AOW Class Max Depth 65 ft. ?????

[Rogersea]

I would not be happy taking that course. I would not offer that course. I do sometimes pick the dives of the AOW based on time of year and location. I would not go through with a deep dive to 65 feet unless depth restricted(and advertised) due to geographic restrictions.

 

[D_B]

I very much remember AOW watching my SPG at 100ft and thinking "holy cow, the needle's dropping with every breath!"
:shocked2:
The planning a of a dive is important, but so is the experiencing of it

 

[FWADIVER]

For my deep class we did 3 deep dives, deepest being 131 FFW (sump at gilboa). Included s-drill, deep water bubble check, gas planning, narcosis test, and holding a 1 min deep stop at half depth (as well as a 5 min safety stop on 02 at 20 ft). I know at gilboa it is common for most instructors to only take their deep students down to the end of the road which is maybe 70', and they never even bother going on the actual deep side of the quarry.

 

[reefvagabond]

I took a NAUI Advanced Scuba Diver class earlier this year. The instructor did not join us for the deep dive so the dive was just myself and two other students. We went to a max of 62 feet; the site slopped down slowly and 60 feet qualifies as a deep dive. That was deemed satisfactory. Looking back I think that is an absolute joke. None of us knew what it was like to feel narced, and there was no instructor around incase anything happened. One student asked afterwards "so I'm ready to go to 130 feet now?". The instructor said "yeah, just tell them it's your first time that deep."

 

[ScubaSteve]

The instructor did not join us for the deep dive so the dive was just myself and two other students.

Care to share the name of the instructor?

 

[RU4SKUBA]

I wouldn't have expectations of the deep adventure dive, since it is really just an introduction IMO. Criticizing the instructor is also a bit silly considering we don't know the local conditions, ability of students, or logistics. I admit 65' is relatively shallow, but they weren't in the Caribbean... and taking newbies to 100' to satisfy their curiosity about deep diving (or just narcosis) might be a bad choice under the right set of circumstances.

 

[doctormike]

taking newbies to 100' to satisfy their curiosity about deep diving (or just narcosis) might be a bad choice under the right set of circumstances.

Isn't that what a scuba instructor is paid to do? To take newbies (i.e. AOW students) into situations that they have not yet been trained for and train them?

Sure, just because a student paid for a course doesn't mean that an instructor is obliged to take them to 120 feet in the North Atlantic at night with 8 foot seas and 1 foot vis. However, if an instructor has decided that these circumstances (quarry dive during the day) aren't appropriate, then that's not much of an advanced deep diving course, right?

 

[TMHeimer]

I would imagine doing a deep dive for AOW to 65 feet in a lake or quarry with no current, etc. would be the only way in many locales that it could be done. And the shop will of course want to offer AOW. My Wreck course was done in fresh water (penetrating some boat-like object...). Could've been in the Gulf of Mexico. But even if they could drum up enough students to make it economically feasable, they usually don't have their boat in the water when I was there in March. LDSs want to offer the courses whatever way is possible in order to develop customers.

 

[doctormike]

I would imagine doing a deep dive for AOW to 65 feet in a lake or quarry with no current, etc. would be the only way in many locales that it could be done. And the shop will of course want to offer AOW. My Wreck course was done in fresh water (penetrating some boat-like object...). Could've been in the Gulf of Mexico. But even if they could drum up enough students to make it economically feasable, they usually don't have their boat in the water when I was there in March. LDSs want to offer the courses whatever way is possible in order to develop customers.

I suppose if they are strictly within agency guidelines, then they can offer whatever courses a given agency has designed. The agencies probably don't want to limit their reach geographically, so there is a temptation to stretch the definitions of "deep" and "wreck" to fit a wide range of locales.

I guess if some cave diving agency decides that they want to run their courses in areas that don't have caves, they could allow dives done under a picnic table on the bottom of a swimming pool..!

 

[RonFrank]

I have been on about a half dozen different dive boats in the NYC area, and I have never been asked for my AOW card. Perhaps this policy may vary from place to place...

In FL you don't dive deep wrecks (70'+) without AOW. Now you get lots of folks bitching that AOW is a useless badge for a diver with 10 dives. At least they are trying something to make it safer.