What does Padi Deep water certification teach that AOW does not?

[NAUI Wowie]

Hey quick question here, I did my Padi AOW with the deep dive and was informed on scubaboard that this means I should dive to 100ft max depth. That you should take the Deep Diver cert to be able to go to 130ft.

I know that its kind of based on comfort and skill level of individual divers however this got me thinking. What more do they train you for in this cert that you do not get on the AOW course with deep dive?

by the way im not looking to do any deep diving personally. I do know though that some dives like the Devils Throat in Cozumel requires you to get to about 130ft deep.... so for comfort I am curious about padi deep diver cert.

 

[caruso]

They train you that you need more weight because after you take the course you've got less cash in your wallet so you need to offset the positive buoyancy.

Seriously you won't learn anything you didn't already know before. You might get some benefit from doing more deep dives under the watchful eye of an instructor but most AOW certified divers go to 130' on a regular basis without the additional course, and I'm one of them. It's a matter of comfort and familiarity. Dive a lot of walls. Work your way down. Before you know it 130' won't seem all that different from 100'.

 

[TMHeimer]

I can't recall exactly what we did different than AOW when I took Deep in 2007. Except that I recall inflating my sausage on the bottom at 120' and following it up using a reel to the safety stop. Diving wet in May here in 33F water.
I guess the difference is watching how quickly you use gas (we used nitrox 28) at 130 feet. Well, I did notice that but noticed the water temp. more.
There were a few other little things--descending at a 45 degree angle so you don't plow into the bottom unexpectedly due to the lack of wetsuit buoyancy. And a few other things that may have been preferences by that instructor. I believe there was a short written test. I feel it was worthwhile, though I rarely dive deep.

 

[tursiops]

You go progressively deeper during the 4 dives, you do things that begin to possibly test your level of narcosis, you practice breathing off an emergency tank, and on the 4th dive you plan it and execute it, mindful of NDLs, SAC, gas reserves, etc. It is really easy in warm, clear, tropical water; it is challenging in cold, dark, murky water.
You'll find many SB threads on the class, such as PADI Deep Diver specialty course worthwhile?, which may even have some accurate information.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

You go progressively deeper during the 4 dives, you do things that begin to possibly test your level of narcosis, you practice breathing off an emergency tank, and on the 4th dive you plan it and execute it, mindful of NDLs, SAC, gas reserves, etc. It is really easy in warm, clear, tropical water; it is challenging in cold, dark, murky water.
You'll find many SB threads on the class, such as PADI Deep Diver specialty course worthwhile?, which may even have some accurate information.

lol ok cool. Yea totally understand the part about diving deeper in cold dark murky vs tropical. I have a buddy who got certified two years ago like me but did all his training on Cebu P.I. and is now a Master Diver. But has never dove in cold water. He wants to dive in Monterey where the water is 53 degrees vs 85 in Cebu and viz in monterey can drop to 2 feet. I asked what suit he has and he just has a 3 mil. I told him thats good enough to keep you warm in the after dive cold shower..... He gave me the fish eye after that statement

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Not sure but AOW is a freaking joke! I am assuming and hoping that PADI Deep Diver specialty should have the following:

a) Advanced Gas Management: Divers should be able to calculate their Surface consumption rate and convert that into Depth consumption rate. Furthermore they should have knowledge of tank factors to understand what their pressure should be before they terminate the dive with enough reserve to bring their buddy to the surface doing airshare.

b) Narcosis: They should know how much brain function they lose as depth increases. At 130 feet, you are pretty out of it and it is better to experience that state of mind under instructor supervision than on your own.

c) Advanced Buoyancy Control: This is the level where holding an unassisted stop should be mandatory and all skills need to be developed to achieve that.

d) SMB shooting.

The above will require a lot more in-water time than what the PADI AOW gives. I think you will need 4 dives each dedicated to one of the above should be the bare minimum. Unfortunately this whole AOW spends more time in stupid fillers than the real skill building component. Not sure if Deep diver specialty addresses these deficiencies but I certainly hope it does.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

Not sure but AOW is a freaking joke! I am assuming and hoping that PADI Deep Diver specialty should have the following:

a) Advanced Gas Management: Divers should be able to calculate their Surface consumption rate and convert that into Depth consumption rate. Furthermore they should have knowledge of tank factors to understand what their pressure should be before they terminate the dive with enough reserve to bring their buddy to the surface doing airshare.

b) Narcosis: They should know how much brain function they lose as depth increases. At 130 feet, you are pretty out of it and it is better to experience that state of mind under instructor supervision than on your own.

c) Advanced Buoyancy Control: This is the level where holding an unassisted stop should be mandatory and all skills need to be developed to achieve that.

d) SMB shooting.

The above will require a lot more in-water time than what the PADI AOW gives. I think you will need 4 dives each dedicated to one of the above should be the bare minimum. Unfortunately this whole AOW spends more time in stupid fillers than the real skill building component. Not sure if Deep diver specialty addresses these deficiencies but I certainly hope it does.

Yea the Narcosis part is unsettling. Ive heard of divers just going blank and sinking away unaware. and then there is the frightening deepwater blackout which is I guess too much CO2 from overexertion...yikes


edit just googled deepwater blackout which is for freediving. I guess im thinking of a different term where you can pass out at depth

 

[tursiops]

Not sure but AOW is a freaking joke! I am assuming and hoping that PADI Deep Diver specialty should have the following:

a) Advanced Gas Management: Divers should be able to calculate their Surface consumption rate and convert that into Depth consumption rate. Furthermore they should have knowledge of tank factors to understand what their pressure should be before they terminate the dive with enough reserve to bring their buddy to the surface doing airshare.

b) Narcosis: They should know how much brain function they lose as depth increases. At 130 feet, you are pretty out of it and it is better to experience that state of mind under instructor supervision than on your own.

c) Advanced Buoyancy Control: This is the level where holding an unassisted stop should be mandatory and all skills need to be developed to achieve that.

d) SMB shooting.

The above will require a lot more in-water time than what the PADI AOW gives. I think you will need 4 dives each dedicated to one of the above should be the bare minimum. Unfortunately this whole AOW spends more time in stupid fillers than the real skill building component. Not sure if Deep diver specialty addresses these deficiencies but I certainly hope it does.

Let me be sure I understand what you are saying: You think 4 divers per point listed, so 16 dives to do a Deep Specialty?

 

[NAUI Wowie]

Let me be sure I understand what you are saying: You think 4 divers per point listed, so 16 dives to do a Deep Specialty?

I believe he meant four dives with one of each of the four total dives to address each point?

 

[Efka76]

Visibility and cold water have a very significant impact to gas narcosis. I easily did decompression dives in 40 m depth without feeling any nitrogen narcosis effect, however, I would be extremely cautious to do that in cold water and bad visibility. I heard a lot of stories when people easily get narced at 30 m depth when going into caves and get panic attacks.

Deep diving specialty just gives you opportunity to descend to 40 m depth and see how your body reacts to gas narcosis. When I did this PADI specialty, me and instructor did not feel gas narcosis, however, my wife and another student already felt it. Also, you will have ability to breath from redundant gas tank, simulate 8 min (if I remember correctly) deco stop, to do some small mathematical exercises on the surface and the bottom (to compare timing of exercise completion), see how color changes underwater. This is pretty interesting experience and looks a bit scary for novice divers but is worth to do it.