Difference between PADI AOW and deep diver

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Yea right, if you think your dive shop can get this money ... even their insurance will fight and your survivors are unlikely to see the money soon :)

Or is it more efficient in the US ?

Looks like there is more than just one little drawback to Snoweman's completely serious strategy to profit from dangerous dive ops.
 
There's a couple of charters here in NC that "require" a deep cert. to dive with them past 60 feet. No matter that I've been diving for 20 years and can bring all 4 of my log books to show dives to 120+ feet, they don't care. Most likely it's a liability precaution to help keep the slime bag lawyers serving papers off their doorsteps. I replied to one of their facebook posts that they had slots to fill on their boat, but no dice as I didnt' have a "PADI Deep Cert" to dive to their 80 feet.

"My client was an idiot and only had 1 dive (in a pool) and you let him dive to 80 feet, so you own my client's widow $281,322,912,567 million dollars because you were grossly negligent."

Same thing with the "We don't fill 6351 cylinders older than 1989.

I don’t know who is pulling that game in N.C., but I’m glad I haven’t been stopped by them. Most charters in N.C., and I think by now I’ve been on all, are a “don’t ask, don’t tell” situation when it comes to depth and your certification. Now when you walk on a certain boat operating out of Wilmington, with a big fat “OXYGEN MOD 20ft” decal on one of your tanks, you rais some questions, also their general fear of decompression gets me, all they care is that their passengers computers say they did not exceed NDL, which is ridiculous given that so many computers with different algorithms, and conservatism settings are being used, but that’s a different argument.

I think your confidence and not asking too many questions, at least in N.C. goes a long way. I’ve yet to go on a boat in N.C. that forbid solo diving either. SC is a different story.

Also assuming you were certified 20ish years ago, wasn’t that a time when “open water” sufficed, and material that is no covered in advance and basic open water, we’re the covered in one course?
 
I think it all depends on the person, I was doing dives to 30m/100 ft in my first 20 dives. Within my first 10 dives I was almost exclusively diving doubles with a back plate and wing, by 50 more than half my dives required deco, some of which is done on O2. I think we need to move past the notion that number of dives equals competence and experience and focuse more on someone’s abilities.

Furthermore, I think scuba training is severely lacking in an understanding on decompression and decompression theory, every diver should have an understanding in the off chance a dive goes awry.

While I agree with you that it depends on the person I think its far from the normal and irresponsible to post something like this in basic scuba. did you have any deco training or did you just wing it? If you did manage to get an entry level tech course with a good instructor finished in 25 total dives Im impressed. BIG emphasis on a good instructor.
Any entry level tech class is 6-10 dives and OW and AOW is 10 dives so basically you had 5 dives by yourself before you were doing exclusive deco dives some with accelerated deco?
 
OW dive limits were 40m when I took the class. For that matter OW dive #3 was between 30m and 40m. Was that a good idea? Possibly not. And they did suggest that you work up to the the deeper dives. But saying you can't dive below 20m with an OW cert is just silly. Why are you waiting around for someone else to tell you what to do? Do go slowly, do learn about how much gas you need. But more classes? Maybe, maybe not.
 
The main reason why I took the deep diver is that here (Italy) the diving centers are very strict, they really don’t allow you to get on the boat if they suspect you will exceed the certification depth limits. When diving with an association or group the diving masters are responsible for the people they bring. When you go alone the diving center checks the certifications and limits and mostly they always have a diving master who will check what other divers are doing. And that makes sense...anyway once you get the AOW there is no big difference with the th deep. A decently trained AOW should be skilled enough to do the same dives as a deep diver
 
While I agree with you that it depends on the person I think its far from the normal and irresponsible to post something like this in basic scuba. did you have any deco training or did you just wing it? If you did manage to get an entry level tech course with a good instructor finished in 25 total dives Im impressed. BIG emphasis on a good instructor.
Any entry level tech class is 6-10 dives and OW and AOW is 10 dives so basically you had 5 dives by yourself before you were doing exclusive deco dives some with accelerated deco?

I far from winged it, I started diving with every intent of being a Tec diver. I took my open water, from there every dive had a purpose behind it to learn new skills. One of my dive partners are a former army combat diver, and one completed the Navy’s equivalent. They put me through the wringer. I dove regularly, at 25 dives I got my advanced cert, and by 35 I’d completed my deco procedures abs and cancer nitrox. “Intro to Tec” is not a prerequisite for deco pro or advanced nitrox, it’s merely a suggestion for anyone not familiar with doubles, or the gear.

At no point did I wing deco, or go into deco without planning it. A desire to stay down longer/ go deeper, necessitated deco training. And I should clarify, half of my dives number 25-50 required deco, so doubly a quarter at that point.

Did I have a questionable instructor? Absolutely not, I sought recamendation from local instructors in my area, on who to go to in Florida. The instructor I chose, teaches all open circuit Tec courses, to include full cave.
 
Did I have a questionable instructor? Absolutely not, I sought recamendation from local instructors in my area, on who to go to in Florida. The instructor I chose, teaches all open circuit Tec courses, to include full cave.
Who was it? Others might want to know....
 
In the mediterranean since there is no coral reef the wrecks are mostly quite deep and some species live mostly at -40 or more, for example lobsters or what we call St Peter's Fish or "John Dory" in English
John Dory - Wikipedia
But my main and right now only reason to get the Deep Dive is to go to the Haven wreck in Arenzano (Genova). The top of the sunken ship is visible from about 35 or 40 meters, theoreticallly with an AOW it would be already possible to do the dive in terms of skills but of course the diving centers do not allow people to go there unless they have already the Deep Dive
I am aware that -40 meters is already different from -30 and it implies more risks, I would go -40 only together with the instructors and under their supervision

Heya Sbiriguda, Although I run the risk coming over as an old fart, pointing a finger. I would err on the side of caution. You don't know what you don't know and the Haven is in my opinion NOT a recreational dive. yes the superstructure is at 35-40 m, but this is a supertanker, the deck is at 50-55m and the keel at 80m. I've dived a couple of times on the Haven and it's a very nice dive when you can take your time diving it and are not limited by recreational barriers.

Yes it's a diveshop business, and recreational divers dive it all the time, but what's the use... you spend top euro to dive it, and in the end you just scratch the surface of the top superstructure for 10 minutes max before going up. I don't know from which part of Italy you are (I'm living currently in the Veneto area), but for sure there are many nice dives to be had, without doing deepish stuff. Gain experience slowly, look for mentors, take some courses (nitrox, advanced nitrox, IANTD essentials or GUE fundies are excellent courses to start with)... and go from there...

The Haven will still be there in a couple of years... what's the rush?
 
There are some dive centers in Croatia that will not take you to some sites without Deep Diver card, whether from PADI or any other agency that have such certification. You mostly stay shallower, but nevertheless, since bottom is way down and you have an opportunity to go deep, you won't be taken without that card (of course, if you're CMAS ** all is good).


Another "let's invent our own rules" example. Safety stop is not mandatory. Period.
Someone started with 18 or 30 meters limit, and now it is a rule of business. I wonder how long it will be before safety stops become mandatory?

Maybe you should look into some doppler studies on residual venous bubbles and the link with slowing your ascend the last 5 m of a dive (yep that's like a safety stop). It SHOULD be mandatory, on every dive!
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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