Advanced Open Water Diver (AOWD) is a scuba diving certification level provided by several diver training agencies, such as Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI), and Scuba Schools International (SSI). The SSI Advanced Open Water program requires training and diving experience. To be certified as a SSI AOWD one needs to have completed four specialty courses and minimum of 24 logged dives. In the absence of a logged dives requirement, it is possible to become certified as AOW with some other agencies while having less than 10 lifetime dives.
Equivalent certification by other names
The equivalent course offered by National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI) is the Advanced Scuba Diver. As a second level qualification, the AOWD certification level is aimed somewhere between the CMAS * Diver and CMAS ** Diver qualifications, or between the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) Ocean Diver and Sports Diver qualifications, although some differences occur. For example, BSAC Ocean Divers are trained in basic rescue skills for recreational diving, but only need five open water dives to qualify. Scuba Diving International (SDI) offers an Advanced Adventure Diver course similar to the Advanced Open Water Diver courses.
Background
The AOWD is the second level qualification offered by several diving agencies following the American ANSI standard. At the first level, Open Water Diver, divers gain basic knowledge of skills, equipment and theory for diving to a recommended depth of about 18 metres (60Â ft). The AOWD is described by PADI as refining these skills, allowing the diver to explore a broader variety of diving to a maximum depth of 30 metres (100Â ft). Prior to entering an AOWD equivalent course, some organizations have prerequisites for a particular number of logged dives. The course usually contains some mandatory dives and knowledge while another portion of the course consists of free elective topics such as drift diving or search and recovery.
The European international dive education system, CMAS, recognizes four main levels of dive education indicated by a one star, two star, three star, or four star designation. One star indicates an ability to dive in the company of an experienced diver, two star indicates additional skills and the ability to dive with a diver of the same grade, three star indicates the additional skill in leading a group of divers of any grade in open water, while four star divers are competent to use divers and diving in order to achieve major tasks or project objectives.
Topics
The PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course requires a single instance of an Underwater navigation and a Deep diving activity as well as a single instance of three of the remaining topics from a list of approximately 18 possible specialties. Until 2006, night diving was also mandatory, but this is no longer the case. It was dropped at the request of the Scandinavian countries, for whom there is almost no night during the summer months when most of the diving is done, as it created an unreasonable restriction on certifying advanced divers (which is a prerequisite for further training). Most other countries still recommend the night diver course. These dives are purported to represent introductory knowledge and skills, but it is also suggested (as demonstrated under "Your Next Adventure") that they serve primarily to provide an opportunity to sell the student on a future specialty course.
Issues
The name of this specific training level has been a topic of controversy within the diving community for many years. The crux of this debate is in the interpretation of the word 'Advanced' in its title, and what is the proper application or use of this adjective.
One school of thought on the matter defends the use of the word Advanced, explaining that it is describing the training accurately as being more comprehensive (i.e., more advanced) than the basic entry level training.
The opposing school of thought is that the use of the word 'Advanced' is essentially deceptive marketing, as graduates of the class very commonly then refer to themselves as "Advanced Divers". However, the training standards are not sufficient to raise a recreational diver (particularly the novice diver to whom the class is frequently marketed) to traditional expectations of holistic dive mastery. This is relevant because in the USA the diving community continues to equate 'advanced' with 'expert.' As such, while it is agreed that the training is indeed more than basic, it is insufficient to create an Advanced (i.e., Expert) Diver.
Specifically with regard to the PADI 'Advanced' certification standard, a 2006 coroner's court in the United Kingdom heard expert evidence to the effect that "I do not believe that someone with eight dives should be classified as an advanced diver. It is madness."
Another factor that relates to this controversy is NAUI's name changes from "Open Water II" to "Advanced Scuba Diver." NAUI's program was, at the time, a 38 hr. Open Water I course, followed by a six dive Open Water II course (aka "Sport Diver"), followed by the third course in the sequence, "Advanced Diver." At the time, PADI had a similar progression. Then, PADI eliminated its upper level course (Advanced Open Water Diver) and repurposed the title for its middle course to gain a competitive advantage. NAUI followed suit, in an unsuccessful attempt to maintain market share. Publicly, NAUI claimed that this change was intended to address customer confusion as to the comparative rigors of training required to earn specific certifications.
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