Relocation/potential agency switch between OW and AOW - advice?

[DevonDiver]

Thanks all for the advice. My main concern wasn't that AOW necessarily constitutes an "advanced" diver, but that I might not get as much from the AOW classes if I'm constantly fighting with buoyancy issues, incorrect weighting, unfamiliar gear or the like.

Sounds like exactly why you should do AOW sooner, rather than later

Why work those things out slowly for yourself, whilst exposed to the risks they bring with them, when you can conquer those glitches in a couple of dives with a competent instructor at the beginning of your AOW?

I've probably also got a little bit of agency snobbery going on, as I was made well aware of the "equal" ratings between SSI and PADI during OW. Part of me wants to have the card from the agency that makes you "work harder for it".

It's a fictitious snobbery. PADI are the 'big guys'... so the 'little guys' have to have an answer that addresses the disparities.

I teach both SSI and PADI. Same courses, same skills, same standards, same results.

SSI isn't 'really' renown for being anything 'special'... it's an RSTC member, just like PADI, using the same core standards and same attainment levels.

If you truly want to be snobby... focus more on the instructor name on the card, not the agency logo. "I was taught by X, who is well known for Y and Z".. actually carries some serious credibility.

There's a few USA-based instructors on this forum who could teach your AOW... and learning with them would give you genuine reason to feel immensely proud. It'd certainly be worth a little extra travel and logistics to go train with them....

 

[Crewfish13]

There's a few USA-based instructors on this forum who could teach your AOW... and learning with them would give you genuine reason to feel immensely proud. It'd certainly be worth a little extra travel and logistics to go train with them....

The problem, of cousre, is that us noobs don't know what we don't know. Then again, maybe I need to just convince my wife I need to go to the Philippines for AOW

---------- Post added April 26th, 2012 at 02:38 PM ----------

Sounds like exactly why you should do AOW sooner, rather than later

Why work those things out slowly for yourself, whilst exposed to the risks they bring with them, when you can conquer those glitches in a couple of dives with a competent instructor at the beginning of your AOW?

I feel like if I can't figure this stuff out myself, I should have never been certified.

On my OW cert dives, I was very mildly overweighted. No crashing around/silt bomb issues. I'd stay level with a frame of reference, but was drifting up and down 5-10 feet in blue water where I couldn't see anything. Probably 2 fewer lbs. of lead and correspondingly less expanding air in the BC, and I would have been a very happy diver.

 

[tomfcrist]

As has been said already in this thread, you are really looking for an instructor that can work with you and take you from your current ability to wher you want to be as an advanced diver. I have had students with 10 dives and students with 50 dives take my AOW class.....none left without the proper knowledge and skill to meet my standards of an AOW diver. Would my standards be as strict if i were teaching in the carribean? Probably not, but thats because we dive in a differant set of conditions here in virginia. I teach AOW as if it were a NC wreckdiving class, others tailor their classes to their local areas.

The point is, you dont need to be a superb diver to take the AOW class, but you should express to the instructor that you want to be one by the time you get your card.

 

[Damselfish]

I agree its generally most productive to have your act together at least somewhat before taking another course of any sort. But for some people taking another class soon might be the best thing for their circumstances. As long as you have whatevers required, when you take a class is up to you. It doesn't make sense to have a bazillion dives before PADI AOW but you don't have to take it right away either. On the other hand, if you need some card quickly for some reason, do what you need to do and just recognize it for what it is.

It's great you you had a good OW experience with SSI. If you weren't moving, I'd say stick with it. However from what I've seen, SSI is no better or worse than PADI, and has it's own set of quirks. (Actually, I have a friend who recently got certified through SSI; seems the instruction wasn't exactly super and the shop was a wicked pain to deal with.) So look around for a shop/instructor and don't get hung up on the agency at this level.

 

[iguana751]

DevonDiver I got this on PADI.com and divessi.com and do not see how you can say that SSIAOW = PADI MSD
PADI MASTER DIVER
- Open water
- Advanced Open Water (5 dives and knowledge review withinstructor)
- Rescue Diver (must have first aid and CPR)
- Five specialty courses
- 50 dives

SSI ADVANCED OPEN WATER
- SSI Advanced open water diver
- Four specialty courses
- 24 dives
To become a SSI Master Diver you must add Stress &Rescue to SSI AOW and have a total of 50 dives. This is one specialty less thanthe PADI Master Diver.
I am not saying that one is better than the other just different.I have SSI O/W, PADI AOW and three SSI specialty courses. Two of the threespecialty courses were taught by a Divecon instead of an Instructor. All myPADI AOW was taught by an instructor. I believe that with the knowledge reviewsand five dives done for my PADI AOW that I learned as much or more than in theSSI specialty courses I took. I think it is ALL about the instructor not theagency.
It bothers me when people run down PADI when I have experiencedbetter training from PADI than SSI.
I look at the PADIAOW course to be an advanced open water course, not a course to make someone anadvanced diver. It is an opportunity to do five additional dives and knowledgereviews with an instructor after completing the basic open water course. Theway I see it, by doing the O/W and AOW back to back gives almost what the o/wcourse was 30 years ago.
Crewfish 13, the PADI AOW is not a waste of time if you havea good instructor but any agency is a waste of time with a poor instructor.Shop around until you find a good instructor then take the training.

 

[DevonDiver]

DevonDiver I got this on PADI.com and divessi.com and do not see how you can say that SSIAOW = PADI MSD

Was talking in respect of 'diving levels', rather than specific qualification requirement.

PADI OW = SSI OW
PADI AOW = SSI Advanced Adventurer
PADI Rescue Diver = SSI Stress and Rescue
PADI MSD = SSI AOW


PADI MSD and SSI AOW are both qualifications that require pre-requisite specialty qualifications, plus a minimum logged dive requirement. Both represent a form of acknowledgement that the diver concerned has accumulated significant continued-education training beyond entry level.

In contrast, PADI AOW and SSI Advanced Adventurer are both entry-level continuations, that expand upon initial training conducted at OW level, with no other prerequisite than OW training. Both provide the same 'taster' experience of elements from available specialty.

The difference between SSI AOW and SSI MD is an extra specialty course and some additional dives. That does makes it the nearest equivalent to the PADI MSD qualification. However, SSI AOW is what people encounter 'first' on the training flow diagram...and most importantly, the qualification that causes the most confusion (and thus, requires the most clarification) when comparing training equivalencies between the two agencies.

Don't even mention the BSAC 'Advanced Diver' course....

 

[ericdiver]

Right after I finished OW I joined DAN and in reading stuff on their site discovered some unfortunate statistics on diver fatalities in the first 20 dives. This prompted me to spend as many as possible of those dives (the next 16 or so anyway) either taking further courses or doing "guided" dives with someone who was at least theoretically trained (and paid) to keep an eye on me. Also I found out that the "old school" dive courses used to include the stuff from the navigation, deep and other courses to begin with, so maybe this was useful info to have going forward.

I survived the first 20 dives so it must have worked.