Awesome video. Thank you for sharing the info. Im in Canada I went with padi did openwater, advanced, rescue diver and nitrox. Starting dive master shortly. I love diving And love seeing new people getting into it and existing divers furthering their skills and certifications.
Congratulations on earning your certifications @amphibiousnorth2986. And its awesome to hear that you have made the decision to go pro. That is something this industry is lacking in (from all agencies), dive professionals. Like you, I love sharing the experience of scuba with others, and enjoy seeing new people getting into this industry.
@@LakeHickoryScuba absolutely! Thank you so much for all the hard work you do and your amazing channel. And the dive in Canada is definitely lacking. I try to get at least a few people every year into the sport. But with the fast raise in courses costs sometimes it can be difficult for people. Either way, I’ll continue to encourage people to get into the sport and also further their skills.
I like the SSI requirement for 24 dives. PADI AOW needing only 9 always struck me as too little. Consolidation is a key part of any training scheme, especially at beginner level.
There are several agencies that require a set number of dives before an Advanced Open Water rating or certification can be earned. SSI is just one. As a matter of fact, out of the 5 training agencies that I have been an Instructor for, PADI was the only one that only required 5 additional dives outside the 4 open water dives to obtain it. The other 4 agencies required 20 or more dives on top of the 4 Open Water Dives.
Hey Brian, I'm stunned that anyone would consider themselves advanced for 9 of anything - skydiving, racing car driving, flying an aircraft, sewing up gunshot wounds... the list goes on. I think this is a classic case of Agencies creating courses to raise revenue so they can create more useless courses. I would also suggest in the mid 2020's having a course to teach people how to use a dive computer is a bit of a con, along with Boat Diving (take a step off the boat - if you're not wet yet take another step), perfect buoyancy (this should be in your Open Water) and how to take photos underwater, along with how to use a scooter. Teaching someone how to recover a body from depth (without becoming body number 2), Nitrox, Deep Diving and Wreck Diving are all valid, however in 37 years of diving all over the world, NO dive centre has EVER handed back my cash because I don't have a Night Dive certification or a Boat Dive or oxygen provider certification - on that I did contact PADI to look at RPL (I'm an internationally recognised Course Director for Advanced Life Support) but they never got back to me (I also have a Master's Degree with a thesis on the effects of altitude on hypoxic state - and again probably have studied more on the effects of various partial pressures of oxygen on homeostasis than most Dive Instructors - but again training agencies ignore this and just want to clip a ticket). Dive courses do not keep divers safe, diver's situational awareness keep divers safe - and that my friend is something that cannot be taught.
Hello @peterjulianphotos4659, I have asked that question for many years. Personally, I think both the Advanced Adventure title through SSI, and other agencies as well should be renamed. From my experience, and from my knowledge of the scuba industry, it has always been explained to me like this. A person who has more than just the 4 basic open water dives and has additional training is more advanced than the person who just got certified with only 4 dives. Our individual thoughts will always differ from others, but as an industry standard, 9 dives and additional training is considered advanced. As far as the individual specialty courses, after being an Instructor for 5 different training agencies, I have yet to find a course that did not hold value. One thing I tell all of my new Instructor Candidates is, training agencies do not train students, the individual Instructor does. They are the ones that make or break a course. If the student did not learn something new, its not the training agencies fault, its the Instructors. Seems like you have had a rough time with your Instructors (local dive centers), and training agency as well. The good news is, there are plenty of avenues to pursue. Another great option, I encourage all divers to seek professional level courses. Personally, I have gotten plenty of standards changed over the years by going about it in the right manner. And it all started with me having the feeling that this or that course was not sufficient enough to keep a diver safe. You may be surprised how much one person can change the scuba industry by going pro, see the industry from the inside, and getting things changed proactively. There is so much more you can achieve by being involved than an on looker. On a side note, I would love to hear more about your personal experiences with each of the specialties you mentioned above and how the Instructors conducted each course. If you can, provide an outline of how each course was presented to you, specifically the Computer Specialty and Boat Diver Specialty Course. This way others can learn from your experiences as well. The more we know, the more we can all learn together. Thanks for sharing.
