Limits? Safety stops? Conflicting info- help?

[susan6868]

Our daughter is going through her classes to be certified so she can dive with the rest of the family. We trained a while ago and saw some information in her PADI book and video that conflicts with what we were taught.
First- the book claims you can do a no stop dive to 130 feet. We were taught 60 feet maximum. (Before anyone blasts me, we always do a safety stop regardless of how shallow we are just to stay in the habit) But, out of curiousity, how deep can you dive and pop to the surface without stopping if you wanted to.
Second- what is the depth limit for PADI OW certification? I thought 100 feet, my husband says 130, my daughter is being taught 60 feet. I know there are no dive police and you should dive within your comfort level and experience level but what is the official reccommendation on this one? Is it different for teenagers who are coinsidered "Junior" OW Divers?
Again, I think we're using common sense and have always erred on the side of conservative diving but we are all arguing about the published info and recommended limits.
Can anyone shed some light? It'll be interesting to see what a wide array of opinions there are!
PS- I've searched the thread and the bits and pieces I can find are equally conflicted and confusing.

Safe diving!
Susan

 

[mattroz]

By no stop they mean no decompression stops... you can go to 130 with no deco but it'll be a rather short visit.

With PADI OW the recommended depth limit is 60 feet. but again as you said there are no scuba police

 

[susan6868]

Thanks for the clarification and forgive my ignorance but what do you mean by "it'll be a rather short visit?"

 

[Kim]

Safety stops are recommended for NDL dives - but are not mandatory (that would make them actual decompression stops). They are a very good idea for extra safety.

Depth limits are also recommended for levels of certification. Basic OW has a recommended limit of 60ft, AOW extends that to 100ft, Deep diver to 130ft.

 

[Dryglove]

Thanks for the clarification and forgive my ignorance but what do you mean by "it'll be a rather short visit?"

A dive to 130 ft would give you a no decompression limit of 5 minutes bottom time which is what he meant by the rather short visit.

 

[markfm]

PADI RDP NDL is 10 minutes for 130', best I can tell -- who uses 2?

 

[Dryglove]

PADI RDP NDL is 10 minutes for 130', best I can tell -- who uses 2?

Oops typo. Hit the 2 instead of the 5 My ssi charts show 5 min at 130 and 10 min at 120

 

[markfm]

Cool, thanks -- I knew there are variances between agencies, just never knew what any other org's numbers were.

 

[Web Monkey]

Our daughter is going through her classes to be certified so she can dive with the rest of the family. We trained a while ago and saw some information in her PADI book and video that conflicts with what we were taught.
First- the book claims you can do a no stop dive to 130 feet. We were taught 60 feet maximum. (Before anyone blasts me, we always do a safety stop regardless of how shallow we are just to stay in the habit) But, out of curiousity, how deep can you dive and pop to the surface without stopping if you wanted to.

There are actually 2 (maybe more) questions here.

The first one is the depth limit. OW divers are supposed to limit their depth to about 60' because as you go deeper, when things go bad, they go bad much faster, with much less time to sort them out, and because at 130', everybody is narced whether thay realize/admit it or not, you not only have less time, but you're significantly mentally impaired as well.

If you're at 40' and have a problem, you might have almost an hour to figure out what to do. If you have a problem at 130', you immediately run into the 5 minute (SSI) or 10 minute (PADI) No Decompression Limit, and you also find that your air is being used up very quickly, and what would be an hour tank has become a 15 minute (or less) tank.

The second issue is age. Medically speaking, children and teens are not just small adults. See http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=555 for more information from actual doctors with knowlege in this area.

Terry

 

[H2Andy]

First- the book claims you can do a no stop dive to 130 feet. We were taught 60 feet maximum.

both are correct. the "limit" for recreational diving is 130 feet. per PADI's table,
you can have a no-decompression dive to 130 feet for 10 minutes. however,
be careful with your air. you may end up using a lot more than you think you can.

the 60 feet number is a recommendation as the maximum limit for open water
card holders. the limit goes down to 100, i belive, with a advanced open water,
and 130 with a deep diving specialty. i am not too sure about the specifics, but
basically the bottom keeps getting deeper the more classes you take.

But, out of curiousity, how deep can you dive and pop to the surface without stopping if you wanted to.

well... safely? i would say no depth. every dive is a decompression dive, and
a slow ascent is a rolling decompression stop. you have to give time to the
bubbles in your tissues to come out of solution slowly. if you pop to the surface,
you may end up bent.