GF is now getting into diving and we were wondering if there is some kind of minimum requirement to advance from OWD to further training?

And more importantly: The AOWD is pretty much full of stuff that is not needed for her, and I would pick only deep and nitrox from AOWD. But is it possible to do only these without the full AOWD?

Thanks in advance!

 

[fishlock]

There's no law that prevents you from going as deep as you want whenever you want. As long as one of you have a certification (any level ) any dive shop will fill your tanks. They will not ask what you plan to do with them. If you want to go 100 ft down with a basic certification, no one will stop you.

As far the requirements for getting a certification, the requirements are listed on their website and are not flexible. You will not get a PADI Advanced Open Water certification with only two dives. But I bet you plan to dive from a boat and hopefully you will see a few fish you can identify. So that's two more check boxes. It's also pretty useful to know how to navigate so you can find the boat at the end of the dive so the navigation dive is also useful for most people. And there you go. With the two that you were already interested in, that gets you to five dives and you have passed the class.

It is really more about spending time in the water with supervision so you can gain confidence and experience than any particular skill.

 

[Wheeler925]

Just want to add, I don't think that there's any 'adventure dive' for nitrox, or any nitrox training provided with AOW. PADI would prefer you write another check for that.

 

[inquis]

This is often discussed. Out of OW class, you've been to a max of 60 ft with an instructor. Your call if you want to go deeper, but doing it *gradually* if not with an instructor would be wise.

Learn how to calculate adequate reserve pressure for the deeper depths. (Hint: search for "Rock Bottom" or "Minimum Gas" planning.)

Many of us who regularly and safely dove to the recreational limit of 130 ft with just an OW certification decided to get AOW because more and more *boat operators* require it.

That said, however, AOW with a good instructor can be valuable and speed up the learning process.

 

[inquis]

I would pick only deep and nitrox from AOWD

Peak Performance Buoyancy would be good for a new diver unless they had an above average OW instructor. The other required one (in addition to deep) is Navigation -- very useful when not just following the herd & a DM.

 

[grassgreen]

You must do Deep and Navigation, as stated above you’ll need 3 more. You can do some dives from the rescue course to count towards the five. Off the top of my head not sure if it’s only 1 allowed or 2…
With this you won’t get certified as a Rescue diver but at least you’ll have the knowledge to do the specific skill(s) in a real life situation should it arise.

 

[boulderjohn]

Although it is true that you can dive on your own as deep as you want with just OW certification, if you dive off a boat, the operator may impose limits on you. It is very common these days for a dive operation to require an advanced certification for deeper OW dives.

 

[boulderjohn]

You can do some dives from the rescue course to count towards the five. Off the top of my head not sure if it’s only 1 allowed or 2…

No. There are no dives for the Rescue certification that count toward AOW.

You may be surprised at how rewarding some of those AOW dives might be. I did my AOW in a tropical location, and one of my dives was Fish ID. I have done many hundreds of dives in such locations since, and I assure you it makes a big difference on those dives and your memory of them when you can identify what you are looking at and when you can understand the behaviors you are observing.

 

[ktchan]

PADI AOW is 5 dives, which must include the Deep & Navigation adventure (first of the speciality) dives. You can't just do the Deep adventure dive on its own.

PADI Deep Diver (40m) prerequisite is only Adventure Diver rather than the full AOW, so 3 of the 5 AOW dives. If you're going to do the 3, you may as well do all 5.

If you're not restricting yourself to PADI, both SDI & SSI Deep only require Open Water.

Nitrox you can do at any time on its own.

 

[TMHeimer]

I agree with an OWD gradually increasing depth beyond 60
feet. Or to be doing such deeper dives with a dive pro buddy. It's interesting that I don't recall any of the PADI materials recommending either of these things for an OW diver, just that they are certified to 60 feet. And that AOW certifies you to 100. Deep diver to 130.