The problem I often see is that instructors don't realize how bad things can go until they do. Then the we do this all the time excuse/justification doesn't mean squat. I also do not view a quick trip to 80 or 90 ft to open a lock, or look at a color chart as a proper deep dive. You figure out the gas you'll need, add a redundant bottle, and do an actual dive related task while maintaining good buddy position and communications. Then you throw in some kind of rescue or assist task and look for the reaction. Couple that with deployment of the pony or stage at half max depth and finish the dive with multiple stops. All while maintaining good trim and buoyancy. That is a proper deep dive in my opinion. I have seen a shop take 6 people deep with one dm and no redundant gas on anyone. That to me is asking for some one to get hurt. Especially in low vis and 40 degree water at depth.
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Jim, you are a knowledgeable guy, and I take most of your posts to heart, but I'd be hard pressed to see those performance criteria you demand listed in any instructor manual for and AOW 'adventure' DEEP dive. Adventure dives by definition are INTRODUCTORY experiences, and your requirement for using pony bottles isn't even part of the required knowledge base. In fact, I think you do a disservice by even teaching what is a skill beyond the scope of this dive to these divers since the focus is to teach a diver how to experience diving withing the deep parameters of their recreational diving world (18-40meters)... why would you want to introduce higher level task and skills that 'enable' a diver to purposefully exceed recreational limits? (surely you can't be so naive to believe that by teaching such skills, that some divers would not then be tempted to do dives beyond recreational limits just because 'they know how').
The performance of dive related tasks at depth is of course good, but there is great value for a student diver in performance of the lock exercse, color chart, or in my case knot tying game is to demonstrate to the student the effects of deep water on their mental accuity... loss of dexterity, loss of color recognition, etc... these exercises are supposed to be performed prior to the dive, to allow the student to make a direct comparison to how they are affected at depth.
I'm usually in awe of your knowledge, but I have to disagree with this approach, there is so much more in my opinion that is important in introducing a diver to the world below 18m, the ability to understand narcosis, to efficiently manage bottom time using their dive computer after planning that dive ONLY on air, (planning using 1/3 principles) and surfacing with reserve in the tank, not on fumes... and more importantly, making the required stop and ascending at the right rate... if all that can be accomplished you have met the requirements. And the student hopefully has gained some insight into DEEP diving that they can build on in the future.
just my humble, uninformed, newbie, non-instructor opinion, but there is a reason that colleges, universities give credit for LIFE EXPERIENCE and OTHER training.
---------- Post added June 24th, 2014 at 02:49 PM ----------
Exactly!! I have 21 dives, and 11 of them are DEEP by PADI standards because my maximum depth was more than 18meters, but it wasn't until I went to 30m that I felt like I had really gone DEEP, and even then, 30m felt about like 25m that felt about like 20m... in fact, my 25m dive was my favorite over my 30m dive because the cave/chimney entrance we 'swam thru' was at 23m...(and came out at 12m).. for a deep dive like 30m, my dive plan was to descend directly to 20m, check everything, tie a couple knots that I had tied on the boat, then descend to 30m and do that again, watching for signs of narcossis... I got to 30m, felt good, took about twice as long to tie the knots, and then we swam off staying at 30m for only 5 minutes total, and we were back on the surface in 15 minutes (due to a minor drift/navigation issue - not me on the compass)... grabbed a new tank in about 3 minutes and were back in the water and down to 25m for 20 minutes and then slow stairstep ascents along the wall before pulling into a little lagoon and making a 5 minutes stop...
It was good fun, and I have to say that I feel comfortable if I needed to go that deep again sometime (like this weekend)...
Keep at it, do what feels RIGHT (unless you have narcossis, then don't)
T.