PADI Police in force

[jgros79]

I went diving off a boat in California recently and a customer got into an arugment
with the newer dive master because his buddy was an open water diver with 36 dives and the max depth was set at 80 ft for the dive. He said that's unsafe, against PADI rules, and wouldn't dive with his buddy to that depth....

Interestingly this seperated the dive boat, some for it some not. I have done alot of diving and would rather have an open water diver with 31 dives than an advanced diver with 10 dives. Diving seems to occasionally attract the know it all person who is convinced he know's best and everyone should only do what he thinks is right.

Because of this one guy we changed our dive site to a less exciting and shallower dive becasue the DM was worried about getting in trouble with PADI. My thought was 31 dives is plenty, you can't but experience and experience is what you really need. What do you guys think?

 

[Blackwood]

Depends on the diver.

 

[ronscuba]

I thought PADI had a 60 ft limit as a recommendation for new divers, not a rule. Also if the dive has a max depth limit of 80 ft. why couldn't the diver stay at 60 ft. if they wanted ?

 

[kanonfodr]

Depends on the diver.

^^^Werd. I know divers with 50 dives I wouldn't take past 60 feet (at least not without my doubles for mine and their redundancy) and I know divers with 15 dives I'd take deeper than that on a single tank, we'd simply have a chat before the dive to ensure they understood the plan.

Peace,
Greg

 

[Cave Diver]

Hard to argue safety. I'd much rather a diver stand up and say they're not comfortable going to a depth for whatever reason than for one to exceed their comfort level because they don't want to appear to be a (insert your word of choice here).

 

[drrich2]

Sounds like the complainer needs to bring his own buddy, stay off the boat or 'suck it up,' considering the type of situation involved. If you go out on boat dive trips like that, dives to 80 feet aren't that unusual from what I understand, and there are a lot of people who don't have AOW or Deep Diver certification and still dive to those depths.

Richard.

 

[Scott]

Since you didn't give specifics on the site other than it was 80' why couldn't these divers go down the anchor line that was in shallower water. Most Cali boats I dive from drop a stern and bow anchor. One is in closer to shore and the other is in deeper water.

Most DM's on Cali boats would have said I'm not telling you to go to the bottom just what the max depth is here. You plan your dive.'

 

[Dragon Eye]

Something tells me that guy never dove in Mexico.

Regardless if he was talking to his buddy before and determined it wasn't a good idea to dive that deep with them, came up with a reason, and the dive changed. Being responsible for yourself is #1. In the end it may have been a wet blanket for you. I too would rather dive with someone who has dives in crappy conditions under their belt than the one who classed themselves a Rescue diver.

 

[merxlin]

key words = "Max Depth" - You don't have to go to the bottom. I dove off Little Cayman, max depth is what 5000-8000ft? It never even crossed my mind to go to the bottom.

I would be surprised if there was nothing to see or any structure until you got to 80ft unless it was prearranged that these were going to be advanced dives.

 

[Ghanguss]

Sounds like the complainer needs to bring his own buddy, stay off the boat or 'suck it up,' considering the type of situation involved.

Agreed, most local operators give a planned location, so you have an idea of the max depth before hand. Its not uncommon for OW divers to do sites deeper than 60ft but just dive to the depth their comfortable with.


Having said that..
Recently a captain offered to take us to a 120ft location with OW divers on board. Its a flat reef with a small cave and the shallowest parts in the area are about 110ft.
I was the only one who objected, and did so on behalf of my OW instabuddy (more for my peace of mind Ill admitt) and for myself wanting more that 10 min bottom time. So instead we did a 95ft dive......