PADI's AOW was the first "advanced" certification. John on SB basically went over the history, at the time you are OWD and five specialties, that was it tech hadn't been invented yet. The AOW gave you a taster of those specialties and in a sense you were more advanced diver than someone who just had the OWD. It was never meant to say you are at some super high skill level, outside of maybe GUE's REC3, no recreational cert can say that and I am considering all the master diver and pro certs in statement.
Advanced adventurer, sounds more like a advanced try scuba. I really don't blame SSI, because I see the benefit. Imagine you are on vacation, in such a situation, I could recommend this. I guess every of those 5 dives counts, so you may need just a secound night dive to get your certification. So in a vacation you wouldn't waste your time and money. But expect Düring a vacation it wouldn't make much sence to me, because there is also the price, to compare just the price I could either get a night dive certification or an advanced adventurer card. 😔
I think Advanced Adventurer is BS. Name should be changed to something like Adventure Experience and not considered a certification. For Advanced Open Water I don't like that you can take any 4 specialties. Certifications should have a specific set of skills. So people know what skill set the diver has. My opinion the specialties should be Deep, Nitrox, Night/ Limited Visibility and Navigation for Advanced Open Water and 25 dives. SDI has a similar Advanced Open Water Diver.
Hello @jeffconley6366, one unique feature to SSI, they list on your Specialty Diver rating card, your Advanced Open Water Diver rating card, and your Master Diver rating card, each of the specialties you have earned through out your training.
![Eminem - Fuel (feat. JID) [Official Lyric Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/t5H_CewqpKA/mqdefault.jpg)
Awesome video. Thank you for sharing the info. Im in Canada I went with padi did openwater, advanced, rescue diver and nitrox. Starting dive master shortly. I love diving And love seeing new people getting into it and existing divers furthering their skills and certifications.
Congratulations on earning your certifications @amphibiousnorth2986. And its awesome to hear that you have made the decision to go pro. That is something this industry is lacking in (from all agencies), dive professionals. Like you, I love sharing the experience of scuba with others, and enjoy seeing new people getting into this industry.
@@LakeHickoryScuba absolutely! Thank you so much for all the hard work you do and your amazing channel. And the dive in Canada is definitely lacking. I try to get at least a few people every year into the sport. But with the fast raise in courses costs sometimes it can be difficult for people. Either way, I’ll continue to encourage people to get into the sport and also further their skills.
I like the SSI requirement for 24 dives. PADI AOW needing only 9 always struck me as too little. Consolidation is a key part of any training scheme, especially at beginner level.
There are several agencies that require a set number of dives before an Advanced Open Water rating or certification can be earned. SSI is just one. As a matter of fact, out of the 5 training agencies that I have been an Instructor for, PADI was the only one that only required 5 additional dives outside the 4 open water dives to obtain it. The other 4 agencies required 20 or more dives on top of the 4 Open Water Dives.
Hey Brian, I'm stunned that anyone would consider themselves advanced for 9 of anything - skydiving, racing car driving, flying an aircraft, sewing up gunshot wounds... the list goes on. I think this is a classic case of Agencies creating courses to raise revenue so they can create more useless courses. I would also suggest in the mid 2020's having a course to teach people how to use a dive computer is a bit of a con, along with Boat Diving (take a step off the boat - if you're not wet yet take another step), perfect buoyancy (this should be in your Open Water) and how to take photos underwater, along with how to use a scooter.
