Perhaps, I don't see any agencies that go that far though, and there'd be a lot fewer divers around if they did. Anyone know an agency that requires 30+ dives on their entry course?
It's certainly more ideal, but probably not very realistic. And what you mentioned, your opinions on what qualified are about the same as what I would like as a minimum.
A CMAS One Star Diver (*) requires a minimum of 40 hours of instruction with 6 dives. After certification, the diver must be accompanied by a diver with a ** (or better rating) and is limited to 60' until they move to the next level.
To enter a CMAS ** program the diver must have a minimum of 16 dives before entering the program (10 after certification). These 10 dives must be of various types and environments. The CMAS ** program includes 40 to 50 hours of academic and 20 openwater dives.
The 20 dives should cover a suitably wide range of different diving conditions and as far as possible include the following:
(11) Required Dives:
• (1) Navigation
• (1) Night or low visibility diving
• (4) Deep diving (130 feet/40 meters maximum depth)
• (2) Rescue dives
• (1) Search and Recovery
• (1) Light Salvage
• (1) Exploration and Mapping
(9) Elective Dives
• Beach dives with sloping entry.
• Full Facemask
• Coral Reef
• Diving from small boats.
• Diving from larger boats.
• Limited visibility dives.
• Diving during the night
• River Dives
• Cold Water Dives (Dry Suit)
• Dives to 30 – 100 feet.
• Search and recovery
• Light salvage and recovery
• Hunting and collecting
• Exploration and underwater mapping
• Non-penetration wreck diving
• Observation and data collection
• Diving in surf or currents
• Altitude diving
After a minimum of 36 dives and approx 100 hours of training you are ready to dive unsupervised. You might compare this with the duration of some other courses.