Maltese diving regulation

[Mario007]

I would like to ask to someone more expert about the Maltese diving regulations.
I just finish my OW training and with my surprise I discover that is not enough to be able to rent out gear from a DS in Malta.
See this tread for details:

Question - How long can I wait before...

I just done some digging. In 2012 the government of Malta make a regulation about diving which state: You should see if you can find out what they mean by that. Recreational limit is 40M for every agency I’m familiar with. There’s a difference between training limits and certification limits...

scubaboard.com

 

[JustSurfaceInterval]

Have a look here.
Your Open Water (OW) certificate (from PADI?) enables you to dive up to 18 m, right?. To dive independently, i.e. renting gear and going on your own (with a buddy indeed), the rule say you must have a cert allowing for 30 m, hence Advanced Open Water in PADI world.
However, that is for independent diving. You can rent gear if you are going together with a dive master.
Just contact one of the many DS and ask them.

 

[tursiops]

Have a look here.
Your Open Water (OW) certificate (from PADI?) enables you to dive up to 18 m, right?. To dive independently, i.e. renting gear and going on your own (with a buddy indeed), the rule say you must have a cert allowing for 30 m, hence Advanced Open Water in PADI world.
However, that is for independent diving. You can rent gear if you are going together with a dive master.
Just contact one of the many DS and ask them.

Why are the Maltese "regulations" contrary to what the training agencies train divers for?
No major training agency requires you have a DM to dive at depths less than 18m.
It sounds like a scam to keep Maltese DMs employed.

 

[JustSurfaceInterval]

I just realised that there is another thread discussing that already and the regulation is known to the OP.
I don't know why Malta makes regulations like that, but hey.. Their island, their rules...

 

[tursiops]

Their island, their rules...

The corollary is:
My money and time, my choice of travel destinations.

 

[JustSurfaceInterval]

The corollary is:
My money and time, my choice of travel destinations.

Indeed... Always!

 

[MarkA]

Guess the rules haven’t changed that much since I first went diving in Malta in 1987. At that time a sports diving card issued by the department of health Malta was required. I had BSAC sports diver (= CMAS 2 star) and required a medical signed by a doctor to get this. Remember some people had to push to get the required grade before the holiday.

We only required cylinders and lead, but needed this card to get them.

 

[SlugLife]

I would like to ask to someone more expert about the Maltese diving regulations.
I just finish my OW training and with my surprise I discover that is not enough to be able to rent out gear from a DS in Malta.
See this tread for details:

Question - How long can I wait before...

I just done some digging. In 2012 the government of Malta make a regulation about diving which state: You should see if you can find out what they mean by that. Recreational limit is 40M for every agency I’m familiar with. There’s a difference between training limits and certification limits...

scubaboard.com

(I'll avoid getting into the absurdity of how Malta treats scuba legally. I'm also too lazy to read pages of Malta legalese)

In the US, during open-water training, it's fairly typical to be informed about concepts like SCUBA tanks needing Hydro and VIP, and needing to show your scuba-cert-card in order to rent gear or fill a scuba-tank.

What I would expect is, that if it's either a legal requirement or extremely normal for Scuba-shops to require additional training before they will rent gear or fill tanks, that would probably have been covered at least briefly in an Open Water course.

My FIRST question would be (a) is this Malta law or (b) just something enforced by that particular scuba-shop. If it's just that shop, I'd avoid them and find another.

 

[Mario007]

Apparently is a Maltese law or the dive shops apply this

 

[SlugLife]

Apparently is a Maltese law or the dive shops apply this

Have you tried other dive shops?