log book checks?

[Teamcasa]

PADI Basic Open Water Diver is limited to 130'

Dave

 

[CompuDude]

PADI Basic Open Water Diver is limited to 130'

Dave

Not technically true, although there are many Dive Ops that don't enforce the limit.

"Scuba Diver" cert is only to 12m/40'.
"Open Water" cert is to 18m/60'.
"Advanced Open Water" cert is considered good to the recreational limits (40m/130').

There are no laws enforcing any of this, but technically, those are the limits... beyond which technically, any cert is only rated for conditions "as good or better than those during your training", meaning if you were certified in 80 degree tropical reefs off of boats, while there is no distinction made on the cards, you're not technically qualified to tackle cold water shore diving in difficult conditions.

PADI's website CRAWLS and is annoying to navigate, so I'm plucking this summary off a random Dive Op's website:

SCUBA DIVER
Only have 2 days to spare? You still have time to take the Scuba Diver course, which will give you a life long diving certificate. This certificate enables you to dive up to a maximum of 12mts/40ft under the direct supervision of a PADI professional. This 2 day instructor led course entails 3 classroom sessions, 3 shallow water skill sessions and 2 open water dives. Your certificate can also be used as credit towards your full Open Water Certificate. (Available to persons 10 years and over)

* 1.5/2 days duratio
* 3 confined water sessions, 2 open water dives to max. 12 m
* 3 knowledge development sessions with quizzes.
* 200m Swim and 10 minute float.
* PADI Open Water Diver Certification to 12m on completion

OPEN WATER
The most popular scuba diving course in the world is the PADI Open Water Course. This 3 - 4 day course gives you the foundational knowledge and skills you need to be able to dive with a buddy independent of supervision. Our open water course consists of 5 shallow water skill sessions, 5 classroom sessions and 4 open water dives, all at different dive sites around Little Corn, taking you to a depth of 18mts/60ft. Upon completion you will receive a Dive Little Corn log book to record your wonderful diving holiday, and of course your life long certification card which is recognized world wide. (Available to persons 11 years and over)

* 4 days duration
* 5 confined water sessions, 2 open water dives to max. 12m, 2 open water dives to max. 18m, knowledge development sessions with quizzes and final exam. 200m swim and 10 minute float
* PADI Open Water Diver Certificate to 18m on completion.

ADVANCED OPEN WATER
Are you already a certified Open Water diver, who would like to gain more knowledge and experience in diving? Have you wondered what it is like down at 30mt/100ft or how different things look at night, or how your dive leader always finds the boat and knows so many different fish species. The answer to all these questions and more is in the Advanced Open Water course. Our course consists of 5 different specialty dives and knowledge development sessions, spaced over 2 -3 days. The 2 mandatory dives are a deep dive, where you can experience the rush of playing with Mrs Potato Head at 30mts/100ft and a navigation dive, where you can learn just how your dive leader always finds the boat. You can choose 3 elective dives from any of the following that interest you.

Nights dive - witness Caribbean Octopus and the optical extravaganza of phosphorescence

Naturalist dive - learn all about the different sea life of Little Corn and just how many different shark varieties we have here.

Multilevel dive - refine your dive plan to offer you the most bottom time at any given depth.

Peak performance buoyancy dive - learn to enjoy getting in close and personal to the reef with good buoyancy control.

Drift dive - experience the rush of a strong current as it pulls your effortlessly along the reef.

Photography dive - want to show people at home what you did on holiday> Take a camera into the depths to record your experience.

All these and more are available to you as part of your instructor led Advanced Open Water Course. (Applies to Open Water Divers)

* 2 days duration
* 5 open water dives (Deep and Navigation + 3 Elective dives), knowledge development sessions.
* Must be PADI Open Water Diver or qualifying rating to enroll.
* PADI Advanced Open Water Certification on completion.

 

[String]

Actually AOW is 30m/100ft.

You need to do the deep speciality (not adventure dive) to qualify to 40m/130ft.

 

[Teamcasa]

Sorry, Here is the answer directly from PADI.

"Limit your maximum depth to your training and experience level. Scuba Divers are limited to 40 feet. As an Open Water Diver, limit your dives to a maximum depth 60 feet. Divers with greater training and experience should generally limit themselves to a maximum depth of 100 feet."

