PADI Scuba Diver Cert Vs PADI Open Water Cert and also cheap place to learn in oz?

I'm doing one of these next week.

I don't know which one to do and every site on the net tries to make it difficult to understand the differences - from what I can gather, one lets you go deeper than the other (PADI Open Water).

But what are the differences? I'm going to be getting it in Puerto Madryn in Argentina next week but I need it because it's cheaper to get it here than in Australia (from what I've researched, if anyone can recommend a cheap place to learn in Oz, I'd love to know)

Any info on this would be great, I've never dived before and am going for it next week. Pretty scared being honest (sharks and other weird things down there) about the whole thing but I'm going for it regardless. In fact, if anyone would like to calm me down about the whole affair, that would be quite nice too.

Lobster

As far as I know, the PADI Scuba Diver Cert is geared more towards getting you in the water for the likes of a holiday with a supervisor. If you want to get qualified and continue diving afterwards go for the OW course. OW is the start, you can go on and do Advanced OW, Rescue Diver, Divemaster and so on........ Good luck and don't worry about sharks! Listen to your trainer and you will come to no harm.

Ratsathome

Lobster wrote: »

Good luck and don't worry about sharks! Listen to your trainer and you will come to no harm.

I would go for the OW and remember more people get killed by bee stings in the world than by sharks:D

loctite

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm doing one of these next week.

I don't know which one to do and every site on the net tries to make it difficult to understand the differences - from what I can gather, one lets you go deeper than the other (PADI Open Water).

But what are the differences? I'm going to be getting it in Puerto Madryn in Argentina next week but I need it because it's cheaper to get it here than in Australia (from what I've researched, if anyone can recommend a cheap place to learn in Oz, I'd love to know)

Any info on this would be great, I've never dived before and am going for it next week. Pretty scared being honest (sharks and other weird things down there) about the whole thing but I'm going for it regardless. In fact, if anyone would like to calm me down about the whole affair, that would be quite nice too.

The reason there is such confusion between the two courses is because the two courses are very similar. When you do the OW course you are effectively doing the Scuba diver course also. The scuba diver course is about 3/4 of the openwater course.

When you do any PADI course it is divided into 3 sections. "Academic", "Confined Dives", and "Open Water Dives. Academic refers to the manuals, DVD's and quizzes you must do, Confined are the shallow dives in which are completed in a confined environment, such as a pool, where they teach you the skills, and the OW Dives are where you carry out the skills in Open Water (aka the Sea, or lake, whatever the environment).

For each course there are defined skill requirements you much meet in the confined dives and in the Openwater Dives. There are very little differences between the two courses with regards to what you have to complete.

For the Scuba Diver there are are a few less confined skills that you must carry out and I think you only do 3 openwater dives for the Scuba diver certification (whereas for the Openwater Diver certification you must complete 4 Dives).

Once you are certified as a Scuba diver you can ONLY dive with a PADI professional. That means that you can only dive with a PADI divemaster or above as your Dive buddy (when diving, you always dive in pairs referred to as your Buddy). You are also restricted to a maximum depth of 12 metres.

The Openwater certification allows you to dive with any other level of buddy other than a Scuba Diver certified diver (although it is common sense to buddy up with a more experienced divers in the early stages of your diving career). As stated by Lobster, you can progress on to do further courses such as Advanced OW and Rescue etc. The depth restriction of the Openwater Course is 18 metres.

In my experience The Scuba Diver Course is not the most common course which beginners complete. Usually if someone is interested in doing a course they will usually do a Discover Scuba (a introduction - very easy, takes very little time to do) and if they like it, they would usually do the Openwater Course.

Most often, Scuba diver certifications are for those who are really time constrained, or who only ever wish to dive on holidays or not do much diving at all.

So it really depends on how much diving you really think you might do. If you have never dived before, I would recommend doing a Discover dive first and then choose.

Not saying that this applies to you but, some people try diving because they are petrified of fish or afraid of the water and want to do this to get over their fears....If you think that this could apply to you, definitely do a Discover scuba diver first. Some centres will discount the cost of this off your course, but you'd want to perhaps negotiate this in advance....

Don't worry about the sealife......... look and don't touch best rule to follow, hope you enjoy it!:D

Nice one for the replies lads.

Being honest, pretty scared about going diving in the barrier reef. I've decided i'm going to go and do it with http://www.cairnsdive.com.au/divecourse/3/kangaroo_explorer.php

My fear is sharks and things coming after me or getting too close to me. What's the story with that? Do you see many dangerous sharks in the barrier reef? I decided to do it in Cairns as 37 other people do it with you although I'm not sure if you all dive at once. I'm going to be living aboard for a few days on a boat too. Any tips would be great.

Oh and how come great whites don't go near the barrier reef? Also, on a side note, why don't whales attack people?

Lobster

I'd be more worried about the flight over than a shark attack, and even more afraid of not seeing a shark! Just have a look at statistics, attacks are very rare, they may be curious but they aren't hunting you!

Ratsathome

2005 only 64 shark attects worldwide with only 4 deaths.Pretty good I think.

Borzoi

Deleted User wrote: »

My fear is sharks and things coming after me or getting too close to me. What's the story with that? Do you see many dangerous sharks in the barrier reef? I decided to do it in Cairns as 37 other people do it with you although I'm not sure if you all dive at once. I'm going to be living aboard for a few days on a boat too. Any tips would be great.

I did my starting training and similar live aboard experience off Cairns with Prodive - I imagine it will be very similar.

In general most marine life is either scared or indifferent to you. If you are fortunate to see sharks you'll be lucky, and generally they'll be smaller black, grey or white tip reefed sharks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_reef_shark ) who'll generally be at most as large as an adult person. Don't corner them, don't touch, and if they come near you (which I would very much doubt) go back towards the reef and not open water. I seen these babies in the water up close (heart pumpingly good), and from a distance (man they look like Great whites in profile!!)

In general the boat will do 3-4 dives daily, and all divers will generally be in the water, but spread over a large area. As trainees, your divemasters will probably keep you seperated from the main group of divers, for everybody's enjoyment. If you get the opportunity to go on a nightdive (possible at extra price) do it do it do it - scary, but oh so fun.

I hope you have a great time, I did!:D:D:D

listermint

Yeah do the Open Water.

I'll tell you how many sharks i saw on the barrier reef. None!

In fact the fish life was'nt great at all, Lots of Turtles though which was ace:D

silverside

I did my PADI Open Water and Advanced Open Water in Oz... glad I did, transferable skill - though I would still be wary about cold water (drysuit) diving its a different ballgame.

go for somewhere good rather than somewhere cheap - ProDive Cairns were excellent, did a liveaboard on the Great Barrier Reef, saw soo much cool stuff.