Have you ever been refused to be allowed to dive?

[Wibble]

Is a drysuit certification something for dive shops to care about?

 

[oly5050user]

Is a drysuit certification something for dive shops to care about?

Only if renting a dry suit. Own your own usually no cares

 

[DanBMW]

I've never been turned away, but have "heard" of some that have because of age. Can anyone attest to this. Seems to me that the baby boomers are getting pretty old and age might trump certification some day. I recently turned 70 and as a divemaster feel fine, but I can see where at my age, heart disease is becoming a problem.

 

[ibj40]

Not quite, the 40 logged doves are to begin the course. To actually complete the Divemaster course and acquire your certificate you need a still low 60 dives.

I stand corrected.

I remember my Divemaster class, there were two couples who were pushing through from AOW to Divemaster. Our instructor knew both couples (as all of them were or were related to in the military and the same unit).

If they put on a rig and got their head underwater, they logged it as a "dive", as they just barely had the 40 minimum to start the course, and since we were inland in Texas, in the winter, it was hard to log real dives otherwise.

 

[drrich2]

Here's what doesn't make much sense to me. AOW, as I understand it, would allow me to dive the Spiegel even though, diving a wreck wasn't one of the specialties I did in AOW. The c-card allows me to do the dive.

I think the deep portion of AOW training is more important to this dive than the 'wreck' portion. I did 3 dives on it (1 on the Duane) with Rainbow Reef back in 2013. I think my max. depth on one dive was around 90 feet. Most were using 80-cf AL tanks (I had 100-cf reserved), and it was a fairly square profile dive that at times sees some current. I recall one deep wreck dive where another diver seemed at risk to drift off the mooring chain; I don't know that he would've, but I grasped his rig to bring him back closer and he wasn't offended. On one dive the guide led us in what I'd call a 'light penetration' - a long hallway with windows to the exterior, no detours into any interior rooms. More of a 'swim through' experience.

Practical experience diving well below 60 feet deep, especially with a fairly small tank (i.e.: not a 120-cf) and dealing with some current, is a good idea. Better yet if you've used a mooring chain to get to/from the site (and whether those were barnacles or what someone called 'razor clams,' watch your hands).

 

[scubadada]

I got recertified, when my son got certified, in 1997. I got nitrox certified in 2002 and then did AOW in 2004, at 83 dives. My 3rd dive post recertification was to 100 feet. By the time I got my AOW, 21 of my 83 dives had been to >100 feet. All these dives were in Grand Cayman or Bonaire.

Shorty after getting AOW, I made 2 trips to Key Largo. The operator I used required AOW or some number of recent deep dive in order to dive the Spiegel Grove or the Duane. I simply showed my AOW cert, but could have made the recent deep dives requirement with my logbook.

When new divers ask me about training, I generally recommend getting AOW and nitrox. That's only 5 more training dives. The AOW allows you to partake in essentially all recreational diving. The nitrox increases your dive times ans/or adds safety, it is required for some of the recreational dives in Jupiter, FL.

 

[lowwall]

I'm not sure what the point of the original question is. If we want to dive charters in much of the world, we just have to accept that PADI-style quickie OW certs have irretrievably tainted the Open Water certification no matter how rigorous our particular courses were.

Realistically your choices are to do an AOW or look around for a Rescue class that will accept you without AOW or put up with the limitations and hassles of working around this every time you want to go on a charter where the requirement is common.

 

[Neilwood]

Personally no, I have not been refused a dive by an op.

At the end of the day, the dive op have to draw lines somewhere as to who can/can't do certain dives. How they choose to do that is entirely up to them and so long as they are up front with their requirements I have no issue with it. They can refuse you with no reason given - you are buying a service and they, like any business, reserve the right to refuse to provide the service. The only time that is not true is if it is on the basis of discriminatory reasons (sex, colour etc).

 

[Landau]

I PADI-style quickie OW certs have irretrievably tainted the Open Water certification

I'm not sure if this is a PADI thing or new. I originally certified with NAUI in 1979 our instructor told us to limit our Dives to 100 feet. Other above have described that cert as having no Depth limit. I had 4 dives in the course.

Life intervened and I had a 30 year surface interval. I took PADI open water when I got back into diving. The course content, duration and skills covered were remarkably similar. After 4 dives in the course my depth limit was 60 feet and I would need at least 5 more dives in AOW to get this to 100 feet.

In my experience the standard has gone UP in the last 40 years.

 

[lowwall]

I'm not sure if this is a PADI thing or new. I originally certified with NAUI in 1979 our instructor told us to limit our Dives to 100 feet. Other above have described that cert as having no Depth limit. I had 4 dives in the course....

In my experience the standard has gone UP in the last 40 years.

Do you mean 4 open water dives? It is my understanding that NAUI, LA County, and YMCA training all originally took 15-24 sessions. At my college (I graduated in 1989) it was a 10 week course that met twice a week.

My PADI OW course in 2001 was 6 3-hour sessions plus the open water dives. My son just got certified and, after completing the online portion, it was one pool session and then one confined water session (at Blue Heron Bridge) plus the OW dives.