Taking an open water student below 60 ft?

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Since, in PADI, the depth limit is 60' in training if it didn't go "against the rules" and you will be certified to a max depth of 60'. If you are already an OW certified, I believe you are certified to go to 60' if diving on your own, BUT many ops in my experience will take you deeper. A guide could take you as deep as the recreational limit of 130' - probably isn't going to happen. I was lucky in that on my 9th dive ever (5th after checkout dives), I was taken to a 100' wreck and the dive op gave a great briefing and explained to my wife and I what was going on. Through my first 100 dives which were before AOW certification, just about 40% of the dives I did went below the 60' level.

The way I was taught is that you are certified to recreational limits, but should not dive beyond your training and experience.... Training at that point is to 60 feet, but expanding that with experience is fine, just be smart about it.
Respectfully
James
 
I was limited to 40 feet on my PADI open water dives back in 2008. Did the rules change since then, or was my instructor being conservative for other reasons?
 
Since, in PADI, the depth limit is 60' in training if it didn't go "against the rules" and you will be certified to a max depth of 60'.

You are certified to dive with a buddy for NDL to recreational limits. There is a recommendation not to exceed 60’, however, as you say, dive professionals have as little use for this recommendation as divers.


Bob
 
Not addressing the issue directly, as that has been well covered. This is one reason why I ensure when approaching 60 feet I am in front/deeper than my students (where backfinning comes in handy) to ensure my students don't accidentally go below 60 feet. I try to always take them down to 59ish feet in one open water dive. When they conduct their planned dive, I note what their deepest depth is and ensure they don't exceed it.

I don't want my behind hung out to dry for something happening at 61 feet in court.
 
Since, in PADI, the depth limit is 60' in training...
This is correct.

...and you will be certified to a max depth of 60'.
This is not correct.
Once certified, you can dive as deep as you want. There are no police beyond individual dive ops. You are, by common practice, allowed to dive to 130 feet (rec limit) unless the dive op requires an AOW cert. On your own, you can do what you want.
Sensibly, you are advised to expand your max depth only with additional training and experience. Individual insurance (like DAN) will cover you to rec limits (though companies may try to limit their liability if you grossly exceeded your experience level and had a mishap).
 
Once certified, you can dive as deep as you want. There are no police beyond individual dive ops. You are, by common practice, allowed to dive to 130 feet (rec limit) unless the dive op requires an AOW cert. On your own, you can do what you want.
Sensibly, you are advised to expand your max depth only with additional training and experience.

I have heard, and not sure if it is FUD, that insurance companies may have issue with exceeding training "limits". Anyone know for certain?
 
I have heard, and not sure if it is FUD, that insurance companies may have issue with exceeding training "limits". Anyone know for certain?
Ah, you caught me while I was editing my post...

No. No first-hand knowledge.
 
Individual insurance (like DAN) will cover you to rec limits (though companies may try to limit their liability if you grossly exceeded your experience level and had a mishap).

I think this is good reason to document my dives. I stopped writing them down, just relying on my Shearwater now to log. When performing tech dives, I will archive my dive plans, etc. to have an electronic paper trail just in case. Now I'm certified to 200 feet with normoxic trimix, and there's no way I'd exceed that on OC (as I'm not going to invest in hypoxic training, don't want the huge helium bill, etc.) I do plan on going the rebreather route, and I have a fair bit of training/diving/experience acquisition to do before I go hunting for a "graveyard of ancient shipwrecks" at an estimated depth of 100 meters whose location described to me by an old sponge diver who saw it at 70 meters. Fun times during the early/late part of the dive/tourist season in Greece.
 
He violated standards. Not certified until out of water, debriefed on dive and signed off in log book. If an accident occurred insurance company has an “out “ and would not defend him.

I'm not defending him, just explaining what he did. I just checked my log to make sure it wasn't a separate dive. It wasn't. Also, it was a NAUI course not PADI, not that it matters. Those of you who know Blue Grotto can guess where he took us and how deep we went. From the perspective of 100+ dives later, I think it introduced unnecessary risk for no discernible benefit. But that's what happened.
 
You are certified to dive with a buddy for NDL to recreational limits. There is a recommendation not to exceed 60’, however, as you say, dive professionals have as little use for this recommendation as divers.


Bob
Yeah, I've found that to be true. The OP asked about (I think) OW certified divers going below 60', which of course is a recommendation not a "law". And gradually expanding on depth is best, as pointed out.
Thanks to you others for pointing out that you're not certified until the paperwork is done. So when I finished the last skill and he said "Congratulations you're an OW diver", he was incorrect.
On a side note, I do absolutely agree with the idea of the final student "tour" dive being as deep as 60' (if doable at the site). Kinda like getting a driver's license doing a test on city streets then being licensed to drive 70mph on the interstate. Too bad 60' can't realistically be required as part of the OW course.
 

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