Too soon for 18m after OW?

[nolatom]

In dark, cold water (you're in the UK?), work your way down to 60' gradually. In warm, clear water with little current, most of us are deeper than 60 on our first trip.

 

[jbichsel]

Oh Lord! 40' for 50 dives? Get real. 20 more dives to 60'?

Don't get me wrongt. I'm not for taking a new person 100'+ to a mask-ripping current on the Duane. That's crazy. And I am definitely for working up (down, actually) to different levels, dependent upon experience and training, letting your comfort level or lack of it be a determining factor whether you are ready for the dive or not. But 60 dives before you crack 60'? That's just ridiculous.

To each his/her own, but I was looking a the location, UK, which probably means limited vis, cold water and what sounds like being newly certified with 4 dives.

Read some other threads where I have posted my opinions about current certification "standards" and the quality of divers that these "standards" create. Not slamming new divers, but the agencies that create them.

Been there, done that, t-shirt didn't fit. I try to ask myself if I would put my kids in a certain situation. If the answer is "No", then why would I put anyone else in that situation?

If the location were south Pacific, Carribean my recommendations would have been slightly different. 85 degree water with 80'+ vis, mild current is far different than 45-50 degrees and 30' or less and strong currents.

Besides, I'm just thinking of how I'm going to train my own daughters to be better, safer divers than I am.

I believe divers should "MASTER" skills, buoyancy, trim and be prepared for the unexpected before they start getting beyond their capabilities.

And remember, it was only a suggestion and my personal opinion. No one but my kids are required to obey me.

 

[isurus]

In dark, cold water (you're in the UK?), work your way down to 60' gradually. In warm, clear water with little current, most of us are deeper than 60 on our first trip.

if you are diving in the uk then yes go gradually as the change in vis and light can be quite dramatic, otherwise I wouldn't worry about 18m too much.

 

[Danman589019]

My instructor is taking us to 60' for OW dive 2

 

[fyh]

It really depends on your comfort/skill level.
It also depends on the dives available to you in your area.

My roommate and I did our OW class and checkout dives. The deepest we hit on our checkout dives was 25 feet.

Our next dive was a night dive from the beach with the instructor that certified us.
The next dive we did was from my boat to a depth of 85 feet, about 25 meters.
In our area, there are not many 'shallow' dives. We really would only have a few sites to choose from if we stayed as shallow as we did in class.

We were VERY cautious about immediately going so deep that soon. We descended very slowly and always stayed within a few feet of each other so one could offer assistance to the other, if necessary.

 

[havnmonkey]

I would say that many (recreational) divers do not do more than 20 dives per year... So with that said don't set a # of dives goal before your allowed to do _____ for the first time.

Ease into the conditions that you are given... For me, freshwater dives with good viz were widely available. These were freshwater springs and all were very cavernous; but they had a solid bottom- meaning that I physically could not go deeper than my planned depth. I could also see everything I wanted to. Two were 60-70 ft and one was 95 ft. These dives made up my first 10 dives outside of o/w class.

My first ocean dives were in Coz and Mujuajal, MEX. We told the DM that we had never dove in the ocean before so they took us to an easy site with good viz and no current. I then dove in Grand Cayman at Eden Rock 40ft BUT many swimthroughs!

I have since dove over 110 ft; on wrecks; at night; in low viz; and in the cold (56 degrees).

I love the water and have yet to feel intimidated on a dive. I dive my comfort level.

 

[Stormbringer]

I agree with the majority...be cautious and gradually extend your dives deeper as you gain experience and training. Always try to understand the unique dynamics of each increasingly more challenging dive. Remember that that wreck or depth will still be there when you have gained the experience and training for that dive. Its irresponsible and downright foolhardy to push the limits well beyond your level of experience, training and comfort.

 

[BigTuna]

OW training (and AOW, too) only teaches you "what" and "how." What you need now is experience and competence. [Maybe others have items to add to my list....]

I'd suggest that you first get completely comfortable with the personal skills you've learned, and practice them until they're second nature. Especially important is being able to establish neutral buoyancy and stay neutral at any depth in your dives. Also important is being able to do controlled, "multilevel" descents and ascents.

Get equally comfortable with the equipment and configuration you use (for many, that means first buying your own exposure suit, regulators, and BCD). Learn how to determine how much lead you need to carry. Learn how to figure out your turn pressure for a given depth.

Find a good buddy and practice with him or her. Practice safety skills like air sharing and controlled joint ascents. Practice being good buddies.

About the time you get all this locked down, you'll have had lots of fun and you should be pretty much on top of your game. NOW you can think about going deeper and developing additional skills. In fact, NOW you'd be in a perfect position for AOW skills.

 

[Walter]

Hi Walter,
Okay, I meant that within the limits of the OW cert. a diver is certified to 18m - not a license in the true sense, just trying to avoid saying the cert 'allows' you to dive to 18m because thats just as bad.....

As far as experience goes - this is a general question not specific to my situation. There is a wide range of experience on SB and just wanted to tap into that... I would assume that most OW checkout dives do not go to 18m (6-9m seem more likely?)

If you'd taken my OW class, you would have been very close to 18 m (60 ft) already. While, you certainly can teach an OW class w/o exceeding 6 - 9 m (20 - 30 ft), I can't imagine a good instructor doing so. Since you were short changed in your class, expand your experience gradually. You can expand it beyond 18 m in the same manner, there's nothing magical about 18 m.

 

[dbulmer]

JonBoi.
I agree with Jbichsel and Isurus - go slow and easy particularly if you are in a drysuit.
Those shallow dives will help build confidence and give you practice in your newly acquired skills and you'll enjoy the dives more.