JXT71
Registered
It's needed when someone else is responsible for you, or liable for your actions.I wonder to what extent certification is needed or actually a requirement.
Right now, if I wanted to drive to the beach, put on my scuba gear and march into the water by myself, no one is going to stop me. I can go dive to 200ft, run my tank dry and die there. Since its all my gear and I have an OW cert on record claiming I know better than to do that, no one else is held responsible.
Change the setting to a dive op that's renting out equipment to you and taking you down to 100ft. Rather than go over all the associated hazards of that, they can just ask to see your AOW cert issued by a recognized agency that claims you know it already. And to verify that you haven't forgotten the skills? A simple supervised check-out dive.
I can understand how some certs seem pointless. UW Navigation seems pointless if you're only ever in 80ft vis with a DM nearby. Wreck Diver seems pointless if you've only faced an open hull, or maybe a simple deck layout. Just remember that not all dive locations and conditions are the same - and classes can provide a structured and supervised environment to help introduce you to more challenging dives.
Also, a dive op that only wants an AOW for a "deep cave dive"? That raises an eyebrow... I suppose by rec logic, they'd only have to take you down to 61ft and swim under a rock outcropping to call it a deep cave dive.