Changed depth limit for PADI Open Water

[pittelli]

I got my PADI Open Water in 1990, and at the time I was told my limit was 100ft. I still use my original ID.

I've been diving for 25 years with no issue, but now in Australia I'm being told (and I've confirmed of course) that the Open Water limit is now a measly 18m (60ft). When did this change? Am I grandfathered, or am I now expected to be restricted after all these years? And if grandfathered, how do I inform the dive boats here (e.g., get a renewed ID)?

Appreciate any insight..

 

[Diver0001]

It never did as far as I know. I don't have my original book but I took my PADI in 1984 and the 18m recommendation was in place at that time.

In any case the current recommendations are as follows:

- OW to 18m
- AOW (involves 5 dives) to 30m
- After taking a deep specialty (involves a minimum of 6 dives, 4 of which are deep, the other 2 are prerequisites to starting the specialty and overlap with AOW) to 40m

If you've been an active diver for 25 years, getting your AOW should be a formality that you can do in a weekend. If you were to do AOW and a deep specialty then it can be done in two weekends. The limitation is that you can only make 3 training dives on one day.

R..

 

[pittelli]

Seriously? Was it a recommendation or a 'rule'? Reason I ask is because in the Caribbean I seem to remember dive boats doing dives to 90ft or so back then (but granted, the vast majority of my dives have been with buddies, not via commercial boats, so my memory could be failing me).

EDIT:
I'd rather not have to pay the AUD$750+ to get AOW here in Far North Queensland

 

[Diver0001]

Officially it's a recommendation. Many people treat it as a rule.

There are only "rules" in the PADI system with respect to depth during training dives. A guided dive being led by a PADI professional would fall into this category for risk management reasons. The divemaster isn't going to want to face the uncomfortable questions that will be asked if he takes an OW diver deeper than the recommended depth and something bad happens. So if you're following a guide, they're very likely to be picky about it.

In general, certified divers are expected to follow the recommendations and there is a taboo about not doing so. However, there is no scuba police and you're not going to get in any "official" trouble if you dive deeper.

R..

 

[victorzamora]

Seriously? Was it a recommendation or a 'rule'? Reason I ask is because in the Caribbean I seem to remember dive boats doing dives to 90ft or so back then (but granted, the vast majority of my dives have been with buddies, not via commercial boats, so my memory could be failing me).

EDIT:
I'd rather not have to pay the AUD$750+ to get AOW here in Far North Queensland

So, $750AUD is crazy for AOW. I did my AOW for like $225US including 5 boat dives, gear rental, and cert processing. If you have a dive trip coming up, maybe you could look at getting AOW there. AOW can be (and usually is) a huge waste of time and money in that you learn very little....especially for a diver that is competent and confident in the water.

As for it being a "rule".....here's the sticky part: PADI (and most dive organizations) only define limits for your training dives. The captain of the boat (or dive operator, or whatever) can set limits on you. If they determine you have to have a boat diver card to dive off of a boat, then that's their rule....regardless of what PADI thinks. They'd definitely lose business for that, but requiring AOW for deeper dives is a rule I frequently see imposed by dive ops. I think a lot of that is for insurance purposes, though. Do me a favor: Go to YouTube and search for "Hitler isn't AOW." I'd provide the link if I weren't at work. Trust me, it's worth it.

 

[Diver0001]

I don't know what we charge for it (I just give the course) but 750$aud seems very high if you're not on the 4-star cruise. Look around a bit and maybe see if you can find a private instructor. for someone with experience who could do it from shore outside shop context in one weekend I would charge a fraction of that. I'm thinking you'll be able to find in independent instructor who will do it for $290-300aud

Victor has a point too. If you're booking a trip you may be able to swing a deal with them to certify you during the course of the trip for a small premium.

R..

 

[Kevrumbo]

I got my PADI Open Water in 1990, and at the time I was told my limit was 100ft. I still use my original ID.

I've been diving for 25 years with no issue, but now in Australia I'm being told (and I've confirmed of course) that the Open Water limit is now a measly 18m (60ft). When did this change? Am I grandfathered, or am I now expected to be restricted after all these years? And if grandfathered, how do I inform the dive boats here (e.g., get a renewed ID)?

Appreciate any insight..

Look at this objectively from the perspective of Air Sharing in an Emergency Out-of-Air Contingency for two novice divers at 30m:

A Quick Contingency "Rock Bottom" Calculation and Gas Plan Estimate for Open Water. . .

Given: For a single 11 litre tank (AL80), a total of 11 litres/bar metric tank rating and a volume Surface Consumption Rate (SCR) of 22 litres/min -same as a pressure SCR of 2 bar/min*ATA (divide 22 litres/min by 11 litres/bar)- using an example NDL air dive to 30m (4 ATA) depth in Open Water.

Emergency Reserve/Rock Bottom pressure calculation, from 30 meters with one minute stops every 3 meters to the surface,
-->Just "tally the ATA's":
4.0
3.7
3.4
3.1
2.8
2.5
2.2
1.9
1.6
1.3

Sum Total: 26.5

Multiplied by 2 bar/min*ATA equals 53 bar Rock Bottom absolute reading remaining on your SPG. --this also happens to be the pressure in bar needed for one person in an emergency contingency to reach the surface with the above minimum decompression ascent profile.

So ideally for a two person buddy team, multiply 53 by 2 which is 106 bar for both to reach the surface (sharing in a buddy Out-ot-Gas contingency).

But realistically, for two experienced divers stressed: 106 bar plus 30% of 106 bar equals 138 bar Rock Bottom SPG reading.

For two novice divers stressed: 106 bar plus 100% of 106 bar equals 212 bar (!!!)
--->obviously then, two novice divers on single 11L tanks should not be diving to 30m for any significant length of time. . .

 

[tomfcrist]

Kev,

What in the world does that post have to do with the question asked?

 

[Crowley]

like Diver0001 said above - it's a recommendation, rather than a rule as in: you are certified to this limit and if you go beyond it then that's you're own fault...

For a newly certified diver, this makes a lot of sense - however there is a lot to be said for folks who got their OW cert back in the day, or - in many cases I have come across - learned to dive before PADI or even NAUI actually existed (armed forces, usually). At the centre I worked for in Egypt we would take this into account - a lot of our older customers had indeed learned to dive before the agencies really took off, and had been regular divers ever since. and have dived deeper and longer than even the most experienced professionals would want to do today. They only got a OW license because the business started demanding them, rather like people who learned to drive during the second world war, drove quite happily for 20 years after the fact, were required to pass a test to carry on.

Depending on your location, some centres as per my place of work in Egypt will count experience along with certification in recognition of the fact that these divers have a basic cert, earned many year ago, but have a lifetime's experience behind them. Somewhat unfortunately, many centres stick by the rule that you can only dive to the limits of your certification, regardless of prior experience.

Australia is one of the most litigious countries in the world, and from my limited experience diving there, for all kinds of ridiculous Australian regulations, will only permit divers to dive to their certification. I agree with that to some extent, in that I don't want to see newbies doing silly things beyond their limits but on the other hand - there are those folks that have been diving since before the rules were ever invented...

Which is more of a ramble than an insight but that's the way it is. And back in 1990 the PADI OW limit was still 60ft/18m so possible misinformation from the instructor at the time.

Cheers

C.

 

[victorzamora]

Kev,

What in the world does that post have to do with the question asked?

I'm on my phone so I was scrolling up from the bottom when I saw this and thought "is Kevrumbo back?" I kept scrolling up and saw some random calculations and thought "that HAS to be Kev." It's really becoming a burden, always being right[emoji12]