Maximum depth for Open Water diver

[Marek K]

Do you fully understand what deco diving is all about? Do you know where to make your deco stops if you go deeper than 130'?

Thirty meters is about 100 feet... deep, but within NDL.

 

[piikki]

I don't know about official rules but after OW cert and some 10 dives on our own, buddy and I went out with our instructor the first time since the course. He re-evaluated our skills and said that next time we come out with him he'd be comfortable taking us down to 100ft to give us the experience in a sense of building our confidence (we tend to be overcautious), and also being with us the first time we go deep in case there was anything weird happening.

His words were 'it's always good to have a few deep/challenging ones signed by an instructor anyway' referring to going on charters and stuff when one might be doing way less than 100f but maybe not wanting to be chaperoned when not having million dives yet (not that I would mind babysitter but we all know that there are people there that you do not want to hang around with either).

So, how we understood (and trusted) was that with instructor you can push the limit as long as you are comfortable, and not doing something totally stupid. We are anyway taking AOW with him soon enough. I would not follow him to overhead environments if he asked to - even if he would think it's a good intro. But I've been to another deeper dive with him since our dip to 110f and know that I am fortunate practising it this way. Then again I do not know if there would be a difference signing of minor's dives with instructor cert number because neither of us qualifies for that category anymore and he does not need to worry about that.

 

[adurso]

Hopefully this will be a quick question, I know the official maximum depth for an PADI Open Water Diver is 18m, I was just wondering if this was different when accompanied by a qualified instructor/divemaster or equivalent? ie. could I go down to 30m when accompanied by an instructor?

Cheers

You can dive as deep as you like whenever you like, the scuba police are not watching you....

 

[JimC]

You can dive as deep as you like whenever you like, the scuba police are not watching you....

You can do it without any training too.

The price you pay may be your life mind you.

 

[downdeep]

Let Darwin sort em out.

 

[andy_j_briggs]

Yes... You should make the call about your own depth. As for the start of this thread... Do you fully understand what deco diving is all about? Do you know where to make your deco stops if you go deeper than 130'?

ALSO BTW... Most of the dive ops that go to the speigel grove REQUIRE an AOW cert from any agency otherwise you have to RENT A GUIDE (DM) to take you down there.

Log book experience is not enough. I have about 40 65' drift dives in my log book, and that was NOT good enough for the dive ops I called about doing the grove.

Hi,

Yes, I remember learning about deco diving when studying for my Open Water qualification, my question was really aimed at a holiday I'm going on in a couple of months where there may be some dives down to 30m (still a non-deco dive), all dives will be guided so I guess it should be ok - I was fine at 18m when doing my OW dives.

 

[RonFrank]

For and OW cert the limit is 18m/60ft. An OW diver can dive deeper IF he is accompanied by DM, AI, or Instructor.

PADI says that if you don't have an AOW card, dives beyond 60ft are a no no. As many have pointed out, there are no scuba police, and PADI does not seem to recognize that someone with 100 dives is likely a much safer diver at 100ft, vs. the guy with 9 dives, and an AOW card.

Sadly, many DiveOps have started to adopt a similar attitude and in the Keys where DM's are an exception rather than a rule, the DiveOps may require AOW, or a DM to dive deeper sites. The DM will come with an approx. $50 additional charge. :11ztongue

 

[Xanthro]

As others have said, there are no Scuba police. While some boats may require you have an accompaning DM on deeper dives, that's usually based on C-Card (a mistake in my opinion) or your dive log.

Safer diving is about comfort level. You should never exceed your comfort level. If you are comfortable at 100' and there is something to see there on the dive, go to 100'. Now, don't go to 100' just because the dive calls for it if your do not feel safe or comfortable. If you want to go deeper, slowly work your way deeper on dives and build your confidence.

Honestly, unless you are seeing something specific like a wreck or black coral, there really isn't much more to see past 60'.

 

[Shawn95]

For and OW cert the limit is 18m/60ft. An OW diver can dive deeper IF he is accompanied by DM, AI, or Instructor.

This is pretty misleading. The depth limits quoted are for training dives only and are recommendations based on the progression of a divers learning. There is nothing that stops anyone from going as deep as they want. We assume that new divers will not be comfortable below 60ft. An OW diver can easily move past this limit with a few dives but be aware that air comsumption increases, it's darker and computers approach NDL alot easier. To me thats mostly what an advanced course is for, just to increase comfort level and have a few more dives with someone who is looking out for you and not just fish.

For an instructor to dive with OW divers beyond cert limits can be dangerous if the OW diver is under the impression that the instructor is in a position of authority. If this is the case, then the instructor should have him sign a waiver and do that dive as part of an Experience dive towards thier AOW. An OW diver should know better than to do "follow me" dives for fun. I know I enjoy not being an instructor on my fun dives.

 

[nauidiver2004]

You know there has been a lot of chat about the SCUBA police not watching you and such in this thread and that is true BUT, just where the heck do you think Santa Clause goes in the off season???? IS someone watching???

Ken