Thoughts on PADI speciality courses

[Damselfish]

Dive shops decide which courses to offer, not PADI (other than Deep and Nav).

But PADI makes the rules, which they changed. Years back there were no choices in PADI AOW, it was all required dives, none of which were FishID.

 

[ScubaSteve]

AOW has little to do with bouyancy, as that should have been mastered (???) at the OW level. If you did some research, youd see that the most common adventure dive offered during AOW is PPB, but it is not required. Dive shops decide which courses to offer, not PADI (other than Deep and Nav).

Thanks for the skills update. I was not aware that buoyance has little to do with a specific certification level . However, as we all know, AOW carries increased rec limits. AND we all know that people can get their OW and carry right on through to get their AOW (I have seen it go as far as rescue with no breaks) with no mastering of skills. This was my point. My ex-GF was allowed to get OW then carry on immediately to her AOW and one of her dives was the naturalist. At the time (this is only 5 years ago) she was not forced to take PPB and that is what I was talking about. Even with her shiny new AOW card, her buoyancy was no better than it was before (she had a total of 11 dives - we did a fun dive in between her OW and AOW. We know that it is experience that allows one to master their buoyancy. A class does not (although good instruction can help with the basics of buoyancy). But all of the sudden an AOW with poor buoyancy skills can do a deep dive (as "allowed" by their certification level") where they could easily get into more trouble.....but hey....they could identify the fish.

 

[jviehe]

Thanks for the skills update. I was not aware that buoyance has little to do with a specific certification level . However, as we all know, AOW carries increased rec limits. AND we all know that people can get their OW and carry right on through to get their AOW (I have seen it go as far as rescue with no breaks) with no mastering of skills. This was my point. My ex-GF was allowed to get OW then carry on immediately to her AOW and one of her dives was the naturalist. At the time (this is only 5 years ago) she was not forced to take PPB and that is what I was talking about. Even with her shiny new AOW card, her buoyancy was no better than it was before (she had a total of 11 dives - we did a fun dive in between her OW and AOW. We know that it is experience that allows one to master their buoyancy. A class does not (although good instruction can help with the basics of buoyancy). But all of the sudden an AOW with poor buoyancy skills can do a deep dive (as "allowed" by their certification level") where they could easily get into more trouble.....but hey....they could identify the fish.

It does not carry increased depth limits anywhere but during training. THe rest of the world has its own standards. OW divers are trained to dive to a depth of 130ft. The purpose of AOW is to give new divers additional supervised experienced in differing conditions than in OW. Thats it. You are making more of it than it is, a common problem outside of PADI. PADI does not tell dive boats what they should do. They tell the divers they train what they should do. The diver is ultimately responsible for using that training. And I dont think its smart to keep insulting people who are interested in fish.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Well, I guess if this is correct and every single PADI OW diver is trained for 130' then I suppose they are a better breed after all. I change my mind....I would love to pair up with a PADI OW student because they are trained to safely understand and handle the issues that can arise at 130' that typically cannot happen at 60'. This, to me, just dropped PADI down a dozen more knotches in my books if it is true. I was originally PADI OW certified 5 years ago and this must be a change since then because my instructor clearly defined 60' as the OW certified depth limit according to PADI. When questioned, he said that if we continued on to AOW (as my ex did) we would be certified to dive to 130'. I chose to gain the experience necassary to hone skills so that the increased responsibility of the extra 70' would be safely challenged. Of course, I, as with every other diver, do what I want whether that complies or not and that the rec limits (as I know them anyways) are guidelines that are not, cannot and should not be policed. So, nothing that has been said has changed any part of my position on PADI however I will take the fight offline and not monopolize this thread as we are.

 

[TSandM]

Another thing is I have dove in Caverns with groups

Please do not imply that you do not need specialty training to dive caverns. The guided dives that are done in Mexico are a very special circumstance, are led by dive instructors with full cave certifications, and how easily these are done should NOT be generalized into the idea that cavern diving can be done without training. People die that way.

 

[jviehe]

Well, I guess if this is correct and every single PADI OW diver is trained for 130' then I suppose they are a better breed after all. I change my mind....I would love to pair up with a PADI OW student because they are trained to safely understand and handle the issues that can arise at 130' that typically cannot happen at 60'. This, to me, just dropped PADI down a dozen more knotches in my books if it is true. I was originally PADI OW certified 5 years ago and this must be a change since then because my instructor clearly defined 60' as the OW certified depth limit according to PADI. When questioned, he said that if we continued on to AOW (as my ex did) we would be certified to dive to 130'. I chose to gain the experience necassary to hone skills so that the increased responsibility of the extra 70' would be safely challenged. Of course, I, as with every other diver, do what I want whether that complies or not and that the rec limits (as I know them anyways) are guidelines that are not, cannot and should not be policed. So, nothing that has been said has changed any part of my position on PADI however I will take the fight offline and not monopolize this thread as we are.

[edited by almitywife]. I was simply correcting your misinformation on the facts.