Scubaroo
Contributor
Anyone done this course? Was it useful, or just a badge-collecting exercise? What specific skills were covered?
PADI Deep Diver course
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scubagibbon
Guest
Hi there,
I see from your profile that you are PADI A-OW, but I'm not sure how long you've been diving for, what type of diving you've done till now or what kind of things you want to do in the future.
My personal opinion is that it all comes down to experience at the end of the day - and I believe that it's always best to get the experience whilst you are under the supervision of an instructor (some one who is trained and with greater experience) rather than to end up in an unfamiliar situation away from a controlled environment.
I therefore think that the main thing you will gain from doing it is experience of being at depth - greater understanding of the effects of breathed gases on the body, effect on light penetration etc.etc.
I think that most of the PADI specialities are valuable from the point of view that they are designed to give people ideas, enthusiasm and an insight into the different things you can get up to underwater - i.e. Naturalist, Photographer etc. (although I don't think most of us need to find a reason to be underwater do we!).
FYI - The deep diver is also a pre-req if you want to go on to do any PADI tech courses.
I see from your profile that you are PADI A-OW, but I'm not sure how long you've been diving for, what type of diving you've done till now or what kind of things you want to do in the future.
My personal opinion is that it all comes down to experience at the end of the day - and I believe that it's always best to get the experience whilst you are under the supervision of an instructor (some one who is trained and with greater experience) rather than to end up in an unfamiliar situation away from a controlled environment.
I therefore think that the main thing you will gain from doing it is experience of being at depth - greater understanding of the effects of breathed gases on the body, effect on light penetration etc.etc.
I think that most of the PADI specialities are valuable from the point of view that they are designed to give people ideas, enthusiasm and an insight into the different things you can get up to underwater - i.e. Naturalist, Photographer etc. (although I don't think most of us need to find a reason to be underwater do we!).
FYI - The deep diver is also a pre-req if you want to go on to do any PADI tech courses.
OP
Scubaroo
Contributor
Been diving for just over a year, but I'm aching to get into some more advanced stuff once my experience allows it. Recently completed my Nitrox course, and would like to be able to do some of the deeper dives around Monterey off boats, which are going to be similar dives to what I'll be doing once I move back to Australia. A lot of the good wrecks in Melbourne are in the 130 foot/40m range, and although it will be at least a year or two before I'm even able to think about diving them, I want to get my skills up in the meantime while I'm still living in California. The "deep dive" on my AOW course was to 63 feet 
(weather forced the boat back from the intended dive site) and I would like to do some deeper dives with an instructor before attempting any open water deep dives around here in the 100 foot/30m range.
(weather forced the boat back from the intended dive site) and I would like to do some deeper dives with an instructor before attempting any open water deep dives around here in the 100 foot/30m range.
art.chick
Contributor
Having been narked on the last 2 100' dives I have been on, I really don't recommend that you try diving deep for the first time without supervision. Whether PADI's Deep diver class is the answer is not, I can't tell you; I did my 100' dive in my YMCA AOW class. We don't get badges or anything, but it does not sound like you care about that anyway.
When I teach advanced it includes 10 dives. At least 2 of those 10 at to 90 - 100 ft. When weather (or anything else) stops us from diving deep, we work on other aspects of the advanced course and reschedule that deep dive. Taking a student to 63 ft and counting it as the only deep dive in an advanced course is inexcusable. It does meet standards, but it is inexcusable. You were ripped.
art.chic,
I'm curious, did you take the YMCA AOW (a rip off IMHO) or the Silver Advanced?
art.chic,
I'm curious, did you take the YMCA AOW (a rip off IMHO) or the Silver Advanced?
art.chick
Contributor
Gosh, Walter, I have not heard of that program. When I took OW at the Y, the instructor did not give out OW cards till you finished the AOW requirements, too. For the advanced class, we only had to do one 100' dive, 1 night dive, a whole mess of navigations, and a marine-life ID dive. No boat dives.
By the time we were done with the OW basics, however, we were run ragged with beach entries & exits, and low-viz surg-y daytime dives, that I felt like we had earned a chance to just focus on a few new things. You may be right that the Y's AOW leaves a few moonsnails unturned, but at the time I still felt challenged. Perhaps you can now see why we started in July & finished in December. When the long march ended, we celebrated: with our first-ever boat dive!
BTW, I have never gotten Narked on any deep dive until recently. Imagine my surprise!
ut:
By the time we were done with the OW basics, however, we were run ragged with beach entries & exits, and low-viz surg-y daytime dives, that I felt like we had earned a chance to just focus on a few new things. You may be right that the Y's AOW leaves a few moonsnails unturned, but at the time I still felt challenged. Perhaps you can now see why we started in July & finished in December. When the long march ended, we celebrated: with our first-ever boat dive!
BTW, I have never gotten Narked on any deep dive until recently. Imagine my surprise!
ut:
I found the Deep Course a real eye opener - I think my log book entry says something like "a real 10 pinter" or some such and I was very glad to have some prefessionals around.
