PADI Adventure Diver versus Advanced Open Water Certification?

[cascas]

I know this to be true, but can you honestly advocate why a diver ought to pay twice (once for an Adventure Diver card and again for an AOW)?

Just becasuse the possibility is there doesn't mean you have to... It's the customers choice...

 

[mathauck0814]

Just becasuse the possibility is there doesn't mean you have to... It's the customers choice...

It's also an instructor's choice. To serve PADI by serving them up an additional PIC fee or to serve the customer, but advising them (because after all, an instructor is a consultant) that the Adventure Diver card is a complete and utter waste of money (my opinion, of course).

 

[T23]

Yes, but a 10 or 11 year old could complete more than a couple of handfuls of specialties and still stay well within the 12 meter restriction for their age. Whether or not they completed the first dive of any of these specialties as part of the Adventure Diver or AOW doesn't even matter because the point is a 10 or 11 year old could very well log a lot of dives and earn quite a few specialties thus totally eclipse any perceived recognition from either Adventure Diver or AOW. Even 12-14 year old's who have earned the Jr AOW still have depth restrictions.

In my own experience more dive operators than not incorrectly limit the maximum depth of junior divers regardless of their certification level, experience, and age. At the same time I have never, ever seen a dive operator limit an adult OW to 18 meters or adult AOW to 30 meters.

Back to the OP, I hope your instructor threw the Adventure Dive cert in for free with the OW cert and didn't charge you for both... some do, some don't, hope you got a good deal.

 

[cascas]

It's also an instructor's choice. To serve PADI by serving them up an additional PIC fee or to serve the customer, but advising them (because after all, an instructor is a consultant) that the Adventure Diver card is a complete and utter waste of money (my opinion, of course).

It is not the instructors choice to take out the wallet and dish out money. That is entirely up to the customer. The customers choice can be influenced bu the instructor, but in the end the customer decides.

 

[CamG]

Greetings Ben as you can see the Adventure / Advanced are linked into the same direction.
I am sorry that the confusion exists for you and has possibly caused complications.
The broader issue being discussed on your thread is about the certification process of Agencies and LDS's.
I do believe that your question has been answered very well and hopefully you can work out everything with your LDS to continue on your training path.
AOW is a requirement for advanced dives in most of the world so it is well worth the time and effort to successfully complete your AOW cert.

To comment on the broader theme on this thread while I was assisting training we had several individuals who were not excited about the Deep dive of the AOW training.
One was very sure that they would not want to complete it but once the training started; academics, pool, briefings, etc. decided to give it a go.
They did fine and actually enjoy diving to 100' in warm water now.
The deep / dark concept really is not reality in all environments but it is cold in cold water!

I guess my point is that when the correct amount of training, academics and water skills are covered it can put students mind at ease.
Not everyone and that is ok, we also did referrals to warm water which is another option.

For JOW / JAOW you must follow the depth restraints for the age of student you have.
My daughter is 14 going on 15 and will be doing her AOW soon.
We have been careful to not push the depth issue but have covered basic rescue and other diver assistance issues.
In this area I am inclined to agree that if the student is mature enough then by all means give them the skills and training!
My word they teach CPR to baby-sitters which is awesome!
Diver rescue skills to JOW divers would be wise if they can handle it!

CamG Keep Diving....Keep Training.....Keep Learning!

 

[SeaHorse81]

elan -- I think you misunderstood the question I asked. This has nothing to do with time between OW and AOW but asking if there is a time limit between STARTING the AOW program, "Adventure Dive One" and completing it "Adventure Dive Five."

The instructor who taught my PADI AOW course indicated no time limit in which the AOW needed to be completed. In fact, I asked him about taking three dives in one season (as a refresher for that year's trip) and then the remaining dives the following season (as a refresher for the next trip), which is what I eventually did. I joked with him about being his longest-ever AOW student and his reply was, "Hardly!" My impression was that some have dragged it out for far longer than the 15 months or so that I did.

I don't know if this runs afoul of standards, but it was the practice in this particular PADI shop.

 

[Peter Guy]

At a shop meeting the other day one of the instructors told us that he had been told by PADI HQ there was no time limit and there certainly isn't one mentioned anywhere in the standards (at least that any of us could find).