Newbie question from an old timer. I was certified in 1973 and I guess either I missed the line about not exceeding 60 ft or I forgot it. Has this limitation always been in place? I am AOW certified but my wife isn't. She has over 400+ dives and we often (usually exceed 60 ft) max depth. We dive the Carribean if that matters. It has never stopped us from a dive, never stopped us from diving deeper within our comfort level and never been questioned about our depth upon returning from a dive. Has this limitation always been around? I would hate for the SCUBA police to come haul her off. Thanks Bill and DeeDee ( old timers who are just curious )
The depth shall be 60, 60 shall the depth be, 61 is right out unless your AOW certified????
- Thread starter wildbill9
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Sorry! Rules is rules.
(60' is a recommendation, not a rule)
Sorry! Rules is rules.
(60' is a recommendation, not a rule)
Someone is a Monty Python fan! 
2airishuman
Contributor
I don't know about the history. I do know that some charter operators enforce these depth limits, and I do believe the whole thing is a load of ****.
K
KeithG
Guest
I do not think you missed it. I think "they" made it up afterwards. I could be wrong...
We got certified much later than you (circa 1988ish) and also were blissfully unaware of the 60 foot Cinderella rule. We are Caribbean vacation divers and have never had any issues with diving our plain jane OW cert (no issues in Hawaii or PNG either).
We were taught that 130 feet was the limit. Then we learned a little more and discovered that 110 feet was the limit (Nitrox mod) for most dive ops we use.
Fossil_Diver
Contributor
My understanding is you are qualified to dive the deepest an instructor taken the you. My AOW was to 140' on a wreck (actually two wrecks laying next to each other, one wreck from WWI and the other from WWII) but my instructor put down 130' in my log book so he wouldn't get in any trouble ;-)
DevonDiver
N/A
There's a new newer PADI OW video than that one.. can anyone advise if the stated policy changed?
K
KeithG
Guest
Changed? When was that video created?
The only limit we were taught (maybe an instructor issue?) was the 130 foot maximum limit.
DevonDiver
N/A
EarlJonesIII
Registered
The answer is in your PADI OW manual. Page 7, right column, down at the bottom of the page. "As a PADI Open Water Diver, you will be trained to a maximum depth of 18 meters/60 feet (or the actual depth you reached if shallower)." Note the 60 feet is a maximum. It doesn't mean you are "automatically" certified to 60 feet if your checkout dives were shallower than 60 feet.
My ocean dives for the Open Water course were to 72 feet. As the instructor said, "There is no PADI police out here." The reason they took us out on the charter boat for the final 2 dives is that since the ship channel is only 36 feet deep, even though we did all the exercises required in the course, you'll will note that last part......"or the actual depth you reached if shallower". It would suck to be OW certified with a limit of 36 feet.
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