Do I really need AOW for diving with charters going to sites for depth below 60'?

Is it common practice to reject divers going for trips to sites deeper than 60' ? I have never encountered this problem so far but would like to know others' experience as I plan to do more charters this year. I do not care about the card I would rather do more dives but the only thing that concerns me is being rejected.

I'd say it really depends on location and charter. There are places where they won't check, and others that have strict policies.

Here in NW FL, there are charters that require X number of dives of X depth before taking you out to the Oriskany. Then again, one shop takes their OW students there for their final checkout dive. Even heard of one that will look at your ending tank pressure and won't let you dive the second dive when you come back to the boat with nothing left in the first tank. Given that the Oriskany tower starts at 70, flight deck at 140ish and 214 to the sand, they are being careful.

You are right that diving more is of greater importance than another card. Best advice would be to check where you are thinking about diving and decide based on that.

elan:

Is it common practice to reject divers going for trips to sites deeper than 60' ? I have never encountered this problem so far but would like to know others' experience as I plan to do more charters this year. I do not care about the card I would rather do more dives but the only thing that concerns me is being rejected.

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Realistically, I think most charters recommend AOW cards but do not actually require them. However, more diver training is always a bonus and the quality of the AOW class (as with any class) will depend on the quality of the instructor. I think that divers who say their AOW class was a waste of time had poor instructors.

On the other hand, if you have no interest in getting the extra diver training, I think you will be fine for a lot of charters but you probably will get rejected by some as well. Personally I have dived with 2 different charter services so far and neither cared whether I had AOW or not. One of them was a boat dive to Carmel with 80-100' dives and the web site did recommend AOW, 15 cold water dives and 8 or something like that within a year but they did not check to see if you actually had those requirements met.

elan:

Is it common practice to reject divers going for trips to sites deeper than 60' ? I have never encountered this problem so far but would like to know others' experience as I plan to do more charters this year. I do not care about the card I would rather do more dives but the only thing that concerns me is being rejected.

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I can't tell you how common it is, but this exact scenario has happened to me before. I posted a question about it afterwards (http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/dir/265294-aow-vacations-resorts.html).

I still haven't bothered with AOW, though I imagine I'll eventually get around to it if ever the hassle of being turned away exceeds the hassle of setting up and paying for the class.

Oh thanks a lot for that link, I have not found it while searching.... Thanks guys for your info... I think I will put it on hold and at most would probably get the "deep diver" specialty card for that purpose. for the price of the whole course I can probably do at least 6 double dive charters

If you are going the PADI route I would recommend the AOW course just for the material covered, whether you need it for a charter or not. I kind of consider OW and AOW to be two parts of one big introductory course. With only OW you won't have exposure to some important topics like deep diving, navigation, shooting SMB's, search techniques etc...
Of course, if you dive with a club/experienced mentor you can learn many of these things without a course but just diving off OW, as it's taught today, leaves a lot of little things out there to just "sort of" pick up.
I'd even include a nitrox course for the better undersanding of gas in general and it's effects/limitations (but that's just me).

As far as the charters go, as others have stated it's just a crap shoot depending on how diligent they are. If they take a known OW diver to a dive site that is clearly beyond OW limits they open themselves up to litigation as they assume a degree of liability by providing a paid service. Taking a diver to a site that is beyond their abilities is negligent. The diver is negligent for diving beyond their limits but the charter is also liable for putting a diver in that position.

The flip side of the equation is "do you want to dive with a charter that isn't diligent"?

Hi elan,

In Key Largo, many of the operators require AOW or recent deeper dive experience in order to dive the Spiegel Grove or the Duane. AOW is a relatively painless way to avoid this requirement for the future. That being said, under forgiving circumstances, both of these dives are a piece of cake. When there is current and/or poor visibility, these dives can be challenging, even to the more experienced diver.

Good diving, Craig

Some charters require it here in Hawaii. Others will make sure you stick with an instructor on the dives. Again, ask the boat.

Not to get into a science lesson, but my $0.02:

Breathing compressed air at depth has 2 main negative effects. The first is of course is Nitrogen loading which dictates your time at depth, and the second is Nitrogen Narcosis. Many divers experience Narcosis at about 100+ feet, and diving with a training course will expose you to Narcosis under controlled conditions and allow you to see how you will react.

From Open Water training remember Boyle's Law. As you dive deeper, your air consumption becomes a multiple of your depth (in Atmospheres) times your Surface Air Consumption. This makes monitoring your air supply and consumption even more critical!

Finally - deep diving requires a greater reliance on your buddy and your gear, and starts bringing factors into play such as gear redundancy, self-rescue, and gas management.

A Deep Diver Specialty (with any of the fine agencies) allows you to gain the knowledge and experiences necessary in a controlled environment to handle these situations and understand the risks. It's not about the card.

As to the poster who related stories about Open Water checkout dives on the Mighty O, many agencies - such as SDI - limit Open Water Training dives to a maximum depth of 60' (for many of the reasons noted above). I would not want to use this for a student's first Open Water dives with a hard bottom waaaay down at 200'+, and a new diver with less than perfect buoyancy!

I'd go for the Deep Diver training!

Dive Safe!

I enjoyed Advanced.

The best reason for someone taking Advanced - it is a pre-requisite for the course you really should take......

Rescue