Confused about Certs

[Geddes]

I was Cert-ed many years ago, but got away from diving for years. I did a pile of FW snorkelling, and eventually diving, (with a DM), prior to my classes and certification. I have been lurking on this board for quite a while, trying to learn state of the sport techniques, and review common sense practices. I recently borrowed SSI's latest basic course book from a friend, and have read it cover to cover.

To my point of this post, on my first OW cert dive, we planned for 60', off the coast of West Palm Beach, and ended up at ~90'. The dive boat was looking for 'soft conditions' for us. From what I have read now, as an open water cert guy, I am only permitted to 60'?

PLEASE don't take this the wrong way, I have more than 7 dives and have NO desire to get to 200', (see this forum) but I would hate to ruin a dive trip for others because of new limits. I felt comfortable at what are now called 'advanced dives' because of the 'no deco if adhered to' concept. When I was first certified, it was to 130 feet, using old fashioned BCD, Reg, Octo, SPG, Depth gauge, and dive tables.

So does my OW cert limit me to <60' ? I am feeling cheated if this is the case. I won't enter a wreck, cave, closed space....whatever. I was in a quarry (read that as cold a bad vis) in NC and swam though a school bus, all the time concerned that ALL of my training was based on a safe, easy trip to the surface, if I have an issue.

Can I get a refresher, dive, dive, dive, and be ok with the industy to dive to 100'+??? or do I need more certs?

This is SOOOOOOO confusing.

 

[CD_in_Chitown]

There is no such thing as the scuba police, there is no physical law that spontaneously kills ow certified divers at depths around 61 ft.

The depth limits are agency recommendations, there is no way to enforce that in any meaningful way. As a professional dive master working through an agency affiliated shop would I tell you it's ok to dive below 60 ft with only an ow cert? No flipping way man, my insurance rates are high enough already.

Would I dive with my dad, who was SSI certified in 1975, made a couple hundred dives in 10 years and then didn't breath from SCUBA for 17 years until I talked him into a "refresher" and take him to a warm water wreck off the Bahamas in about 105 ft of water, knowing that he is comfortable in the water, comfortable with the dive plan, worthy of being MY/YOUR buddy on the dive in question. You bet.

Do I do dives now with more advanced divers that I trust, not "trust me" dives mind you, dives with divers that know me and my abiliities and invite me to tag along on what is a BIG dive for me but an average run-of-the-mill, been there, done that dive for them? Hell yeah, I plan on taking the class but I want to get a little experience on the far side of the envelope, in the safest way possible, to make sure I'm cut out for that next level that is going to cost me 150-500 depending on the level you are facing.

 

[wedivebc]

I was Cert-ed many years ago, but got away from diving for years. I did a pile of FW snorkelling, and eventually diving, (with a DM), prior to my classes and certification. I have been lurking on this board for quite a while, trying to learn state of the sport techniques, and review common sense practices. I recently borrowed SSI's latest basic course book from a friend, and have read it cover to cover.

To my point of this post, on my first OW cert dive, we planned for 60', off the coast of West Palm Beach, and ended up at ~90'. The dive boat was looking for 'soft conditions' for us. From what I have read now, as an open water cert guy, I am only permitted to 60'?

PLEASE don't take this the wrong way, I have more than 7 dives and have NO desire to get to 200', (see this forum) but I would hate to ruin a dive trip for others because of new limits. I felt comfortable at what are now called 'advanced dives' because of the 'no deco if adhered to' concept. When I was first certified, it was to 130 feet, using old fashioned BCD, Reg, Octo, SPG, Depth gauge, and dive tables.

So does my OW cert limit me to <60' ? I am feeling cheated if this is the case. I won't enter a wreck, cave, closed space....whatever. I was in a quarry (read that as cold a bad vis) in NC and swam though a school bus, all the time concerned that ALL of my training was based on a safe, easy trip to the surface, if I have an issue.

Can I get a refresher, dive, dive, dive, and be ok with the industy to dive to 100'+??? or do I need more certs?

This is SOOOOOOO confusing.

If you're looking for permission to violate your certifying agencies standards you probably won't get it here. Many divers, myself included did some rather "advanced" dives with nothing more than an open water card. The secret is baby steps. Get comfortable in the water then slooooowly nudge the envelope.
That said there is no substitute for proper training.

dive safe....

 

[Geddes]

By no means am I asking to violate any rules. I am just trying to find out what exactly the rules are....

 

[ShakaZulu]

With your diving experience, you should know that no-one checks your cert level for dives at a certain depth. Never happened to me anyway........... Your case is a little different since you've been certed before. PADI do advice OW depth limit to 60fsw. This is just a safety thing I think, since you can still make a CESA from that depth if all else goes wrong.

 

[wedivebc]

By no means am I asking to violate any rules. I am just trying to find out what exactly the rules are....

As it stands right now, except for very few places the scuba industry is self regulating. That means is has proven itself to apply common sense and for the most part government regulations have not interfered with the sport. This is why members of this board seem to get so passionate when they see people trying to go from OW to DM in 3 weeks.
We often joke, "watch out the PADI police will getcha" but really you are not breaking any laws if you strap on a single 80 and go to 200ft. We as scuba professionals have a responsabilty to you and the dive community as a whole to prevent your suicide but really if you're already comfortable at 100ft go for it. There are plenty of divers who learned to dive in the days of double hose regulators and home made wetsuits. They don't carry a c-card and many could dive circles around me.
So to answer your question by PADI standards:
OW 60ft in conditions similar to your training and experience
AOW 100ft training 130ft maximum depth also night and other experience dives

cheers,

 

[CBulla]

Actually, to quote from the NAUI site:

Sixty feet (18 m) is the maximum depth for any open water training dives during the course.

Hence, the training dives are limited to 60', recreational limit is 130'.

 

[miketsp]

Normally when I dive for the 1st time with an operator up to 45m, they ask me to fill in a form: what my qualification is, how many dives, date of last dive and deepest dive. Legally this gets them off a lot of hooks as then they will always be able to say that I was qualified for the dive. I have never been asked to show a logbook but I do have an SSI card which mentions 51 logged dives at the time it was issued.
If I book a deep air dive (50+m) and they don't know me they always want to see me dive first in the 40m range.

 

[lhpdiver]

Can I get a refresher, dive, dive, dive, and be ok with the industy to dive to 100'+??? or do I need more certs?

I think you only need 4 dives for AOW. You probably wouldn't need a refresher (you should probably tell the instructor your story). Down here that runs about $199 (that includes the dives - there's very little, if any, classroom) and you can dive Nitrox on 2 of the 4 dives and you'd be all set.

 

[jepuskar]

You say you dont want to break any rules, but the only rules exist for your instructor to adhere by for his training organization and your safety.

Once your certified, do whatever you want to do, if you dive with your buddy just make sure you let them know your intentions BEFORE the dive and then discuss it.

I love planning dives with just my buddy and I, with no guidance from anyone else or anyone else diving with us...we do what we want, go as deep as we want and exit when we want.. Now thats fun.