Why are 2 AOW-level divers allowed to dive unaccompanied?

[Wingy]

And again...French Polynesia NOT France!!!. Frosty I can refer you onto the op in New Caledonia recommended by my French Polynesia Op if you want. This is one of the benefits of being CMAS certified. Again, the gendarmes are not ever a bother until there is an incident and they react swiftly and professionally - they take their divers well being seriously, its a major source of income for FP.

 

[ScubaSteve1962]

Who investigates diving accidents in the US? are the police not involved?

They actually dont have a lot to do - so an investigation is done swiftly that day then and there and wrapped up if possible, which is what happened. I found nothing intrusive about it all. Of course would rather not have met the gendarmes under those circumstances but not a problem at all.

Other ops arent so strict, I choose to dive with CMAS ops who do strictly adhere to the law. Theres other options but if the SHTF the FP Police will become involved no matter which op.

Now when you say incidents, are you saying all incidents that involve a diver? Beyond a missing diver, or dying during a dive, what other incidents would you expect the police to be involved with.

 

[Tigerman]

And again...French Polynesia NOT France!!!. Frosty I can refer you onto the op in New Caledonia recommended by my French Polynesia Op if you want. This is one of the benefits of being CMAS certified. Again, the gendarmes are not ever a bother until there is an incident and they react swiftly and professionally - they take their divers well being seriously, its a major source of income for FP.

With that kind of policing it wont be for very long..

 

[Wingy]

I can only speak for what I saw and observed on that particular dive where a diver needed hospital treatment. Ive described the nature of the incident that took place. To ask what degree of incident id expect them to become involved with would be pure conjecture on my part, I am neither French, nor a dive operator nor a Police officer nor have any international legal knowledge.
The police became involved. Its a very small atoll. Word doesnt take long to get around a strip of coral in the middle of an ocean. Did I see them anywhere on any other dive or conducting any activities pertaining to diving - NO. Repeat - they do not sit at the airport and check Cert cards nor do they inspect your gear. Tell me that in the US police do not examine dive equipment after an incident where a person has been hurt? how is it so different - because they are there and done that day? one agency deals with the entire thing?
Equipment used by divers in Aus involved in incidents/accidents is examined by police and if on a commercial diving boat or with a commercial diving op worksafe will often be involved. If it hadnt been for the incident with that diver on that day then I would never have seen the gendarmes other than when they checked my drivers licence on another island.
I dont know about you but id rather have an incident resolved quickly and efficiently than deal with government agencies piling up folders dragging things out for months.
A lot of french protectorates ask divers who are not CMAS or havent dived recently to do a check out dive, thats also French Policy. Its up to the operator if they want to enforce this. Its not just French Polynesia...and for the record I didnt do any checkout dives...I correspond with operators very well way in advance of arriving so everyone knows where things stand.
I believe checkout dives are done in French protectorates Reunion Madagascar and Mauritius - someone choosing to spend your dollars elsewhere is not going to hurt French Polynesia's economy at all. Most of the European market has no objections. Neither do I. Cant see Bora Bora going out of business in a hurry.

Basically an hour of gear checked, boxes ticked, everyone diving at the certified level, diver now released from hospital, thank you for your co-operation and that was it. Just the way things are done there. Ironic to hear people complaining about a rapid and thorough response from the authorities when usually people are bitching about how long it takes.

 

[ScubaSteve1962]

