What are age/depth restrictions..
- Thread starter lasnyder
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
15 and 60'...These are recommendations. Studies on the effect of nitrogen silent bubbles on growth development are not conclusive, so I would try to adhere to those limits at those ages. There's nothing worth seeing deeper to gamble on.
When on any PADI Training Dive; 10-11 year olds may go no deeper than 40', 12-14 year olds may go no deeper than 70' (60' in OW just like everyone) and 15 year and up have the same depth restrictions as adults.
When not on a Training Dive any rules you dive under are one of the following; your own personal rules, a guides personal rules, a dive operator's rules or their insurance carrier's rules, which typically follow the above restrictions.
If there are no specific guide, shop or insurance rules governing your dive, the depths associated with certification levels are considered recommendations when non training dives are conducted. A 12 y/o with only the Jr OW cert is recommended to not exceed 60' depth (except in training). With Jr AOW 12-14 y/o is recommended to not exceed 70'.
If you chose not to take your child deeper than 40' that is your prerogative, but technically 12 y/o is recommended not to exceed 60', just by turning 12. Jr AOW might be a good experience for your child. PADI is not the only agency certifying 10 y/o and up, but there may only be one or two others. Corrections are welcome.
Remember that the main reason the depth limits are in place is that the physiologic effects of deeper depths on youth are not completely known. Why risk hurting the development of ear drums, or other things by taking the youth deeper than their body can handle.
lasnyder:
That depends on whose restrictions you are following. My child was certified at 13. My restrictions that I placed upon him as his father were no deeper than 45 ft until he stopped growing or until he became legally an adult and started setting his own restrictions.
If your child is 12, and the PADI card has a 40' restriction on it, you can get a replacement card which will have a 70' restriction. At 15, you simply need to order a replacement card and the "Junior" will be removed, along with the 70' restriction.
Hawaii Scuba Divers
Contributor
- Messages
- 161
- Reaction score
- 0
- # of dives
- I'm a Fish!
Taking STUDENT Open Water Divers to 70 ft on Training Dives is not OK...Anywhere................... We need to limit the Depths of Training Dives because they are AGAIN Training Dives...
PDIC trains divers 12+ but 10yr old seems a little young for reasons mentioned that we do not know what effects the Increased Nitrogen will have if any on Grow Plates in Young Divers??
We as Instructors have all Divers looking up to Us for Guidance lets Make it GOOD..
Aloha Mark.
PDIC trains divers 12+ but 10yr old seems a little young for reasons mentioned that we do not know what effects the Increased Nitrogen will have if any on Grow Plates in Young Divers??
We as Instructors have all Divers looking up to Us for Guidance lets Make it GOOD..
Aloha Mark.
A certified Junior Open Water Diver, who is taking a PADI Junior Advanced Open Water course can most certainly go to 70' -- and that is what was being talked about.
PADI has apparently decided that 10-11 year olds are safe to 40'. Personally, in the case of an organisation that places liability protection ahead of profits, I'd suspect they've done their research.
Similar threads
