Advanced Open Water with Underwater Sports

After getting my Open Water Scuba Diving certificate last year, I couldn't wait to gain more knowledge and skills, and build my confidence to become more comfortable in the water with PADI Advanced Open Water course. Greatly satisfied with the level of service and personal attention, I decided to continue my scuba diving education with Underwater Sports, this time closer to home in Federal Way.

The PADI Advanced Open Water course is designed so you can go straight into it after Open Water certificate. That's what many people do, and I highly recommend you do the same. Here is why...

After taking my Open Water class, just like most people I wanted to " take it slow ", and decided to put it off till next year, hoping to get more dives before going into AOW.

As days, weeks and months flew by, I just "couldn't find time" to go diving even once for the past year. When the first day of diving arrived, I'd realized that I completely forgot all the basics: how to set up my BC, read air pressure regulator ( and pay attention to it), maintain proper buoyancy, defog my mask, and even to adjust my fin straps before going into water.

Needless to say that the first "few" dives were a disaster.

On the flip side, AOW classes are all about having fun ! There is no class or pool time, the small amount of book work is done through self study (it is reviewed at the dive shop with the instructor prior to the dive) and the dives take place at different dive spots.

The Advanced Open Water course consists of five adventure dives: two mandatory dives ( Deep and Underwater Navigation ) and three adventure dives of your choice. There are many choices to choose from : digital underwater photography, wreck diving, night diving, diving with underwater scooters, peak performance buoyancy, dry suit... , and it will be up to you which one you'd want to try.

So, my advice to you, if it's been a while since your OW class/last dive, take a refresher course, which is a quick and great way to refresh your diving knowledge and skills ( and cheap too !).

If you are still thinking about getting certified as a scuba diver, I'd strongly recommend to go with PADI.
Unlike Scuba Schools International ( SSI), where you'd have to complete four specialty courses and minimum of 24 logged dives prior to taking your AOWD cert, PADI does not require a minimum number of dives for certification.