Something's not right...

[Kim]

Maybe I'm wrong but I thought that the 'Open' in 'Open Water' referred to the absence of an overhead - i.e. you only have open water above you.

 

[jbd]

Maybe I'm wrong but I thought that the 'Open' in 'Open Water' referred to the absence of an overhead - i.e. you only have open water above you.

The distinction is made between confined water and openwater for training purposes. As an example, my BIL was trained in Jamaica. The confined portion of the training was conducted in a small, well protected cove. For the certification dives they went out of the cove by boat to another location which was affected by wind, waves and currents.

Along the lines of cdiver2's comments, one could make a very valid arguement that many quarries are actually confined water dives as opposed to openwater dives.

 

[s7595]

as far as new divers go ,I belive it is all about comfort level and how good of an instructor they had . me and my buddy went with his 2 friends ,when they were geting cert and there was a lady who was not that realy comfoetable in the water and the dept was only 20' fw. now I am the type that dept does not bother me ,my buddy does need to know that if I need him or her that they can help, or if they need me I can help.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Do you ever drive the recommended speed??? It's their lives........

LOL

Yes it's their lives but new divers sometimes think that because they were given a card they can can dive. The truth is that classes and the new divers skills suck...big time. I mean really, there is a difference between sitting on the bottom clearing a mask and diving.

They just have no clue. You're right though, it's their lives.

I do know one thing though, I'm tired of having them scare the crap out of me. I just close my eyes now...not really...I just don't where that goofy stuff goes on.

 

[MikeFerrara]

There is very little taught in most open water courses that has anything at all to do with deep diving. ok...very little that has to do with any kind of diving but certainly not deep.

like...
gas management?
Buddy skills?...and I don't mean kneeling on the bottom sharing air...or following a DM on a 5 minute tour in a pack.

I think some people are fooling themselves...or letting the c-card dealers fool you.

 

[alemaozinho]

What do you think?

OW students (certified to 18m or 60ft) are always keen to get out on a boat trip, especially if they haven't done one during the course, and rightfully so. But, and this perplexes me, neither the dive shop nor the boat operators seem to care about the depth that they take them to.

I see it all the time. Only last week I was witness to 5 newly qualified divers being taken to a spot where the minimum depth was 22m (71ft)! On this occasion this was their 5th dive, the four others being the open water course.

It must confuse the hell out of them because they just get through a course where they are told that the recommended depth is 18m or 60ft and straight after qualification they are diving a lot deeper. The thing is because the dive shops are saying its OK by not saying anything the newbie’s don’t question it. They trust what they are being booked into because the guy booking them in has more experience than they do therefore it must be Ok.

Something’s not right somewhere.

Coogeeman

:11ztongue :11ztongue
11 feet=3.3meters deeper is not a lot in my opinion.165 feet is the norm in europe and the fatality rate isnt higher as in the continental us.It sounds a lot in feet but you can convert it into the metric system so that it doesnt freak you out so much when you see an open water diver at 71 feet=852 inches woohhooo.Peace : :11ztongue

 

[Brian Gilpin]

Anybody who has dove various parts of the world knows that you can exceed those limits on a Discover Scuba dive. A now certified buddy of mine went to 90 ft in Cozumel last year before he ever started OW. I have seen it myself below sixty ft several times.

Its just a recommendation not the law in most cases. Wait until you have been diving longer. You will see a lot more than that.

 

[texdiveguy]

I think newly cert. OW divers are best to limit dives to 60ft.. After they have logged several dives beyond the 4 req. for the c-card they may if comfortable go a bit deeper. I think an AOW course is a great thing to take if diving at depth.....and of course practice and that means making dives of good quality.

 

[Xanthro]

LOL

Yes it's their lives but new divers sometimes think that because they were given a card they can can dive. The truth is that classes and the new divers skills suck...big time. I mean really, there is a difference between sitting on the bottom clearing a mask and diving.

They just have no clue. You're right though, it's their lives.

I do know one thing though, I'm tired of having them scare the crap out of me. I just close my eyes now...not really...I just don't where that goofy stuff goes on.

That's a bit insulting to all new divers. The skill range of new divers is going to very as greatly as that of seasoned divers. I've seen people who have dove for years who had no trim, swam vertical, and sucked air like a hoover.

Fact is, some people could dive WITHOUT a C card, much less need on. Some people can't dive well with a C card and years of practice.

I don't think my classes sucked, and I don't think I sucked or for that matter still suck, since I've only been diving a month.

Xanthro

 

[MikeFerrara]

Anybody who has dove various parts of the world knows that you can exceed those limits on a Discover Scuba dive. A now certified buddy of mine went to 90 ft in Cozumel last year before he ever started OW. I have seen it myself below sixty ft several times.

Its just a recommendation not the law in most cases. Wait until you have been diving longer. You will see a lot more than that.

Actually in a PADI discover Scuba Diving the max allowable depth is 40 ft and it almost law. It's training standards and the instructor who violates it can be disciplined (even dumped)by the the agency. Certainly more than a recommendation.

Once you're certified, it's a recommendation.