PADI OW diver - depth limits?

[betsyinczm]

Ronbeau-------what I am "suggesting" is only that I happen to know where the OP got the idea that he/she could only go to 60 feet as an open water diver. There are many many divers with thousands of logged dives who have chosen NOT to pursue the AOW course and, as Gordon states, have far more advanced experience than someone who has the "magic card"..........which by the way can be had with a grand total of NINE dives always accompanied by an instructor..........but then, you probably know that..........what the recreational limit happens to be has nothing to do with the OP's question.

Betsy

 

[Damselfish]

There is nothing magic about 60ft. Know your comfort zone and dive within it. If you're someplace like Coz or most other places where they don't get hung up on the OW rule/suggestion/whatever of 60ft, and you feel good about it, then don't sweat it. On the other hand you shouldn't do anything you're uncomfortable with, or be trying to dive deep if you don't even have your act together yet when shallow. And if you have only done say 40ft dives it's not a great idea to go straight to 100, you want to work up to things gradually.

You will find occasional places that do have a problem with you going past 60ft on an OW card and require AOW. Now of as often pointed out it makes no sense to allow someone with few dives and one deep dive during AOW to do a deep dive, but not allow someone with tons of diving experience deep and otherwise. But there are places more concerned with rules/insurance/lawsuits than common sense. For that reason it does makes sense to get AOW, just to avoid running into that at some point. If you feel like getting your AOW in Coz, go for it. It's mostly about the diving and not lots of bookwork like OW, not bad to mix into vacation.

 

[Aquawookie]

The problem with all of the above posts is none of them have answered the specific questions for this specific diver has asked.

The questions were,

Why is there a limit of 60 feet for OW certified divers?
Is it possible to dive shallow in Cozumel on a normal dive trip?
Should this person get their AOW in Cozumel?

Question. Why is there a limit of 60 feet for OW certified divers?

Answer. The suggested depth of 60 feet for OW certified divers is there to try to prevent deaths due to divers over extending themselves.

There are several reasons OW divers are asked to stay above the 60 foot level. The top two, in my opinion, are:

1. Nitrogen narcosis. This is the narcotic effect of nitrogen under pressure and will affect every diver in a different way. Some divers will never notice it and some will be drunk as a skunk at 85 feet. The only way to know what kind of diver you will be is to dive to 100 feet or so. This is supposed to be done under the supervision of a trained professional who will ensure your safety. In other words a scuba instructor and an advanced open water course. A deep dive is a REQUIRED MODULE in the AOW course for this reason.

2. Air consumption is greater the deeper you dive. As you dive past 60 feet your air use climbs exponentially. Many divers do not realize how deep they are in clear water and fail to check their SPG often enough. I will leave the rest to your imagination. The solution is to be shown the difference between a shallow dive and a deep dive by a competent diver. Guess who? Yes! give that man a cigar, its your friendly dive professional.

Question. Is it possible to dive shallow in Cozumel on a normal dive trip?

Answer. There are a few points I would like to make about dives in Cozumel in general but relate to novice divers or those who are considered occasional recreational divers in particular.

The dives tend to start deep, around 100 feet, and then gradually get shallower as the dive progresses. All the dive guides use dive computers and dive the various locations every day, in other words the locals are all experts on the local dives. Dives usually start on the protected shoulder of the wall then swing out onto the wall proper and finish by swinging back to the protected shoulder and progressively get shallower again.

Dives in Cozumel are spectacular because of the topology of the island, it is a sea pinnacle surrounded by VERY deep water, in excess of 1000 feet or more. This is wall diving at some of its best but you need to be a good diver to enjoy the sights. The sea is not very forgiving.

If you are in a group you will have to go where the group wants to go. In general the group will want to do a good dive. For most people good equals deep and so you will probably end up on a deep dive, UNLESS you specified at the dive shop that you want to do a shallow dive and the shop has told you the boat will go to a shallow site. If the shop says "just dive shallow, you'll be fine", go find another dive shop. It will NOT work out that way.

Question. Should this person get their Advanced Open Water Diver Certificate in Cozumel?

Answer. Yes, you could do the AOW in Cozumel, but I would suggest you do not.

I suggest you do a few more dives locally and take a AOW course before you head for Cozumel. If locally is too cold then take a weekend trip to Florida, or Cabo, and do your AOW there and get a few more dives in before heading to Cozumel.

Why? Because the structure of the reef in Cozumel makes it difficult to complete the AOW course to standard. The dropoffs are very steep and the current is strong. The deep dive for the AOW is supposed to be to 100 feet and you are supposed to complete several tasks at depth. This is problematic in Cozumel in my opinion.

I hope this has helped. Safe diving and have a great time in Cozumel.

PS.
mstevens.
ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!

 

[halocline]

The 60ft depth for OW divers is a PADI recommended limit, not "required" limit. There's no PADI rule about OW divers going deeper than 60 ft. Some dive ops in some locales (although none in Cozumel that I know about) require AOW or a specific number of logged dives to go on their deeper dives.

There are LOTS of great dives in Cozumel at 60ft or shallower. It is typical for dive ops to start with a deeper dive, but it does not have to be that way, and it can depend quite a bit on the group. Saying that dives in Cozumel "tend to start deep, around 100 ft" is totally misleading. There are some sites for that depth, but by no means all.