To start with this was Feb in the UK - good old Stoney!! Water temp 4 degrees. First thing was my dry suit hose came off as I entered the water, then my weight belt slipped off - all of which was sorted before the descent to depth.
At depth - boy those tasks!!! Brain like mush......
My final dive was interesting too - free flow at 15m on the way back up followed by rapid ascent as I took my mind off other things whilst trying to sort out the reg - thankfully breathing off my oct or pony ( the guy 30min later was not so lucky but that is another story....)
All in all I learnt an awful lot that weekend.
Jonathan
To start with this was Feb in the UK - good old Stoney!! Water temp 4 degrees. First thing was my dry suit hose came off as I entered the water, then my weight belt slipped off - all of which was sorted before the descent to depth.
At depth - boy those tasks!!! Brain like mush......
My final dive was interesting too - free flow at 15m on the way back up followed by rapid ascent as I took my mind off other things whilst trying to sort out the reg - thankfully breathing off my oct or pony ( the guy 30min later was not so lucky but that is another story....)
All in all I learnt an awful lot that weekend.
Jonathan
art.chick
Contributor
Guess we know why you are currently diving elsewhere!
i'm probably going to invite a lot of flak but i think a lot of these courses are a waste of money and sound more like fluff than anything else. unless you are gonna do a "real" deep dive (deep enough to require breathing something other than air with planned decomp time + stage bottles, etc.), i really don't see why you need a course.
the only quantifiable difference that i can see between a 50' dive and a 100' dive is that you should monitor your pressure more frequently and be more aware of your breathing than usual (so as to conserve use of air). you don't need a course for this. you just need a briefing.
other than that, most people do not get narc'ed at that depth and hence would not benefit from having a trained instructor supervise the narc'ing so that you know what it feels like and know what to do.
therefore, look through the bull**** marketeers with their fancy ideas try to differentiate their products and increase penetration in their customer bases. i bet you will eventually end up doing lots of 100' dives on your own (with a buddy of course) anyway.
recently went a wreck dive (no penetration) with a whole bunch of OW divers, most of whom had less than 20 dives to 115'. Other than the possibility of someone getting narc'ed, in which case it is the supervising DM's responsibility to help prevent, I don't think any of them saw the dive differently, or even noticed that it was that deep.
i'm sure i am missing out on the rationale that PADI and other rec diving agencies provide for why a deep diving course is relevant. much appreciated if someone could enlighten me.
the only quantifiable difference that i can see between a 50' dive and a 100' dive is that you should monitor your pressure more frequently and be more aware of your breathing than usual (so as to conserve use of air). you don't need a course for this. you just need a briefing.
other than that, most people do not get narc'ed at that depth and hence would not benefit from having a trained instructor supervise the narc'ing so that you know what it feels like and know what to do.
therefore, look through the bull**** marketeers with their fancy ideas try to differentiate their products and increase penetration in their customer bases. i bet you will eventually end up doing lots of 100' dives on your own (with a buddy of course) anyway.
recently went a wreck dive (no penetration) with a whole bunch of OW divers, most of whom had less than 20 dives to 115'. Other than the possibility of someone getting narc'ed, in which case it is the supervising DM's responsibility to help prevent, I don't think any of them saw the dive differently, or even noticed that it was that deep.
i'm sure i am missing out on the rationale that PADI and other rec diving agencies provide for why a deep diving course is relevant. much appreciated if someone could enlighten me.
that is a physiological fact! Some notice it more than others, which usually relates to the pyschological aspect of narcosis. Divers who dive deep often, for work or sport, train themselves to "manage" the narcosis. Most would admit to you they never fully master it. The old axiom applies here in my opinion: "there are old divers & bold divers but very few old bold divers"!
Proper training can take care of the physical aspects of handling deep diving & begin to deal with the pyschological component but in the end each individual must decide for themselves if they have the "mentality" to dive deeper. I think any intelligent diver has what i call their own "bogie-man" depth. That depth that you become less comfortable for whatever reason. For most of the students i have taught, it's 100 feet. That magic, three digit depth. If you have what you consider a good reason to dive to 100 feet or below, how do you become more comfortable diving to those depths?
The answer of course is to get the proper training. The value for your money is that you are learning tried & true skills, from a skilled teacher, in a more controlled environment. This is not to say you can not do the deeper dives without the training. You can, it's entirely up to the individual diver. Personally for the reasons stated above, i HIGHLY recommend you get organised training. The trial & error method of learning to dive is inherently more dangerous than taking the appropriate training.
Remember driver training or flight school anyone? By the way diving is still statistically safer than flying or driving. Which of you would give your 16 year old the keys to the family car before they got the proper training? I truly fail to understand why people can think that deep diving is safer than driving their car. The training agencies have gone to a great deal of expense to insure that diving remains safe by providing the appropriate training.
The LAST thing we want as divers is government intervention caused by frequent diving accidents. It can & will happen if diving accidents become more frequent. Like it or not the training agencies are the single biggest reason diving has a safe history, we as divers, are a close second in keeping diving safe.
I say a responsible diver is a well trained diver. This includes any technical training you ABSOLUTELY should get, if tech. is what your heart desires
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