NO certification mentioned yet.

"Divers with appropriate experience and/or training may dive as deep as 130 feet."

NO certification mentioned yet, only experience and/or training.

"Plan all dives as no decompression dives and no dive should ever exceed the maximum depth limit for recreational scuba diving of 130 feet. Decompression diving falls outside recreational diving, and the Recreational Dive Planner was not designed for planning decompression dives."

This is from the PADI training CD and the test also says 130 max.

Dave

 

[CompuDude]

Actually AOW is 30m/100ft.

You need to do the deep speciality (not adventure dive) to qualify to 40m/130ft.

Good point, I stand corrected. Couldn't find any official materials re AOW's limits on PADI's so-called website.

Tho we went to 125' for the deep dive on my AOW cert... in 1989.

For a publishers of some pretty well laid out manuals, PADI has an annoyingly poorly organized website... not to mention slow as molasses.

 

[CompuDude]

Sorry, Here is the answer directly from PADI.

"Limit your maximum depth to your training and experience level. Scuba Divers are limited to 40 feet. As an Open Water Diver, limit your dives to a maximum depth 60 feet. Divers with greater training and experience should generally limit themselves to a maximum depth of 100 feet."

NO certification mentioned yet.

"Divers with appropriate experience and/or training may dive as deep as 130 feet."

NO certification mentioned yet, only experience and/or training.

"Plan all dives as no decompression dives and no dive should ever exceed the maximum depth limit for recreational scuba diving of 130 feet. Decompression diving falls outside recreational diving, and the Recreational Dive Planner was not designed for planning decompression dives."

This is from the PADI training CD and the test also says 130 max.

Dave

Dave, I have to disagree. You say "NO certification mentioned yet." immediatly after quoting: "Scuba Divers are limited to 40 feet. As an Open Water Diver, limit your dives to a maximum depth 60 feet."

"Scuba Diver" is an actual PADI Certification, as is "Open Water Diver".

And regardless of what we have to say on the issue, or getting into "and/or" semantics, there are a number of Dive Ops that WILL NOT take anyone without AOW on dives exceeding 60', especially on the East Coast (and parts of Florida, I think?).

 

[SparticleBrane]

My NAUI open water is 130'.

 

[ClayJar]

My NAUI open water is 130'.

Actually, to further muddle the waters, it's not NAUI "open water" -- it's NAUI "Scuba Diver".

 

[lazyturtle]

It sounds that way to me. I just tend to call them Scandals, for all sorts of different reasons. I like to think that if I went there, there wouldn't be a problem because I'm have all my own equiptment, my computer, C-Card and log book. Now, what say experience more than that?
..................
If I've got all my info, and I've traveled for wreck dives and the op said they'd take me to some wrecks don't back out and say "Well, I think we're just going to do a bunch of natural reefs because I think you'd like them better".

Two things:
1. Having gear does not imply experience. In fact some of the worst divers I've ever seen owned full sets of gear. The type of gear doesn't matter either. I've seen people with awesome dive gear, but couldn't dive at all. All having gear means to me is that you've got money.
2. If the boat people think that the reef dives are better than the wrecks, you might want to question why (unless you REALLY want to see a wreck) they think that way. It may be that the wreck dives aren't particularly good dives. If someone demands a particular dive I generally take them there (conditions permitting of course), even if it's not a dive that I'd choose. The smart people on the boat let me pick the sites because I want to do the BEST dives (I certainly didn't come to work to go on crappy dives did I?). I try and pick based on experience level, conditions and preferences in that order

 

[Teamcasa]

...And regardless of what we have to say on the issue, or getting into "and/or" semantics, there are a number of Dive Ops that WILL NOT take anyone without AOW on dives exceeding 60', especially on the East Coast (and parts of Florida, I think?).

Agreed - PADI does skirt the issue carefully. Too many lawyers I would guess.

My original point remains the same, I will not pay a Dive Op to limit my dive. I'll just find someone else's boat. I also know my limits and more importantly, I know the limitations of my dive buddy, my lovely bride! She is the final arbitrator on the depth and duration of the dive!

Dave