100' vs 130'??

[OnTheMark]

Ok, probably a newbie question. I've got my open water certification and plan on getting my advanced open water this coming February. Looking at AOW training, the certification gets you access to 100' depths vs my current 60' OW limitation. Yet, most sources say that recreational divers are limited to 130'. So, why would AOW not certify me for 130' instead of 100'? Is this just to maintain a safety buffer or is there some other knowledge to be had diving between 100' and 130' or is this just another way for the agencies to sell another specialty course?

Just curious

 

[Scuba-74]

I don’t know what agency are you certifying with. I have AOW from PADI and I dive below 100’ quit a bit. No one on any of the charters required anything beyond AOW in terms of certification. Some charters ask for comparable dive experience in the past though.

In other words, with AOW you can go on any rec dive.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

With respect to recreational scuba there really aren't any "certified to" depth limits. There are recommended diving limits most agencies attribute to the various courses. All agencies are essentially similar: OW 60', AOW 100', Deep Diver 130'. Those are the initial depth limits recommended for students coming out of those courses.

With that said their are no scuba police. Recreational diving is considered anything above 120-130' and within NDL. Those are your limits if you are a certified recreational diver. Whether or not you choose to take Deep Diver after AOW vs. slowly gaining experience at progressively deeper depths is up to you.

Some charters will want to see an AOW card for the deeper dives but I'm not aware of any that want to see a Deep Diver card for sites between 100-130'. I've never personally been asked for my Deep Diver card. If I were I'd just show them my Trimix card but that is another discussion entirely.

 

[rick00001967]

With respect to recreational scuba there really aren't any "certified to" depth limits. There are recommended diving limits most agencies attribute to the various courses. All agencies are essentially similar: OW 60', AOW 100', Deep Diver 130'. Those are the initial depth limits recommended for students coming out of those courses.

With that said their are no scuba police. Recreational diving is considered anything above 120-130' and within NDL. Those are your limits if you are a certified recreational diver. Whether or not you choose to take Deep Diver after AOW vs. slowly gaining experience at progressively deeper depths is up to you.

^^^ this ^^^

i would add that if we are talking about padi, i would skip the aow and take nitrox and the deep diver course with a good instructor. preferrably one with technical training. or perhaps consider the tech 40 course. i am not that familiar with padi requirements. you may need deep diver before you can take any tech training.

unless you are planning on going pro with padi, the aow cert means nothing.

ps....i have padi aow. i took it on a vacation. the reason i took it was because the difference in cost bewtween buying the dives, and buying the course was very minimal, so the training i did receive cost almost nothing.

 

[broncobowsher]

As stated above.

When I originally was certified many decades ago, it was anything in the navy dive charts that did not require a decompression stop. They recommended keeping it less than 120'. As the years progressed I saw the recommended depth slowly decrease to 100' and later only 60'. It could be argued that the shallower recommended limits followed the watering down of the training standards, but there is a huge thread already existing on that topic.

For you, it pretty much comes down to having your act together and being able to dive proficiently. Most people who are first certified are not that good yet. Give them the card, you are certified. Go dive a bunch of stuff in the 60' range until you can do it without being massively overweighted, burning through a third of your air trying to control buoyancy, learn what you actually consume for air in a dive, actually get somewhat of an acceptable air consumption.

100-130' range you are going for a little narc. Some people get total stupid, most just a little. A little adult supervision is good at getting you started in these depths. Air goes a lot faster. Environment also play along. 100' in clear Caribbean waters is easy, 100' in cold dark waters adds a lot of stresses even for the well seasoned.

As with many things dive related there is a fairly wide gray zone that someone has drawn a line in. A digital line in an analog world.

 

[agilis]

Things change. When I received my 'Basic Scuba Diver' card in 1972 after a few weeks of nightly training it indicated I was qualified to dive to 140 FSW. The course even included regulator maintenance and tuning. As basic dive training has been cheapened and abbreviated, greater restrictions have been strongly suggested, if not imposed. I've seen newly certified divers unable to properly set up their gear. I had to do it underwater, starting with a breath hold at the deep end of the pool. The 'yank the regulator out of your mouth' school of dive training was far from ideal, but depth restrictions make sense in light of current training practices.

 

[BoltSnap]

As you go deeper below 30m/100', your NDL and air decrease faster and the error margin get much narrower with N2 narcosis affects becoming stronger. To do dives deeper than 30m/100', you need to have more experience and skill to do them especially if you are diving in more challenging conditions. Your gas management skill will need to be much sharper and possibly need an independent back up air supply, a pony bottle.

 

[scubadada]

Hi @OnTheMark

I was recertified in 1997, after a long hiatus from diving. Eighteen of my first 83 dives were >100 feet, in benign conditions off Grand Cayman. I then got my AOW and Deep certification in 2004. I had already been nitrox certified in 2002.

I was asked for my AOW cert soon thereafter, in 2004, on my first visit to Key Largo, to dive the Spiegel Grove and the Duane. I could have qualified on recent experience, but, it was much easier just to produce my AOW card. I have been asked for AOW on many, many, occasions. Nobody has ever asked about the Deep Diver certification.

So, now I have a little over 2000 dives, more than 300 >100 feet, and a little over 30 >130 feet, more than half <140 feet. The only certs that I have ever been asked for are nitrox, AOW, and Solo. Not that other training was not useful to me, but I could have done all my diving with just those 3.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Your insurance may have an issue should you have a diving accident and have been deeper than your certification recommends. This is not an issue with DAN insurance, however.

 

[Josh the diver]

With respect to recreational scuba there really aren't any "certified to" depth limits. There are recommended diving limits most agencies attribute to the various courses. All agencies are essentially similar: OW 60', AOW 100', Deep Diver 130'. Those are the initial depth limits recommended for students coming out of those courses.

With that said their are no scuba police. Recreational diving is considered anything above 120-130' and within NDL. Those are your limits if you are a certified recreational diver. Whether or not you choose to take Deep Diver after AOW vs. slowly gaining experience at progressively deeper depths is up to you.

Some charters will want to see an AOW card for the deeper dives but I'm not aware of any that want to see a Deep Diver card for sites between 100-130'. I've never personally been asked for my Deep Diver card. If I were I'd just show them my Trimix card but that is another discussion entirely.

I have run into a situation where they wanted to see a deep cert. for a wreck dive to 130ft in lake Michigan. not sure if it was a requirement of the shop setting up the dive or the charter operation they where using. lets say I have not gone back to that shop.