Advanced Open Water Diver

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.

The equivalent course offered by National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI) is the Advanced Scuba Diver. The AOWD certification level is roughly equivalent to the CMAS * Diver qualification and the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) Ocean Diver qualification, 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.

The AOWD is the second level qualification in the American system, following the Open Water Diver qualification (OWD). At the OWD level divers gain basic knowledge of skills, equipment and theory for diving to a recommended depth of about 18 metres (60 ft). The AOWD is described by PADI as refining these skills, allowing the diver to explore a broader variety of diving to a maximum of 30 metres (100 ft) deep. Prior to entering an AOWD equivalent course, some organizations have logged dives prerequisites. The course usually contains some mandatory dives and knowledge while a certain 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 only three main levels of dive education indicated by a one star, two star, or three star designation. One star indicates an ability to dive, two star indicates additional skill of rescuing divers, and three star indicates the additional skill in leading a group of divers.

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