Certification for 40 (+?) meters

[Asanoth]

Hello,
I am an AOWD vacation diver, who just returned from a LB in the Red Sea (report coming, hopefully) . On quite a few dives, I went over 30 meters - not for long, but once even to 38,5 when looking at passing hammerheads (yay! ) . No dive I planned to go over 30, but it is not like one were diving with his eyes bolted to the computer all the time. Now I do not really see a material reason why not to go between 30 and 40 meters while staying in non-deco limits, BUT I have a really good travelling insurance covering diving (not DAN) and I feel like if an accident should happen, they might not cover.
Therefore I think it would be good to get the 40 m certification in order to mitigate this risk. Does that make sense?
I have IANTD OWD (local), PADI AOWD (Thailand) and SSI Nitrox (local), so I do not really care about the agency - I would probably do it on a diving vacation anyway.
Is there any way to "upgrade" AOWD to 40 meters without doing the full Deep Specialty (which is meant for people with OWD)?
Or, on the other hand, I read somewhere on reddit that it might make sense to do a Tec 40 course instead? Not sure how the pricing and accessibility there is, and if that even remotely make sense for a vacation diver - I do maybe 20 dives a year, if that is a good year...
Any advice?
Thank you.

 

[Leatherboot69]

The upgrade (for PADI) *is* the deep diver specialty, or other agency equivalent. If you have AOWD it’s three dives in one day. I think that’s the quickest; cheapest and most accessible route (compared to a tec course).

 

[stepfen]

As you just fount out, there is no such thing as a "material reason", not only between 30 and 40 but also not between 40 and 100 or even 500 meters, at least for one way...

The problem here is not the certification limit. All certifications have more or less a limit. The problem is the mentality.

Even if you were deep certified (to 40 m) are you sure there were not more hammerheads or a mola mola or a mermaid at 45 meters? And then what? You go for them or not?

Plan the dive and dive the plan.

 

[Leatherboot69]

As you just fount out, there is no such thing as a "material reason", not only between 30 and 40 but also not between 40 and 100 or even 500 meters, at least for one way...

The problem here is not the certification limit. All certifications have more or less a limit. The problem is the mentality.

Even if you were deep certified (to 40 m) are you sure there were not more hammerheads or a mola mola or a mermaid at 45 meters? And then what? You go for them or not?

Plan the dive and dive the plan.

The limit is possibly one of insurance cover - for example mine covers me to 40m ‘if suitably qualified’. You’d need to do the deep course to do Tec 40 anyway.

 

[steinbil]

Hello,
I am an AOWD vacation diver, who just returned from a LB in the Red Sea (report coming, hopefully) . On quite a few dives, I went over 30 meters - not for long, but once even to 38,5 when looking at passing hammerheads (yay! ) . No dive I planned to go over 30, but it is not like one were diving with his eyes bolted to the computer all the time. Now I do not really see a material reason why not to go between 30 and 40 meters while staying in non-deco limits,
[...]
Any advice?
Thank you.

Very cool to dive with hammerheads, but not so cool to dive 30% deeper than planned. It seems your training did not emphasize the importance of depth limits and increase in complexity and risk of deeper dives - not your fault. Maybe this can serve as a wake up call.

Diving to 38.5m is not reckless in itself. I stick to shallower than 30m without Helium, but if you are ok with the added risk then diving to 40m on air is accepted by most training agencies, and if you have better gases and are trained for it - even better.

However, going past your planned depth by 30% is a big deal, and the deeper you get, the more important it is to stick to your planned depth. As an example, if you were doing this dive on Nitrox32, you would have a ppO2 of 1.55 (over the recommended 1.4ppO2 for a rec dive) – combined with the heavier breathing because of a thicker gas, you would be at a much higher risk of O2 toxicity, possibly leading to convulsions underwater which almost always results in death.

If you're going to dive deeper, get proper training and be more vigilant about not exceeding the limits you have planned for.

 

[Blackcrusader]

Hello,
I am an AOWD vacation diver, who just returned from a LB in the Red Sea (report coming, hopefully) . On quite a few dives, I went over 30 meters - not for long, but once even to 38,5 when looking at passing hammerheads (yay! ) . No dive I planned to go over 30, but it is not like one were diving with his eyes bolted to the computer all the time. Now I do not really see a material reason why not to go between 30 and 40 meters while staying in non-deco limits, BUT I have a really good travelling insurance covering diving (not DAN) and I feel like if an accident should happen, they might not cover.
Therefore I think it would be good to get the 40 m certification in order to mitigate this risk. Does that make sense?
I have IANTD OWD (local), PADI AOWD (Thailand) and SSI Nitrox (local), so I do not really care about the agency - I would probably do it on a diving vacation anyway.
Is there any way to "upgrade" AOWD to 40 meters without doing the full Deep Specialty (which is meant for people with OWD)?
Or, on the other hand, I read somewhere on reddit that it might make sense to do a Tec 40 course instead? Not sure how the pricing and accessibility there is, and if that even remotely make sense for a vacation diver - I do maybe 20 dives a year, if that is a good year...
Any advice?
Thank you.

Basic Dan covers OW to 40m. Other packages no depth limits. PADI OW are certified to recreational depth limits which is 40m
Training to deeper depths always a good idea but do look at other agencies.

I would suggest ANDP TDI advanced nitrox course than PADI tec 40.

Suggest you read this thread.

Diving beyond cert?

I got OW certified (PADI) in May and have only been on a few dives since. I'd like to go diving again soon, but where I've been invited is generally 60-100' where all the interesting stuff is. I seem pretty comfortable, and am not terribly worried about the depth. I am signed up for AOW next...

scubaboard.com

 

[LI-er]

As an example, if you were doing this dive on Nitrox32, you would have a ppO2 of 1.55 (over the recommended 1.4ppO2 for a rec dive) – combined with the heavier breathing because of a thicker gas, you would be at a much higher risk of O2 toxicity, possibly leading to convulsions underwater which almost always results in death.

The odds of that happening is so remote as to be almost beyond consideration.

There is not one verified report of a single tank diver on EAN of 50% or less experiencing 02 toxicity.

 

[Blackcrusader]

Diving to 38.5m is not reckless in itself. I stick to shallower than 30m without Helium, but if you are ok with the added risk then diving to 40m on air is accepted by most training agencies, and if you have better gases and are trained for it - even better.

Well in many places even if I was certified for Helium it is simply not available. Diving to 40m or deeper on air is not an issue.

 

[Blackcrusader]

del

 

[chrisch]

..
Is there any way to "upgrade" AOWD to 40 meters without doing the full Deep Specialty (which is meant for people with OWD)?
..

The Deep speciality is not meant for OW. It is designed for divers wishing to explore up to the recommended limit of recreational dive training which is 40m. It would be a good start point for you and would also cover your concerns about insurance.

The Tek 40 is - I believe - a good course and covers many of the things you need to understand about going deeper, incuding decompression and is the next logical step in the PADI system. Looking at the Tek course you need the PADI cert anyway.

Personally I think that PADI should encourage all divers to get to Rescue level before exploring more advanced diving. That said 35-40m in warm clear water is not a big issue if done sensibly.

Reading your post it seems to me that the PADI Deep is probably the ideal course for you at your stage of diving. I do not know why you think it is for OW.