OW Maximum Dive Depth?

[Mirek V]

Interesting discussions on the depth limits. When I got certified OW in Hawaii in 1989, they told us of the 130 ft limit provided we gradually get comfortable and experienced. However, there was nothing of this nonsense of shops refusing taking you on a charter to 80 ft depth! All it is doing is to force you to spend more money and get higher certification level, never mind your real experience. When you go on a charter you sign a release and this should get the lawyers off the operators' backs. Operators should not be allowed to limit who they take as long as you have a valid certification and sign the release. OW should be down to 130 ft. As stated before, if you have AOW but no experience, you have no business on a 80 ft dive - but that is your business and that is why you have to sign the release. Just please remove the commercial profiteering from scuba diving!

 

[Cruiser24]

talk abt commercial profiteering... i did a liveaboard in thailand and the dive instructor refused to allow me to dive beyond 18m/60ft because i was then only ow certified. he cited padi rulings, insurance etc etc. however, he said if i was prepared to pay him some extra money, i can dive to 30m/100ft. what a joke!!

talk about corruption!! this dive instructor thought that just becoz he was living/diving in thailand he can get away with this nonsense. btw, this dive instructor is a brit and he is padi certified. shame on him.

 

[oahu_diver]

Exactly, at least in regards to PADI (my OW agency). I actually had an experience where I was not allowed to join a charter on an 80ft OW dive in Hawaii because I didn't have an AOW card. When I asked about their rationale and tried to describe my diving experience, the guy at the shop said that by diving below 60ft, I was in breach of the limits of my OW certification.

I knew this was hogwash, and for some reason I was particularly offended by such a statement, so I called PADI and spoke to a member of their training council, who verified to me that there was no "maximum depth" to PADI OW certification. They "do not recommend that new divers exceed 60ft," but the standards merely say to "not exceed the limits of your training or experience." So there it is...

My experience in Hawaii is that most charter boats are staffed by instructors...or at least divemasters. There is no reason you can not dive past 60 feet...especially if your guide is an instructor. I think that shop was just trying to sell you an AOW course.

 

[Rhenry]

Reason number 42 as to why we should have a set of standards. The 60 ft limit for an OW card makes sense for a number of reasons stated here already. If there are no limits for an OW card than why have an AOW certification level? I believe that all certification agencies have this post secondary level cert in their respective programs.
The whole experience theory is subjective. What constitutes an acceptable level of experience to dive at a given depth? With an AOW card the boat captain can reasonably point to an agency giving its blessing that this diver can safely dive at that depth. the reality is something entirely different as some of us can attest to. But from a point of liability, an advanced cert card provides a level of proof that a diver can perform safely at a given depth.

 

[DevonDiver]

talk abt commercial profiteering... i did a liveaboard in thailand and the dive instructor refused to allow me to dive beyond 18m/60ft because i was then only ow certified. he cited padi rulings, insurance etc etc. however, he said if i was prepared to pay him some extra money, i can dive to 30m/100ft. what a joke!!

talk about corruption!! this dive instructor thought that just becoz he was living/diving in thailand he can get away with this nonsense. btw, this dive instructor is a brit and he is padi certified. shame on him.

Probably took one look at you and realized that you needed to be limited for your own safety.

Your attitude towards the prudent safety advice of a seasoned professional only serves to substantiate that.

Was the 'extra money' to cover further training and/or mentoring dives by any chance? doh!

I think it's entirely fair that dive professionals safe guard their customers, themselves and the reputation of their businesses by ensuring that safe diving practices are followed. Most dive operations aren't that strict about qualifications-depths, after all, they are only agency recommended limits. Dive operations normally make a final decision based upon an appraisal of the individual diver. Obviously, in this case, you did not impress...

 

[vladimir]

talk abt commercial profiteering... i did a liveaboard in thailand and the dive instructor refused to allow me to dive beyond 18m/60ft because i was then only ow certified. he cited padi rulings, insurance etc etc. however, he said if i was prepared to pay him some extra money, i can dive to 30m/100ft. what a joke!!

talk about corruption!! this dive instructor thought that just becoz he was living/diving in thailand he can get away with this nonsense. btw, this dive instructor is a brit and he is padi certified. shame on him.

Was it a bribe to ignore safety protocols, as you seem to suggest? Or did he want extra money for training, or for a divemaster assigned to baby-sit you, either of which seems more likely? I suspect DevonDiver's take on this is correct. I have done at least a hundred dives in Thailand, including one liveaboard, with a handful of different dive operators. Nobody has ever suggested that I limit the depth of my dives because I am only OW certified, and nobody has suggested I pay extra for the privilege of diving deeper than 18 meters.

Whether it was a bribe solicitation or a blanket limit on OW divers going deeper than 18 meters, please name the operator, so I don't mistakenly book a trip with them. I hope other posters will also name those dive operations that restrict depth based on certification level. I have never encountered that, and I would strongly prefer not to.

 

[knowone]

Ahhhh, the endless discussion over the affordability of a loaf of bread, whilst
still imbibing in beer and cigarettes, for the rest of time despite the rationale
in consuming any of those products for as long as that life may be extended

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Interesting discussions on the depth limits.

Interesting choice of threads for your first post; welcome to ScubaBoard.

This discussion pretty much ended over a year ago, when the Original Poster (OP) posted these words...

After speaking to the dive operator in Turks and Caicos, they assured me it would not be a problem, and that all dives would be accessible to OW divers.

 

[Cruiser24]

Probably took one look at you and realized that you needed to be limited for your own safety.

Your attitude towards the prudent safety advice of a seasoned professional only serves to substantiate that.

Was the 'extra money' to cover further training and/or mentoring dives by any chance? doh!

I think it's entirely fair that dive professionals safe guard their customers, themselves and the reputation of their businesses by ensuring that safe diving practices are followed. Most dive operations aren't that strict about qualifications-depths, after all, they are only agency recommended limits. Dive operations normally make a final decision based upon an appraisal of the individual diver. Obviously, in this case, you did not impress...

dear andy, u mean by looking at someone u r able to determine the level of his/her diving proficiency even before he/she gets into the water? wow u can be a fortune teller!!

perhaps we need to engage u for our courts so that by ur 1 specialist look, u can determine if the suspect is guilty or not and have not to waste time and resources going to trial. did u learn this specialist skill by being a dive instructor?? if so, we will send all our lawyers to your specialist class!!

the extra money is NOT to cover any extra training whatsoever but just so to allow me to dive deeper. so what do u call this in the dive industry? facilitation fee?? muahahaha!!

there will always be black sheeps in any industry be it in the legal, medical, finance and dive industry. can u say that ALL dive instructors on this planet earth do not have any integrity/character issues??

so u dont have to blindly (without knowing the full facts of this case) to come out and speak for your country man juz becoz u r a brit and hv lived in thailand.

 

[herbdb]

I finished the first two of my AOW dives last weekend (NAV and Peak Perf Buoyancy). Good review, but nothing new. I decided to get the AOW specifically to appease the Key Largo operators. Beats me how someone with 10 dives in a quarry and an AOW card is more qualified than I am with 130+ dives in many different locations, but I am tired of the same old sites when I visit the Keys.

Probably just an insurance issue.