Have you ever been refused to be allowed to dive?

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Coincidentally, this was just posted on https://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/how-answer-what-is-your-highest-certification-level.605267/. This is Open Water training 1970s style.
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AOW is also a misnomer. It's a course for novices with an awful misleading name. There's nothing advanced about AOW and it implies that you have more skills than you do.
There are many threads on this. The term means advanced beyond OW. It is marketed that way too. And no need to PADI-bash, PADI did not invent the course.
I remember my Divemaster class, there were two couples who were pushing through from AOW to Divemaster. Our instructor knew both couples (as all of them were or were related to in the military and the same unit).

If they put on a rig and got their head underwater, they logged it as a "dive", as they just barely had the 40 minimum to start the course, and since we were inland in Texas, in the winter, it was hard to log real dives otherwise.
I fault the integrity of the students and of the instructor, who did not follow standards. Being in an area where it is hard to dive is not an excuse to cheat.
 
Do you mean 4 open water dives?

Yes - we did 2 hour lecture + 1 hour pool sessions nights in a row then 2 "Open Water dives" in a local creek with a Maximum depth of maybe 20 feet ( and a water temperature of about 36 degrees F / 2 degrees C - I remember that vividly) on Saturday and 2 boat dives in the much warmer ocean on Sunday.
 
Yes - we did 2 hour lecture + 1 hour pool sessions nights in a row then 2 "Open Water dives" in a local creek with a Maximum depth of maybe 20 feet ( and a water temperature of about 36 degrees F / 2 degrees C - I remember that vividly) on Saturday and 2 boat dives in the much warmer ocean on Sunday.
Yikes. I guess your shop (?) was on the cutting edge of modern scuba instruction :)

Did you see any trout?
 
I actually got specific cert cards so I would never be denied. If I went somewhere and I wanted to dive it, I'd be super pissed if I was put into a class instead of enjoying the dive.

I've seen rescue divers that don't know how to dump air out of their BCD on a high current 100ft wreck (no penetration). I literally swam over and rotated them slightly and elevate their butt up to pull their kidney dump. I've also seen people with 200+ dives that look like an OW student bouncing up and down the water column. So I get the issues of liability that operators face...
 
Wife has been certified OW for 30 years. Has dove cold, deep, dark, night, low vis in our home waters of the Great Lakes, and deep and night in Bonaire. Dive ops have given here a bit of a pass, but usually we are restricted. She also is self restricting... Daughter causes it too as a newish OW diver. Thing is, she is a better diver than her mother...

Need them to do AOW...
 
I do not get the logic of restricting people to dive as you can often stay within own certification limit. I worked for an operator where you do a check dive (first 5 mins of your dive 1), you will be assessed on NB, removing mask and AAS usage. If you can demonstrate needed skills, you will be diving independently with your buddy regardless of your c-card level but you must stick with the corresponding depth limits. Diving with the guide costs normally but inexperienced divers with < 25 logged dives would be diving free of charge with the guide. If you are an instructor as guest, you are exempt of the check dive. If you fail the check dive, either remedies such as refresher course offered or you pay a small fee to dive with the guide until guide gives thumbs up.
I think this is the fairest system I know.
 
I do not get the logic of restricting people to dive as you can often stay within own certification limit.
It has a lot to do with local factors. There's a wreck we dive in Roatan called the Aguila. It's over 100 ft to the sand, but boy oh boy, it must be the easiest wreck to dive. It's no comparison to the Speigle Grove, which while a bit deeper, often has currents that often make diving it a bit sketchy. I would take a rank noob to the former, but I want to see a lot more expertise and strength on the latter.

But hey, if you want to dive a site or wreck with no restrictions: take your own boat and have at it.
 
It has a lot to do with local factors. There's a wreck we dive in Roatan called the Aguila. It's over 100 ft to the sand, but boy oh boy, it must be the easiest wreck to dive. It's no comparison to the Speigle Grove, which while a bit deeper, often has currents that often make diving it a bit sketchy. I would take a rank noob to the former, but I want to see a lot more expertise and strength on the latter.

But hey, if you want to dive a site or wreck with no restrictions: take your own boat and have at it.
Ok fair point I forgot to mention, of course I forgot to mention that there are several boats chartering so, you if you are SD or OWD qualified, you will end up on a boat that charters to shallow/easy dive sites.
 
It has a lot to do with local factors. There's a wreck we dive in Roatan called the Aguila. It's over 100 ft to the sand, but boy oh boy, it must be the easiest wreck to dive. It's no comparison to the Speigle Grove, which while a bit deeper, often has currents that often make diving it a bit sketchy. I would take a rank noob to the former, but I want to see a lot more expertise and strength on the latter.

But hey, if you want to dive a site or wreck with no restrictions: take your own boat and have at it.

You've got that right, Chairman. The Aquila is a ridiculously easy dive and the visibility is incredible! Gin clear as they say.
 
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