SSI Open Water max depth

[MathewHoek]

hey I just got my open water a few weeks ago and i'm getting mixed info, I thought that my max depth for open water was 60 feet as it is for padi, but my SSI instructor told me I was certified to 100 feet anyone have any info on this?

 

[nadwidny]

hey I just got my open water a few weeks ago and i'm getting mixed info, I thought that my max depth for open water was 60 feet as it is for padi, but my SSI instructor told me I was certified to 100 feet anyone have any info on this?

There are no scuba police. Max depth is whatever you want it to be. If you want to go to 60 or 100 or 200 it's up to you and your buddy. Personally if I had just got my OW a few weeks ago I would stick to a 60' limit for a while.

 

[b1gcountry]

Think of it more in terms of yourself. Take your deepest dive, and add five feet. That is your limit. (point being, don't go to 100' until you've been to 90-95' several times and gotten comfortable with that...and don't go to 90' until you've been to 85', etc...)

 

[divingmoose]

I was certified with SSI 2005 Open water recreational safe dive limits are 130' but a SAFE DIVE
limit is set by you and your buddy as to where you are comfortable. In our cold north I limit my dive between 60+90 feet important to find your own comfort level.diving deep is'nt always what its about.

 

[nereas]

You are certified for air.

Air is safe to about 75 ft.

Deeper than that, and you should be certified for nitrox.

Nitrox is safe to about 130 ft.

Deeper than that, and you should be certified for trimix.

Trimix is safe to 330 ft.

Deeper than that, and you should be certified with a closed circuit rebreather.

There are many other arbitrary benchmarks, none of which has any merit. There are no magic numbers.

It all depends on how deeply you want to "plongee" into the sport.

 

[24940]

hey I just got my open water a few weeks ago and i'm getting mixed info, I thought that my max depth for open water was 60 feet as it is for padi, but my SSI instructor told me I was certified to 100 feet anyone have any info on this?

You aren't certified for any particular depth. There are training standards that dictate max depths for training dives and there is a question on exam "A" about "suggested maximum recreational depths"(100'), but there is no hard fast rule on max depth which would result in certification revocation if exceeded.

However, if your training took place in <60', I would advise against rushing to exceed that depth.

Dave
(SSI OWI)

 

[Mudbug_CSD]

The "recreational limit" (read No-Decompression) of 130' is in place as an arbitrary floor based on the U.S. Navy Dive Tables allowing for 2 minutes of nitrogen loading based on a square dive profile. Any deeper than that and you can't get there and have enough time to stay, so there's not much point. But nobody in reality dives a square profile except maybe working divers, who are well aware of their limits anyway.

If you just got certified, I'll go along with the masses and say you should stick to 60' until you've had a bit of training on what to do with gas management on deeper dives. By all means go deeper with training if you want to, but gradual learning is your friend IMHO.

And just to cover it, Nereas mentioned the limit for Nitrox being safe at 130', but depending on the mix of EANx, you're really limited to a shallower MOD than that. There's plenty of threads on this, I'm sure... so we'll not debate here.

 

[garyfotodiver]

Why don't you read the SSI requirements?

On the other hand, my 12 year-old daughter went to 72 fsw on her third Jr. OW checkout dive.

 

[nereas]

Well, he did ask about what depth to which he is "certified."

Rather embarrassing, I would think, for SSI, that he did not know this.

I also doubt that SSI covers various gas mixes in their basic open water class. So unfortunately he does not know what the choices are nor what the training progression normally is. I have to wonder if anyone even mentioned even nitrox to him.

But it is good that he is thinking about it now, with C-card in hand.

EAN 32 is a popular mix, and it is quite safe to 130 ft. Whether the diver diving with nitrox to 130 ft can handle the narcosis at 130 ft is a different story, of course. I have found that narcosis on air or nitrox is not really debilitation until about 150 ft, but that is a different topic.

Suffice it to say, this SSI diver is "certified" to about 75 ft since he is certified for air.

 

[MathewHoek]

thanks for all the feedback, the reason I ask is i've had dive stores say not to do certain dives's until I got my advanced ow this may be just because they are trying to sell me there course or whatever I have an idea on safe depths and such but don't want to be frowned upon by the local dive shops, i should be ok in my area tho as most of the dive's are less than 100 feet also my wife is an instructor as well so she can always give a little advice and I do always stay in my comfort zone....like I said I just don't want my LDS frowning upon me