SSI Open Water max depth

[ianr33]

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.

Really?

Why is nitrox safer at 100 feet than air?
Whats wrong with an appropriate trimix at 400 feet?

Scubaboard at its finest

 

[Don Wray]

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.

AGAIN, we get crap! This diver is certified to dive within his training and experience. The recommended maximum depth is 130 feet, which he/she has been taught to read his tables and plan his/her dive. The MOD on 32 at 1.4 is about 110, not 130.

 

[MathewHoek]

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.

hey let's be fair here my SSI instructor was very informative on depths and anything else I should know everyone from our class is diving with confidence, the confusion I got was when I talked to a dive shop in town other than SSI

 

[b1gcountry]

You are certified for air.
Air is safe to about 75 ft.

Air is unsafe below 75' because??? Narcosis is negligible for most until about 100'. PPO2 is safe down to 187'. Even at 100', you still have a 20 min NDL. I made a 70 min dive last month down to 111' without exceeding NDLs using an air schedule. This is utterly ridiculous.

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

Isn't the first thing they say to you in Nitrox class "Nitrox does not let you dive any deeper"? You can usually stay down longer, but it comes at the cost of reduced safety and a higher PPO2, none of which probably makes sense to the OP at this point.

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.

Oh, for crying out loud, a beginner asks a simple question, and you bring up Trimix and rebreathers. For F's Sake!

..But nobody in reality dives a square profile except maybe working divers, who are well aware of their limits anyway.

Not entirely true. A lot of wrecks are on pretty flat bottoms, and the only interesting things to see are on the decks. I spent last weekend diving between 105'-120' on the Wisconsin. Not exactly a square dive, but close to it.

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

That's not a good thing. I had a real OOA on my third OW checkout dive in about 35fsw. If I was that much deeper, I might be dead.


Just take it slow. I've got a couple hundred dives now, and I've been diving for about 10 years. Until last year, I don't think I had any dives below 100'. I didn't care- and still don't- about anyone else's definition of safe diving limits. I've always been more concerned about what's safest for me. Until I did a bunch of shallow dives, I didn't know what that was.

Tom

 

[Don Wray]

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

There are some dives that dive op's will not allow you to do without an AOW card. The advanced open water card is worth pursuing in order to avoid this problem. SSI has a fine course as long as YOU choose the proper specialties. Chose those that are designed to suit what type diving you want to do. Not those that are easy on the Instructor or the shop.

 

[nadwidny]

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

Yup. You shouldn't do certain dives because you don't have the experience not because you haven't taken a 2 day 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

Screw the LDS. What are they going to do? Refuse your money? Spank you? They are a business just like a tire shop or your grocery store. They are not your mother.

Besides you can't believe anything you hear from an LDS anyway. GIII's rule "If you heard it from an LDS, it's bull****".

 

[tridacna]

Air is safe to about 75 ft.

Glad to hear this. Am I in trouble. Whew. I dived to 182 feet on air last weekend and I survived. Incredible. My buddy dropped to 191. He survived the ordeal too. I guess that we should have been using Nitrox? And wait, it gets better...I'm SSI certified. I guess that explains my ignorance of mixes at depth.

What a bunch of hoooey.

 

[garyfotodiver]

That's not a good thing. I had a real OOA on my third OW checkout dive in about 35fsw. If I was that much deeper, I might be dead.

Perhaps, Tom, you ought to learn that there are some of us who a) know what we are doing, b) really trust our instructors, c) expect those who dive with us to be able to dive in the same conditions that we dive, and d) do not project our incompetent instruction on others.

 

[nereas]

... I dived to 182 feet on air last weekend and I survived. Incredible. My buddy dropped to 191. He survived the ordeal too. I guess that we should have been using Nitrox? And wait, it gets better...I'm SSI certified. I guess that explains my ignorance of mixes at depth.

What a bunch of hoooey.

Yah, your buddies and you, diving deep air like that, will probably be visited by the Grim Reaper sooner than you think.

If you take a reading comprehension class, and then afterwards re-read my post, you should see that I strongly recommended trimix for dives deeper than 130 fsw.

But there is always the possibility that you experienced some kind of embolism on your last 182 ft air-dive, and therefore re-reading it might not help, either.

Good luck to you both.

 

[nereas]

hey let's be fair here my SSI instructor was very informative on depths and anything else I should know everyone from our class is diving with confidence, the confusion I got was when I talked to a dive shop in town other than SSI

Well, that is good to hear, then. You did not say that the first time.

Be careful about believing what people at dive shops tell you. Normally they just want to sell you some superfluous piece of gear. At other times, who knows? It is unlikely that they themselves are trained DMs or instructors.