I can only speak for what I saw and observed on that particular dive where a diver needed hospital treatment. Ive described the nature of the incident that took place. To ask what degree of incident id expect them to become involved with would be pure conjecture on my part, I am neither French, nor a dive operator nor a Police officer nor have any international legal knowledge.
The police became involved. Its a very small atoll. Word doesnt take long to get around a strip of coral in the middle of an ocean. Did I see them anywhere on any other dive or conducting any activities pertaining to diving - NO. Repeat - they do not sit at the airport and check Cert cards nor do they inspect your gear. Tell me that in the US police do not examine dive equipment after an incident where a person has been hurt? how is it so different - because they are there and done that day? one agency deals with the entire thing?
Equipment used by divers in Aus involved in incidents/accidents is examined by police and if on a commercial diving boat or with a commercial diving op worksafe will often be involved. If it hadnt been for the incident with that diver on that day then I would never have seen the gendarmes other than when they checked my drivers licence on another island.
I dont know about you but id rather have an incident resolved quickly and efficiently than deal with government agencies piling up folders dragging things out for months.
A lot of french protectorates ask divers who are not CMAS or havent dived recently to do a check out dive, thats also French Policy. Its up to the operator if they want to enforce this. Its not just French Polynesia...and for the record I didnt do any checkout dives...I correspond with operators very well way in advance of arriving so everyone knows where things stand.
I believe checkout dives are done in French protectorates Reunion Madagascar and Mauritius - someone choosing to spend your dollars elsewhere is not going to hurt French Polynesia's economy at all. Most of the European market has no objections. Neither do I. Cant see Bora Bora going out of business in a hurry.

Basically an hour of gear checked, boxes ticked, everyone diving at the certified level, diver now released from hospital, thank you for your co-operation and that was it. Just the way things are done there. Ironic to hear people complaining about a rapid and thorough response from the authorities when usually people are bitching about how long it takes.

Check out dive are usually the norm when you haven't been in the water in awhile. Other than a death or missing diver, most incidents wouldn't involve the police here in the U.S. unless there was something that seemed criminally wrong. Maybe someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but a diver suffering from DCS or cramps and having to go to the hospital, usually only the ambulance and emt's show up, not the police. I've only been involved in one indecent where someone had to go to the chamber, but it was in another country, they only asked to see his computer, no one else.

Also I can see what you're saying happening in a country where they depend on tourism, they wouldn't want to get the bad press.

 

[Tigerman]

Lets just put it this way.. I wont spend my money travelling to somewhere that put bigger restrictions on my diving than my certification does and for an AOW diver the max (RECOMMENDED) depth is 30meters, its not having a babysitter at 18...

Sent fra min GT-I9300 via Tapatalk

 

[DaleC]

I wonder if wingy can clarify something for me.
Are these policies directed at dive ops or individual divers?
I can see a place creating rules for how dive ops would deal with unknown, tourist divers and the police investigating an incident to ensure the ops in the area are following those guidelines, as a way of enforcing standards. A small population could see that safe standards/regulations/enforcement all are interrelated. Otherwise you could have under certified guides taking under certified divers on dives just to grab the cash with little regard for the negative repercussions of resulting accidents.. yet those repercussions could affect the whole regional economy.

 

[Wingy]

Dale, to ensure dive ops are following guidelines - Tigerman - the OW diver was limited to 18m his wife who was his buddy chose to stay at that level with him by prior arrangement with the dive op. You will see a big difference in how dive centres in FP enquire about these rules when divers make bookings from the diving islands - tuomotos - than the 'tourist' islands - bora bora and moorea. There are no under certified guides, there is no shore diving, all ops have their own boats, there are quite few ops so the system works there. Other than Bora Bora you are unlikely to have more than 6 divers on a boat although there is an op on Moorea who may also have more. As far as I am aware there is nowhere in the Tuomoto's you can hire your own gear and head off on your own. DM isnt there to lead you around pointing out things, purely a safety thing.

Its also a pretty remote destination. From where I live its roughly a 18,000km round trip, not exactly the sort of oh, might just zip off and dive this weekend destination. So, yes, the economy and protection of the standards is important there.

All of this is still not really answering the OPs question - didnt mean to take it on a tangent. Not really relevant in this instance because unless you have a boat and can find someone to hire tanks and equipment to you its never going to come into play.

 

[boulderjohn]

Some references:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/greater-antilles/277519-martinique-review.html#post4302415
Top Scuba Diving News Stories
SCUBA Frequently Asked Questions | Paul Gauguin Cruises [Includes: "I am an advanced, experienced diver. Can I use SCUBA equipment whenever I want or dive on my own with my buddy?
No, French Polynesian diving regulations are very strict and require that you always dive with a PADI or CMAS** Instructor."]

 

[Jim Lapenta]

And if you don't want to dive with one of them just take me along! CMAS 2 star Instructor, we'll dive our own plans!