Doing AOW in Cozumel would be an excellent idea. There are lots of great instructors, and all sorts of great environments for the various dives. I have no idea why anyone would say that "the structure of the reef makes it difficult to complete the AOW course to standard." That's absolutely wrong.

As you get ready for your trip, don't forget that Cozumel attracts many, many new divers (as well as experienced divers) and so the better dive ops are experts at tailoring the dives to the experience and comfort level of the divers.

 

[ggunn]

The problem with all of the above posts is none of them have answered the specific questions for this specific diver has asked.

The questions were,

Why is there a limit of 60 feet for OW certified divers?

[...]

There isn't. My OW instructor never mentioned such a rule, and neither was there mention of it in any of my OW course materials. My certing agency wasn't PADI, but my wife's was, and she got the impression that such a rule existed, so maybe it's a PADI thing, but neither of us have ever encountered anyone looking at our OW cert cards and telling us how deep we can or cannot dive.

 

[sealskin98]

neither of us have ever encountered anyone looking at our OW cert cards and telling us how deep we can or cannot dive.

Not to hijack the thread, but there is a new diving certification agency forming over in the Texas Swamp Divers forum, and we don't need no stinkin' depth limits!

DIMWIT Manual

The agency is still in its infancy, but we may call it DDI...DIMWIT Divers International.

 

[richerso]

I am going to sound a little schizophrenic here. Bear with me.
PADI standards do say "diving under conditions similar to those in which you were trained". Kind of a nebulous statement subject to interpretation but I think all intelligent people can reasonably interpret this statement correctly.

I have heard my PADI instructor strongly recommend that I consider 60ft as a lower depth limit. Not that it is a requirement but just a recommendation. As you gain more experience in diving, or maybe even take the Deep Diver course, you will feel a lot more at ease when going deeper. You will learn about the effects of Nitrogen Narcosis and you'll know what to look for and how to handle it. Some people can regularly dive to 130 ft without suffering narcosis. Some people begin to experience narcosis at 70 ft. I have seen it.

I was regularly diving to 90 ft prior to my Deep Diver cert. No worries. I was confident in my dive skills. If it makes you feel better, go take the Deep Diver cert some time in June. There's no harm in that. I will say diving to 90 ft in Texas Mud Lakes (vis < 3ft) is a lot different; maybe even stressful; compared to diving to 90 ft at Coz. 90 ft at Coz is a walk in the park; unless you insist on fighting the current.

 

[peterbj7]

PADI Deep Diver is an extension to AOW and covers 100'-130'. AOW covers 60'-100'.

But as you say, it all depends on the environment you're diving in.

 

[TSandM]

I have run into a dive op who checked, and organized divers by whether they had AOW or a deep class. It was in Indonesia, where I was limited to 80 feet by not having brought my cards with me. Didn't matter; the stuff below 80 feet was the same as the stuff above there, so I didn't miss anything but some narcosis.

My first non-class dive was my 10th, and I went to 130 feet in Molokini crater, following an instructor who was ostensibly doing our Boat Dive specialty. I have since learned the risks I was taking in doing that, and I wouldn't do it again.

Somebody has already listed a couple of the issues with deeper diving, those being narcosis and the rapidity with which one goes through one's gas. Not listed was the increased work of breathing at depth, which can result in CO2 retention and increased narcosis, anxiety, shortness of breath, and eventual panic. Experienced divers, who avoid strenuous exertion and who use quality regulators that are properly adjusted and well-maintained, avoid a lot of the problem. But new divers, using rental gear and unfamiliar with currents, are setups for retaining CO2, and the problem with it is that blunts thinking and raises anxiety, not good preparation for anything that might go wrong.

I have no idea whether there are Coz dive ops who will run shallow dives. Our first dives all went to the 100 foot range, but our group had a boat to itself and we were all experienced divers. If you want to remain shallow (and it is NOT a bad idea) I'd highly recommend contacting the dive op with which you have your reservations and discussing the possibilities with them. It might be feasible to hire your own DM to do it, but it would cost you more.

 

[sealskin98]

You know...the op did not ever reply if there was apprehension about doing 85' dives. This may be some good information to have. The impression I got was that there was just a question of if someone with a OW cert. could do dives below 60'.

PADI Deep Diver is an extension to AOW and covers 100'-130'. AOW covers 60'-100'.

But as you say, it all depends on the environment you're diving in.

Hmmm, so OW with PADI just covers to 60 feet?

Guess I didn't have the PADI OW course and the instuctor did another course outline that was up to PADI standards. He handed out the no-deco tables and we never used them...he had us doing classroom stuff of figuring 100-130 foot decompression dive profiles on air with hang time using the U.S. Navy tables, along with the repetitive dive time to next dive after a deco. dive. Of course we never did a deco. dive. That's not a tech. course of course, far from it, and there are flaws with the Navy tables for rec. divers (which he explained to us), but I guess it helped a little. He did touch a little on oxygen on hang time.

A trimix tech. course would be interesting though.

But I did like the mixed gas demonstration he presented, especially the nitrous oxide one.

The narcosis issue is very valid as it can affect different people differently. But you never know how it will affect you unless you do it, under supervision.