Note: I do NOT recommend you take the "Advanced Adventure" or "Advanced Open Water" packages often sold by the various dive agencies. They give you a taste of these classes and then hand you the Advanced Open Water (AOW) card without having any real experience. Save your money and then take the actual full class instead of pretending. The zero to AOW path is a straight money grab that you will get pitched at the end of your Open Water class.
*Links to SDI Training Standard as example where possible
| Class | Good for AOW Level | Why? |
|---|---|---|
| Nitrox | Yes | 10s of thousands of divers never dive with Nitrox. But more and more places will provide Nitrox for free when you rent a tank from them...so you should. One of the cheaper and easier classes to take and you do learn a little bit about gas science. |
| Deep Diving | Yes | Not technically needed, but if you feel apprehensive about going deeper than 60ft...you can have an instructor with you for your first couple times down near the gas narcosis zone. There is an argument to be made regarding "not diving beyond your training" that could change your mind into making this MUST DO |
| Navigation | Yes | Learn how to use a compass and some other underwater tricks. A good pick if you know you will be doing a lot of shore diving or intend to do any more advanced dives in the future. |
| Night & Limited Vis | Yes | Only really interesting if you are nervous in the dark or murky waters. Here in Chicagoland...we dive in murky waters from day 1 so not real useful as a skill heavy class. But it is a fairly easy class to take and will introduce you to the use of flashlights underwater. |
| O2 Provider / CPR / AED | n/a | Scuba diving is not without risk and many of the first responses involve administering Oxygen and/or CPR/AED. Learn how to do it properly. |
| Rescue Diver | n/a | Put everything together and do some actual emergency scenario practice |