Dive Accident Insurance Limitations

[The Chairman]

Don't take it from me is fine.

You're not PADI USA. I bet you don't have to have insurance to teach Scuba.

 

[Blackcrusader]

As an aside, I always told my OW students (NAUI, SDI, NASE, SNSI) that while there were no Scuba Police, their OW only trained them down to 60FSW in OW. To go deeper, or into an overhead environment, they needed additional training. You PADI guys might not be as into limits as the rest of us. Me? I love limits and my class is all about them.

That is why some agencies tell people once certified they can go deeper with either training or experience. No requirement to take another course but it is recommended. You can tell a student anything you like.

 

[Blackcrusader]

You're not PADI USA. I bet you don't have to have insurance to teach Scuba.

I am not instructor certified. So no need to have insurance to teach scuba as I don't teach it.

 

[boulderjohn]

so I'd rather hear it from someone like John.

The limits for dives are requirements for training only.

I believe that PADI wording is intentionally vague on this, and that vagueness causes confusion. They will tell you that the limits for deep AOW and deep dive specialties are 100 and 130 feet, but those are in no way enforceable in your diving. How can they stop you? What right do they have? They are at best suggestions.

They tell you to extend your limits through "training and experience." They naturally hope you will include training in that mix, but experience is really all that is necessary. How much do you need? It's your judgment.

Dive operators are key sources of information. They will tell you that you have certain limitations because they are PADI "rules," but they are really their policies, and they are trying to shift the blame. When I was on a liveaboard in Australia, the head of diving announced several limitations that he said were not their choice--PADI rules. Not wanting to cause a scene, I challenged him privately, and he admitted they were company policies. As I write, I am relaxing after my morning dives, and in the dive briefings of the day, they had the honesty to say that the limitations they were announcing came from their insurance policy.

 

[tursiops]

I'll trust was a PADI USA instructor says over you. I was told by my PADI instructor that I could only do dives equal to or less than the ones I was certified in. The whole point of AOW was to be able to do deep dives like the Speigle Grove in the Keys. He was an idiot, put me in danger, so I'd rather hear it from someone like John.

PADI has no controls on how deep you dive, unless you are taking a course with them.
Operators (e.g., boat, resort) can set whatever limita they want, sometimes dictated by insurance policies, sometimes by government regulations.

The OW cert card is good to 130 ft (that even used to be an exam question) but the recommended depth is 60 ft without further experience and training. AOW constitutes that training and a small amount of experience, to 100 ft. The Deep Specialty provide more training and experience, to 130 ft.
The danger from 60 ft to 100 feet is how much faster the gas goes away, and the increased difficulty of doing a CESA. The additional danger to 130 ft is narcosis. New divers routinely run out of gas and get narced; hence the recommendations.

It would be good NOT to confuse certification depth and recommended depths. the AOW card, for example, does not "certify you to 100 ft;" it only certifies that you you have taken the training to go to 100 ft, so satisfies the PADI recommendation for further experience and training.

 

[tursiops]

either training or experience

PADI states this as "training and experience". not or....and.

 

[The Chairman]

They tell you to extend your limits

Exactly... but they are only "trained" to 60FSW, right?

No one can stop you from speeding in your car, but you can get a ticket. There are no tickets in Scuba, only pain, accidents, and death. Even the recreational limit of 130FSW cannot be enforced, except through pain, accidents, and death.

Diving is all about limits. Ignore them at your peril. Scuba 101.

 

[The Chairman]

does not "certify you to 100 ft;" it only certifies that you you have taken the training

Certs are useless, training is invaluable.

 

[tursiops]

Certs are useless, training is invaluable.

The purpose of the cert is to verify your training. How is that useless?

 

[tursiops]

Exactly... but they are only "trained" to 60FSW, right?

No one can stop you from speeding in your car, but you can get a ticket. There are no tickets in Scuba, only pain, accidents, and death. Even the recreational limit of 130FSW cannot be enforced, except through pain, accidents, and death.

Diving is all about limits. Ignore them at your peril. Scuba 101.

The speed limit is not a recommended limit. 60 ft is a recommended limit.
That's different.