The depth shall be 60, 60 shall the depth be, 61 is right out unless your AOW certified????

[hammet]

yup.
certified ow in the 80s.
took aow last month after getting put into the <60 group on my last 2 turks and Caicos trips.
I kept getting the 'go up' signal every time I dropped too low.

 

[Killerflyingbugs]

Try and keep me above 60' I can freedive deeper than that!

 

[Nukakola]

Certified 1999 OW in the Pacific Northwest. Finally bothered to get the AOW in 2014 after a couple dive ops refused to let me on some deepish wrecks in the Keys.

 

[Edward3c]

There was a case a number of years ago in the Red Sea where an OW of many years needed a chamber ride. His insurer wouldn't cover the cost as he'd exceeded the OW depth limit. His family had to find around $75,000 to pay for the treatment so he could leave the country.

 

[admikar]

All " dive under conditions you were trained for" thing.....does it mean, when I go for deco training, I am not allowed to take a dive with longer deco obligation, than the longest I had in my training? I wonder how that worked out for depth record dives?

 

[TMHeimer]

As pointed out, it all revolves around training and "recommendations". No other "official" rules (in most countries). That $75K Red Sea incident is interesting. Seems you are "OK" going below 60' if with a dive pro. So then you have "experience", so now I guess below 60' is OK....You are also recommended to dive in conditions equal to or better than those in which you were trained. More surf or current today than during your course? Well I guess you can't go---but if you do go, now you have the "experience" to go again..... Did all this come into play with you OW cert. guys in the '60s.......? Possibly you just used common sense?

 

[hammet]

awesome thread title by the way!

 

[flyingDiver75]

Sorry but I don't follow. I dive air and our second dives are often a max of 60 ft and 60 minutes, same as the Nitrox divers. Although we usually spend most of the time in the 30 foot range so that we can enjoy the full 60 minutes.

What's your surface interval and initial depth from the 1st Dive?

You're also not spending the entire time at max depth which will give you a lot more credit with a computer. NDL's get significantly more generous in the 30-40' range.

Using SSI tables for Air (which are pessimistic but what I have) -
Dive 1: 90' max for 20 minutes = group F
Surface interval of 1 hour (the typical around here for a 4 hour, 2 tank trip) = group E
Dive 2: 60' max No-Deco Limit is 20 minutes.

Note that most spots here in the Northern Gulf, you don't stair-step dive - anything to see is on the bottom or within 10' feet of it so even diving a computer you can't gain effective no-deco time by working up in stages.

As fortune would have it, my last Air trip this summer matches the same dive sites I did last week on Nitrox for some comparisons.

From my computer logs:
Diving Air on a Aqualung i300 (PZ+):
Dive 1: 88ft Max, average around 84', 29 minutes total, 6 minutes of NDL remaining after 22 minutes when ascent started
Surface interval of 1 hour 29 minutes
Dive 2: Max of 68', average around 62', 31 minutes total, 14 minutes NDL remaining after 22 minutes when ascent started

Diving on EAN33 Aqualung i450T (PZ+):
Dive 1: Max of 90ft, average around 86', 41 minutes total, had 8 minutes of no-deco remaining after 33 minutes when ascent was started
1 hour 3 minute surface interval
Dive 2: Max of 68', average around 62', 44 minutes total, 18 minutes left after 37 minutes when ascent started (I was a bit of an air hog on this dive - 1st time spear fishing)

So even granting the longer surface interval for the Air dives, NDL differences between Air and EAN33 were:
- 41 minutes vs 28 minutes for the 1st dive
- 55 minutes vs 36 minutes for the 2nd

Computers algorithms can also make a big difference. I dove a Suunto Zoop in parallel with an i300 on a number of dives this summer and while both would be within 1-2 minutes on the 1st dive, the 2nd dive the Zoop would consistently grant 11 - 13 minutes LESS NDL putting it about 1/2 way between Air and EAN33 on the Aqualung computers.

 

[EarlJonesIII]

If you read this differently, it could be interpreted as your instructor will train you to, and not exceeding 60ft. It says nothing about what depth for which you are certified.

"you will be trained to a maximum depth of 18 meters/60 feet"

That's a good point. "Trained to" and "certified to" are two different things.

 

[KathyV]

What's your surface interval and initial depth from the 1st Dive?

You're also not spending the entire time at max depth which will give you a lot more credit with a computer. NDL's get significantly more generous in the 30-40' range...

I just came back from a Caribbean vacation. The 2 tank morning dives were generally max 110 ft for 50 minutes, followed by a 45 minute surface interval, then a second dive of max 60 ft for 60 minutes. Naturally we did not spend the majority of time at depth on any dive so that we could have nice, long dives but the morning dives were usually wall dives and the top of the wall was usually around 60 or 70 feet. We generally spent a lot of time around 30 ft on the second dive. The weather wasn't great so we usually skipped the afternoon dive. We were diving air and using Suunto Zoop computers.