SSI OW Progression

[dodgie]

Hi,

First a question on behalf of my girlfriend, she's just qualified as an SSI Open Water and is a little confused as to what the next step is. The SSI site is not very good and seems to mention Stress & Resuce as the next step, however her current dive instructor has given her a quote for an Advanced Open Water course. I've got PADI AOW but it looks like the SSI one is a little differerent, and seems to me to be just a few specialities and 24 or so logged dives. If this is the case, howcome I see dive shops offering Advanced Open Water courses? Surely they don't include 24 dives? Is it just the specialities and then you only get the cert once you have logged the dives? We're both a little confused.

Which leads me to my next question, does anyone out there know of a dive school in Europe that offers PADI Rescue Diver and SSI Advanced courses? The plan is we can go away somewhere and contnue our training, together but apart if you know what I mean. Not had much look searching for <country> PADI SSI and a lot of the magazine listings for schools that say they do both turn out to only offer one or the other, doesn't seem to be too popular a combo. Any ideas guys?

Cheers

Rich

 

[mholmes]

Hi,

First a question on behalf of my girlfriend, she's just qualified as an SSI Open Water and is a little confused as to what the next step is. The SSI site is not very good and seems to mention Stress & Resuce as the next step, however her current dive instructor has given her a quote for an Advanced Open Water course. I've got PADI AOW but it looks like the SSI one is a little differerent, and seems to me to be just a few specialities and 24 or so logged dives. If this is the case, howcome I see dive shops offering Advanced Open Water courses? Surely they don't include 24 dives? Is it just the specialities and then you only get the cert once you have logged the dives? We're both a little confused.

Which leads me to my next question, does anyone out there know of a dive school in Europe that offers PADI Rescue Diver and SSI Advanced courses? The plan is we can go away somewhere and contnue our training, together but apart if you know what I mean. Not had much look searching for <country> PADI SSI and a lot of the magazine listings for schools that say they do both turn out to only offer one or the other, doesn't seem to be too popular a combo. Any ideas guys?

Cheers

Rich

Rich,
I agree the SSI site is not quite as helpful as it could be, however, the information you are looking for is here http://www.ssiusa.com/coned.htm . SSI AOW does require 24 dives and 4 specialty classes. I would assume that any SSI facility offering an AOW class would be giving the specialty classes and leaving the dives to the student. Notice that with 2 specialties and 12 dives a diver can be classified as a Specialty diver. Hope this helps with the SSI stuff, sorry can't help with the other question.

Mike

 

[baltimoron]

I might be able to help. At my LDS, they have an "Advanced Open Water Course", which kills a lot of the specialty classes in one fell swoop, and eight dives are included. Not so much a certification but more of a learn to expand your diving abilities class. Then when you get all the dives, you can go ahead and get your SSI Advanced OW cert. That's how they do it here, so it might be similar there…

Zack

 

[naked diver]

The way SSI sets up, the next step is the one that interests her most. Most SSI shops will have an AOW course which will include the most popular specialties, but with SSI, you can do any four in water specialties and have them count towards your AOW rating. SSI does require you have a minimum of 24 dives before you get the rating, but you can start working towards it before you have the minimum number of dives. An AOW course includes a minimum of 6 dives, but may include more.

As far as one of you doing PADI and the other doing SSI, there is no reason for that unless you want to. Once you have your open water, you can go to any agency for additional training.

Hope I didn't add to the confusion

 

[jonnythan]

I took an "SSI AOW" course... which was in reality 4 specialty courses of our choosing. By the end we had the dives and specialties required for SSI to grant us AOW status.

I believe other agencies such as PADI specifically have a class called AOW that requires 10 dives for the card... IMO the SSI version makes more sense. By the time you go through 20-something dives and 4 additional classes, you have earned the right to be called an "Advanced" Open Water Diver.

IMO, taking Stress and Rescue as one of the specialties is the best way to go..

 

[cornfed]

IMO, taking Stress and Rescue as one of the specialties is the best way to go..

But you'll still have to take another specialty class if you want to become a "MASTER DIVER". Which, by the way, is "one of the most elite ratings in diving".

 

[ParamedicDiver1]

But you'll still have to take another specialty class if you want to become a "MASTER DIVER". Which, by the way, is "one of the most elite ratings in diving".

Just don't confuse SSI's Master Diver rating with a Divemaster rating. Basically SSI's Master Diver rating is 50+ logged dives, Stress and Rescue, plus ANY 4 additional specialty courses.

Divemasters are the entry level for professional diving. PADI calls them Divemasters, SSI calls them Dive Control Specialists (DiveCons). I kinda wish they could all get together and call us all the same thing...but that be too easy.

 

[humanFish]

I think with both classes you take the class, but don't get the actual card until you have completed the requisite number of dives....

 

[Canadian_Diver]

IMO, taking Stress and Rescue as one of the specialties is the best way to go..

That and it's required for Master Diver status under SSI.

 

[Kriterian]

Like everyone mentioned, SSI is different, from PADI and others, because they don't have a specific AOW class. You just have to complete 4 specialty courses (some do not count, so check with your dive shop) and log 24 or more dives.

If you choose to take the recommended Stress and Rescue class, it requires that you already be CPR certified. Most SSI dive shops also offer a First Responder class for that very reason, so check with your shop to be sure.