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yesYour opinion misses the need for satisfying the prerequisites prior to taking a DECO class.
Facts often trump opinions.
I remember being incredibly disappointed by AOW and really struggling to see the point of it. It just seemed like guided diving with a bit of token education thrown.
so what, really does AOW add to a diver's qualifications to ready them for the course that 25 logged dives doesn't give them...
regardless
Basically.... whether you like it or not. Agree or not. See the sillyness in it or not...
none of that changes the fact that AOW is teh key to a lot of doors
so you'd might as well drink the koolaid, pay the money, take the silly little introductory min-classes in deep, boat, nav, and mermaid diving...and get the card
I tend to think that @halocline got it right in post #25. It's basically part 2 of what really should be one course.
Argh.I kind of agree with the sentiment. Looking at it from an agency's POV though, OW has an 18m limit as an independent diver and AOW is 30m if I remember right.
I live in a country where (rightly) no-one ever gets asked for a certification for anything so stupidly I had to base my post on PADI's actual website instead of reading 5 pages of bollocks.Argh.
How many times do we have to go through this? The OW certification limit for all WRSTC agencies including PADI and SSI is 40m. The 18m limit only applies to OW training.
AOW has no bearing on certification depth "from an agency's POV". It doesn't even have a WRSTC standard.
It is true that some dive operators will put depth limits on dives they lead based on whether the diver has AOW, but that is their choice or possibly a requirement from their insurance agency. It's not a certification requirement. If they tell you otherwise, they are ignorant or lying.
You are cherry-picking the available info. Yes, immediately post-OW certification PADI says you are trained to 60 ft. The "rest of the story" is that you may go deeper with additional training and experience....no additional certification is needed. What AOW does is proves you've had some additional training and experience, so "allows" you to go to 100 ft. But your recreational certification to 130 ft has not changed.I live in a country where (rightly) no-one ever gets asked for a certification for anything so stupidly I had to base my post on PADI's actual website instead of reading 5 pages of bollocks.
In an article on certification restrictions:
View attachment 916917
And in the OW FAQs:
View attachment 916920
That aside, it doesn't really change that AOW is fairly worthless as a pre-requisite to learning to do deco dives. It's fairly worthless altogether.
Also one can find other ways this is stated. For example, in the PADI Blog PADI Certification Rules and Requirements: Your FAQs Answered you find the following; notice the word "should" not "must" regarding diving deeper than your training depth.I live in a country where (rightly) no-one ever gets asked for a certification for anything so stupidly I had to base my post on PADI's actual website instead of reading 5 pages of bollocks.
In an article on certification restrictions:
View attachment 916917
And in the OW FAQs:
View attachment 916920
That aside, it doesn't really change that AOW is fairly worthless as a pre-requisite to learning to do deco dives. It's fairly worthless altogether.
PADI is playing semantic games, They are referring to the limits of your training, not any limitations of your certification.I live in a country where (rightly) no-one ever gets asked for a certification for anything so stupidly I had to base my post on PADI's actual website instead of reading 5 pages of bollocks.
In an article on certification restrictions:
View attachment 916917
And in the OW FAQs:
View attachment 916920
That aside, it doesn't really change that AOW is fairly worthless as a pre-requisite to learning to do deco dives. It's fairly worthless altogether.