Teaching someone how to recover a body from depth (without becoming body number 2), Nitrox, Deep Diving and Wreck Diving are all valid, however in 37 years of diving all over the world, NO dive centre has EVER handed back my cash because I don't have a Night Dive certification or a Boat Dive or oxygen provider certification - on that I did contact PADI to look at RPL (I'm an internationally recognised Course Director for Advanced Life Support) but they never got back to me (I also have a Master's Degree with a thesis on the effects of altitude on hypoxic state - and again probably have studied more on the effects of various partial pressures of oxygen on homeostasis than most Dive Instructors - but again training agencies ignore this and just want to clip a ticket).
Dive courses do not keep divers safe, diver's situational awareness keep divers safe - and that my friend is something that cannot be taught.
Hello @peterjulianphotos4659, I have asked that question for many years. Personally, I think both the Advanced Adventure title through SSI, and other agencies as well should be renamed. From my experience, and from my knowledge of the scuba industry, it has always been explained to me like this. A person who has more than just the 4 basic open water dives and has additional training is more advanced than the person who just got certified with only 4 dives. Our individual thoughts will always differ from others, but as an industry standard, 9 dives and additional training is considered advanced. As far as the individual specialty courses, after being an Instructor for 5 different training agencies, I have yet to find a course that did not hold value. One thing I tell all of my new Instructor Candidates is, training agencies do not train students, the individual Instructor does. They are the ones that make or break a course. If the student did not learn something new, its not the training agencies fault, its the Instructors. Seems like you have had a rough time with your Instructors (local dive centers), and training agency as well. The good news is, there are plenty of avenues to pursue. Another great option, I encourage all divers to seek professional level courses. Personally, I have gotten plenty of standards changed over the years by going about it in the right manner. And it all started with me having the feeling that this or that course was not sufficient enough to keep a diver safe. You may be surprised how much one person can change the scuba industry by going pro, see the industry from the inside, and getting things changed proactively. There is so much more you can achieve by being involved than an on looker.
On a side note, I would love to hear more about your personal experiences with each of the specialties you mentioned above and how the Instructors conducted each course. If you can, provide an outline of how each course was presented to you, specifically the Computer Specialty and Boat Diver Specialty Course. This way others can learn from your experiences as well. The more we know, the more we can all learn together. Thanks for sharing.
PADI's AOW was the first "advanced" certification. John on SB basically went over the history, at the time you are OWD and five specialties, that was it tech hadn't been invented yet. The AOW gave you a taster of those specialties and in a sense you were more advanced diver than someone who just had the OWD. It was never meant to say you are at some super high skill level, outside of maybe GUE's REC3, no recreational cert can say that and I am considering all the master diver and pro certs in statement.
If you get Advanced Adventurer with SSI, can you do advanced fun dives at a PADI dive center? Or is that only after you get AOW?
Hello @chloegourde286, the SSI Advanced Adventure is the equivalent to the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver.
Advanced adventurer, sounds more like a advanced try scuba. I really don't blame SSI, because I see the benefit. Imagine you are on vacation, in such a situation, I could recommend this. I guess every of those 5 dives counts, so you may need just a secound night dive to get your certification. So in a vacation you wouldn't waste your time and money. But expect Düring a vacation it wouldn't make much sence to me, because there is also the price, to compare just the price I could either get a night dive certification or an advanced adventurer card. 😔
That's a great way to look at it @benheckendorn2696. The Advanced Adventure is more of a Try Scuba for the individual specialties.
I think Advanced Adventurer is BS. Name should be changed to something like Adventure Experience and not considered a certification.
For Advanced Open Water I don't like that you can take any 4 specialties. Certifications should have a specific set of skills. So people know what skill set the diver has. My opinion the specialties should be Deep, Nitrox, Night/ Limited Visibility and Navigation for Advanced Open Water and 25 dives.
SDI has a similar Advanced Open Water Diver.
Hello @jeffconley6366, one unique feature to SSI, they list on your Specialty Diver rating card, your Advanced Open Water Diver rating card, and your Master Diver rating card, each of the specialties you have earned through out your training.