PADI OW Cert.- Depth of 4 OW dives

[NoDiver]

I am contemplating taking a PADI OW referral course here in the U.K and completing the OW dives in warmer climes.

If successful, I believe I will be certified to 60', however, will I actually be required to dive to 60' during any of the 4 dives?

 

[scoobydrew]

Hey there

You do not have to dive to the limit to be certified to it.

Your first 2 dives can not exceed 12 meters/40ft and the second 2 dives can not exceed 18M/60ft

The minimum depth for all 4 dives i believe without checking the manual is 5M each but of course you would go deeper than this.

The actual depths depend on the dives available in the location you go for and the instructor taking you i.e. his choice.

Enjoy the course, doing a referral is a pretty good option going out from the UK at this time of year.

Drew

 

[Diver0001]

I am contemplating taking a PADI OW referral course here in the U.K and completing the OW dives in warmer climes.

If successful, I believe I will be certified to 60', however, will I actually be required to dive to 60' during any of the 4 dives?

I tend to keep the dives shallower, around max 10 meters because it allows for longer dives. On occasion a student will specifically request being taken the the maximum depth for certification so I'll do it but it leads to having to shorten the dives and I would normally rather have them under water for longer. In terms of the actual diving, the only real difference beteen 10 and 18 metres is psychological.

Nevertheless if you're interested/curious in diving to 18 metres during the course then make sure your instructor is aware of that and hopefully they'll accomodate you.

R..

 

[NoDiver]

Thank you both for your responses. I don't anticipate wanting to go to 60' initially. It seems to me that the course is pretty short (more of an intro to diving really) and I doubt I'd feel confident enough to go to the maximum depth without doing more than the required 4 dives.

Hey! Who knows...I might be a complete natural

Nah, doubt it.

 

[scubajo007]

The rules are as explained by scoobydrew, and he correct, the minimum depth is 5m and it is not a must that you dive to 18m on any of your dives.
If you end up deeper that the limits the depth will be logged as the maximum allowed for the particular dive.
To give you something to compare with, I did a referral as you do with the open water dives in tropical waters. My OW dives was: 1st 9.8m, 2nd 13.2m (logged as 12m), 3rd 14.0m, 4th 13.3m and all of the underwater skills at a depth of 6 to 9m.
My GF did 1st 11m, 2nd 12m, 3rd 12m, 4th 19m (logged as 18m).
If the dive site allows then I think most Instructors would like to take you near the 18m on your last dive.

 

[NoDiver]

Thanks for the info Scubajo.

 

[String]

You can in theory do an OW course without going below 6-9m or so and still be certified to 18. I dont agree with this at all. On lower level course i cant see why anyone would certify someone to dive to a depth they've never been anywhere near.

 

[TMHeimer]

The OW course I did had us doing the skills at 20' (6 M) with the "tour" dive to about 30' (10 M). My first dive after the course was to 54' and second was to 78' (23 M) --with an instructor on board the boat and buddied with a very experienced diver (who disappeared once on me to catch 3 lobsters!). If you are comfortable in the water after the course checkout dives, you probably would feel OK doing something similar. I do agree that one should be taken down 60' (20 M) DURING the OW course since that's what you'll be certified to do. But in our case (as I'm sure in others) this was not possible logistically. Then again, you get certified to drive a car on city streets then can go 70 MPH on an interstate highway......

 

[NoDiver]

You can in theory do an OW course without going below 6-9m or so and still be certified to 18. I dont agree with this at all. On lower level course i cant see why anyone would certify someone to dive to a depth they've never been anywhere near.

That's a perfectly reasonable comment. I haven't done the course yet, but at this stage I wouldn't be happy to be let loose to dive to 18m after only 4 accompanied OW dives, but that's just me.

I don't intend diving below 10m (max) on my first dives and thereafter I will pay to accompanied by an instructor until such time as I feel confident enough to go with a buddy (and then it would have to be somebody experienced). Even then I probably wouldn't go that deep.

I can, however, see that some youngblood would see it as "I'm certified therefore I'm going for it"...a bit worrying I think, but then I'm much older, female, and naturally cautious...and very aware of my own mortality!

 

[mjatkins]

If you end up deeper that the limits the depth will be logged as the maximum allowed for the particular dive.
To give you something to compare with, I did a referral as you do with the open water dives in tropical waters. My OW dives was: 1st 9.8m, 2nd 13.2m (logged as 12m), 3rd 14.0m, 4th 13.3m and all of the underwater skills at a depth of 6 to 9m.
My GF did 1st 11m, 2nd 12m, 3rd 12m, 4th 19m (logged as 18m).

I would suggest to you that the only reason for logging the dive shallower than you actually went, is because your instructor recognized that he had broken standards by taking you past that depth. As instructors we are required to sign your logbook for the open water certification dives, and he doesn't want a record of his indiscretion, signed by him, floating around. So the numbers were changed to cover his butt.