Cruise ship excursion dives for newbies question

[kenbert61]

Nobody told me to limit my dives to 60 feet. I was certified to 100 and figured I was good to go to that depth. Now that said I knew enough not to press a 100 feet right away, but dove to 80-85 right off the bat.
I would think warm water, good vis, in calm conditons is more important then 60 or 80 feet I am wrong.?

 

[tyesai]

Nobody told me to limit my dives to 60 feet. I was certified to 100 and figured I was good to go to that depth. Now that said I knew enough not to press a 100 feet right away, but dove to 80-85 right off the bat.
I would think warm water, good vis, in calm conditons is more important then 60 or 80 feet I am wrong.?

If you think of it as 33%-40% deeper does it make a difference to you? It does to me.

 

[dmcutter]

I just got my OW cert this past summer and the book says 60 ft. I was in Aruba on vacation at the beginning of the month, and on my first dive the DM said we'd go to around 100 ft if the vis was good and 80 if it wasn't. I thought, "but wait, I'm only supposed to go to 60 ft" and I had introduced myself as a newb with only about 15 dives, but no one told me I couldn't go to the planned depth. We bottomed out at 95 ft and the only difference I felt was having to clear my ears a little bit more. I think if you are in control of your buoyancy, stay calm, and manage your air (and stay with your buddy and DM) the incremental differences are not so great. You can do just as much damage ascending too rapidly from 60 ft as from 100, can't you?

 

[k ellis]

This is true you can do just as much damage at 60 as 100 but there are a lot of variables that go into deeper diving. One of which is usually not a problem in tropicals such as Aruba and thats the neoprene one wears.

As a diver decends we all know or should know that neoprene compresses and therefore at depth buoyancy is less and we have to add a tad bit of air to the BCD to offset the compression. The downside of this is on the ascent if one is not 100 percent in tune then you can easily find your self in a rapid ascent and this causes dangerous issues. Now I am not saying a person with 15 dives cant be a good diver at depth but the reality is the exposure to the potential problems is a reality with such few dives.

Other issues and concerns I have is that as a new diver one doesnt really know their own sac rate and at depth this can lead to disaster if one does not know what to expect with their consumption. Your using your air twice as fast if not three times in some cases. I have seen new divers bounce dive to a mere 70 feet and come right back up and literaly have less then 500 pounds of air left.

Other concerns is simple safety procedures that have not yet come in to common place as more experienced divers know. Things such as 3 minute safety stops and what to do and when to expect a possible deco stop situation should it arise.

Still yet another issue is the increasing potential to get narced and how to manage it when you realize what is happening. Yes becoming narced can happen under 60 feet though its not very common to do so but at say 100 feet its a very real possiblity if not reality for many divers.

At these increased depths there is an increased need to be aware of your surroundings as if an entanglement occurs you may be in real trouble if not with an experienced buddy since dives at that depth are often measured in mere minutes (often 10 - 20 minutes tops) and this doesnt leave much room for error at these depths.

I personaly am an outspoken advocate against newer divers taking the plunge and earning bragging rights with only a handful of dives and feel newer divers should not be exposed to such dives and the responsibilities that come with such dives.

 

[kenbert61]

Are there two different certifcation levels 60 feet and 100 feet for OW

 

[parzdiver]

Are there two different certifcation levels 60 feet and 100 feet for OW

Within the PADI world, the guidelines are Open Water cert to 60 feet, Advanced Open Water to 90 feet, and Deep Specialty to 130. These are not hard and fast rules, since in reality the scuba police won't come after you if you go deeper. I did many dives beyond 60 feet and some beyond 90 before getting my AOW. There are additional consideration to deeper diving not fully explained in the Open Water course material, but personally I think the PADI guidelines are very conservative. Not to say a new diver should rush out to see how deep they should go, but on a guided dive in clear water, going to 80 or 90 feet shouldn't pose any issues for a new diver.

 

[softballer]

My first ocean dives this summer and it was from a cruise ship in Costa Maya. Our first dive we went to 81ft, and our second dive was about 55ft.

I was kinda concerned at first, but realized very quickly that if you are with a competent group with good dm's you will be fine. I was never more than 5ft from one of the DM's and they were very very attentive to all of us.

Enjoy yourself you are going to have a great time.

 

[fjpatrum]

Within the PADI world, the guidelines are Open Water cert to 60 feet, Advanced Open Water to 90 feet, and Deep Specialty to 130. These are not hard and fast rules, since in reality the scuba police won't come after you if you go deeper. I did many dives beyond 60 feet and some beyond 90 before getting my AOW. There are additional consideration to deeper diving not fully explained in the Open Water course material, but personally I think the PADI guidelines are very conservative. Not to say a new diver should rush out to see how deep they should go, but on a guided dive in clear water, going to 80 or 90 feet shouldn't pose any issues for a new diver.

These are recommendations, though, not hard and fast "rules", as you said. Nowhere does the PADI manual state you're allowed to go deeper, just that they (PADI) recommend you stay at such and such a depth. It is fairly conservative, as you said, but seems to take into account a lot of different dive possibilities. We can't all be in warm water with good vis.

Personally, I think it's ridiculous but there are some legitimate reasons. My max depth has been to ~ 75 FSW on my second dive after my OW class. I was with a DM and vis and temps were good so no worries. I didn't notice any major difference between 60 FSW and 75 FSW, but I'd probably be more aware of the difference between 60 FSW and 100.

 

[kenbert61]

Okay that explains it a little to me. SSI is 100 feet open water and 130 foot advanced.
They recomend taking a deep class for anything past 60, and it was stressed to never ever dive beyond my comfort zone.
My buddy's and I are verry happy with SSI and were kinda shocked when we started diving off boats in North Carolina at some of the behavior of some divers ,but I guess that comes down to a instructor more then an agency.

 

[TMHeimer]

Not important, but PADI AOW has always been to 100'. Did they change that to 90'?