Was this a terrible idea, or merely a bad idea?

[Steve_C]

Working from memory here...so grain of salt and all that, but I believe most of those 10 min was closer to the 100 range with a few dips down to max depth. I think part of what I've learned in the interim is that what feel like small differences in depth in real-time are actually important variables to keep a very close eye on.

And that increases with depth.

 

[KeithG]

What's different is that in an AOW course there would be classroom and/or book work prior to the dive in which an instructor would explain the subtleties (watching NDL, gas consumption, narcosis, etc) of deeper diving that were absent in the OW course...

this explains my confusion. my instructor convered these topics during my OW course. maybe the course content has been refined (reduced?) since then or maybe my instructor taught us too much?

i can see narcosis being left out of a reduced OW course, but NDL and gas consumption seem to be key concepts that every diver should be aware of.

 

[scrane]

The discussion provides more drama than the dive.
I think a less inflammatory title would have been more appropriate. Instead of voicing belated misgivings the OP should be grateful he was given the opportunity to make a dive he'll never forget.

 

[ReefGuy]

Am I the only person who took their advanced class right after their open water?

 

[nolatom]

I too learned at least the basics about NDL in my Open Water course. Didn't we all? That's essentially what the tables we worked, were all about avoiding. How wonderful computers are in automatically reworking those "tables" for every couple of feet you go up or down, at depth, or indeed at any point underwater.

We also learned about Narcosis, a la "how many martinis every 50 feet" and the deeper you go, the more you should watch your gauges like a hawk. In a way, I think the Narc lessons are almost more important initially--in our first year, our limiting factor is usually our PSI gauge, and then later on as our consumption rates improve, nitrogen/NDL gradually becomes the limiting factor.

So I've frequently been grateful to my OW instructors, who didn't cut corners. And out on a multi-group liveaboard, I could see that their divers tended not only to stay out of trouble, but also were the ones who went to the assistance of those who did.

And when I get instabuddied (frequently), I often paraphrase to myself an old bumpersticker as: "If you can dive with this guy, thank a teacher" ;-)

 

[Lorenzoid]

There was some talk for sure, including mention of narcosis signs and remedies. Also covered the plan and the time we'd be spending at the wreck before we had to begin ascending. But it was more of a briefing than instruction...nothing nearly as in depth as what Jim mentions. . . .

I think others have alluded to this, but it sounds to me like, if the instructor had spent a bit more instructional time on the relevant topics and otherwise followed agency protocols, this dive could just as well have been the "Deep" dive of the dives required for (sorry, I'm only familiar with PADI) the Advanced Open Water course or Deep Diver specialty course. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe PADI allows a dive that was at the time done as a stand-alone "adventure dive" to later be counted towards fulfillment of the required set of dives in an AOW or Deep course. So in retrospect, for you, at your level of experience, to have done a dive to that depth and under those conditions would have been considered fairly ordinary had you been doing it under the guise of an AOW or Deep student instead of a stand-alone adventure dive.

 

[boulderjohn]

this sounds like the shop followed the scuba police rules by charging the OP an additional fee in order to turn the dive into a training dive so that it would be "ok". in my understanding a deep dive is part of the training to become an AOW.

What is different about this situation?
What are the rules (limitations) for a PADI deep training dive?

As I said, the course was SSI--I was saying they would be violations if PADI.

The depth limit for the AOW deep adventure dive is 100 feet.
The deep dive cannot be the first dive of the AOW course.

 

[boulderjohn]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe PADI allows a dive that was at the time done as a stand-alone "adventure dive" to later be counted towards fulfillment of the required set of dives in an AOW or Deep course.

You are hereby corrected. There are no "stand alone adventure dives" in the curriculum. You are either taking the course or you aren't.

 

[Lorenzoid]

You are hereby corrected. There are no "stand alone adventure dives" in the curriculum. You are either taking the course or you aren't.

Thanks. A little Googling cleared it up for me (I think). So as I now understand it, a diver has to first sign up for a course called "Adventure Diver" for a dive with an instructor to be counted as an "adventure dive." Then, as PADI explains: "Each Adventure Dive may credit toward the first dive of the corresponding PADI Specialty Diver Course." And: "If you’ve completed five total adventure dives that include deep and navigation, you’re a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver."

Adventure Diver

 

[Lorenzoid]

As I said, the course was SSI--I was saying they would be violations if PADI.

The depth limit for the AOW deep adventure dive is 100 feet.
The deep dive cannot be the first dive of the AOW course.

So a dive like the OP's would have met PADI standards if the diver had first signed up for the AOW course, done a Fish ID dive or some such easy dive as the first dive of the course, and been just 10 feet shallower. I'm not trying to bash PADI (too easy a target), just trying to put things in perspective.