Have you ever been refused to be allowed to dive?

[drbill]

In the distant past I have been by PADI instructors who had no clue what my LA County cert allowed (I'd been diving longer than some of them had been alive). Then in Cairns I met a PADI instructor who knew what my LAC card meant and even declared it "a museum piece." He gave me a PADI AOW Cert for the cost of materials.

 

[tursiops]

Then in Cairns I met a PADI instructor who knew what my LAC card meant and even declared it "a museum piece." He gave me a PADI AOW Cert for the cost of materials.

Very nice of him, even though it breaks PADI standards.

 

[mbs]

Yes, a few times when I only had a NAUI "Scuba Diver" card from the 70's. No depth restrictions when I got it, but over time it got to be the equivalent of an OW cert and even though I had more than 100 dives and the training was significantly more exhaustive than OW plus AOW when I did it I was restricted from some dives by some operators. Took PADI rescue and the issue went away. The shop I did rescue with did not require AOW and the rescue course was a good one so was all good.

My wife/buddy has Naui II from the 80's and said she had issues a few times with folks not understanding the naui system. She took padi rescue with me and that issue went away. Our instructors told her she had way more training than what padi rescue gave her. She still loves to make fun of me for some of the padi training. Especially the section on ways to remove leg crams

 

[TMHeimer]

Very nice of him, even though it breaks PADI standards.

Right. How about this one---
I was in a pool once (in the U.S.) getting some tips on demonstrating the skills so I could upgrade my marks in the DM course back home (he was doing me a favor). He had me do the "don everything" on the bottom thing. When finished, the instructor handed me a filled out stamina test form and said he thought I was good with the skills and "So I gave you all 4s and 5s on the Swim tests, here". Of course I didn't use that form and took the tests for real back home.

 

[Rose Robinson]

I am AOW but wife is only OW. When she was certified, early 80's, there was never a 60 ft limitation. She has over 800 dives, we dove Indonesia liveaboard and often hit 80 to 100 feet in Bonaire. Never had any concerns. Once we wanted to dive Spiegel in Florida the next day. Boat captain explained AWO unless approved by the shop owner. As we kitted up he watched us, talked about where we had dived and obviously watched us dive. We returned to the boat and all of a sudden the our certification level was no problem. I have a hard ti!e justifying paying PADI for a unneeded "badge*. Seems like a scam to me. So.has anyone been refused a dive became they were not AOW? B

Hello Wild Bill,

I haven't read all the posts, But I certainly do not believe that improving ones skills/understanding/confidence through training advancement is in any way representative of a scam.

In the example you posted, your spouse may have just as easily been refused, and where would you have been then?

I have been on many ''advanced'' dives, which in some instances could very well been categorized as technical, because of depth/current/water temperature or other challenging conditions, dives in which, had your spouse been allowed to dive on, could have presented many difficulties for her, not to mention placing her safety as well as your own in jeopardy.

Also, numbers are not the be all/end all. If your spouse has logged 800 dives, her training level should have been upgraded a long time ago. Not much point in you being AOW, and her being OW.

Rose.

 

[Rose Robinson]

think about it from the captains position.....

im willing to bet that captain has to deal with someone 3-4x a week who claims to have been trained by jacques cousteau himself....someone who claims to dive the Andrea Doria 2x a month....or someone who claims their deepest dives were to 400 meters........all while watching them struggle to put on their split fins after strapping on a spare air.


unfortunately, personally responsibility seems to be a thing of the past......so if he drops some yaboo off at a 100ft dive site.....and they end up getting hurt, and they only have an OW certification.....well guess whos getting sued?...guess whos losing their business?....

if the person has their AOW certification....well the captain can pass that buck onto the certification agency.

you very well could be the best diver in the world, and might have lots of experience doing advanced diving.....the captain doesnt know that, nor is he, or should he, be willing to take that risk......

at the end of the day...you have no right to have the capt take you out....if you want to do deep dives, there are no scuba police, you are more than welcome to buy a boat and go out on your own......

M-Cameron,

I totally agree with everything you said with the exception of the last paragraph, which makes it all the harder for the authorities to find the body, especially if no one knew the diver went out alone.

Going out on a charter is not a right, it's a privilege that should be respected, and why would anyone represent themselves as something they are not? At some point in time, misrepresentation does not end well.

Rose.

 

[M-Cameron]

M-Cameron,

I totally agree with everything you said with the exception of the last paragraph, which makes it all the harder for the authorities to find the body, especially if no one knew the diver went out alone.

Going out on a charter is not a right, it's a privilege that should be respected, and why would anyone represent themselves as something they are not? At some point in time, misrepresentation does not end well.

Rose.

i meant "on your own" as in "independent of dive charter".....and not strictly "by your self'.....

poor choice of wording on my part.

 

[The Chairman]

Ok fair point

If you consider how much money these dive ops turn away as opposed to earning off of the few AOWs they sell, then it's apparent they aren't doing this for the money. Locals know local conditions better than outsiders can know. Often rules about certain dive spots were formulated thru the deaths and injuries of others. We should respect that.

 

[Snoweman]

Well, sort of.. we had planned a dive trip to west palm with me and my two daughters, who are both AOW. The trip had required AOW+Nitrox due to the expected dive profiles. Sort of last minute, my younger son wanted to go who was just OW+nitrox. They initially said “No”, but after talking with the boat captain, I agreed to buddy with my son, and would keep him a little shallower. Once we talked it through, all was ok, and my kid did great.

I can understand why some operators might enforce this rule.. but it has been my experience that most boats will accept a dive log with healthy experience as comparable to AOW.

YMMV

Interesting... I am leaving for Jupiter, FL tomorrow. One of the operators was very interested in our dive experience, especially with drift dives. A plurality, if not a majority, of my dives have been in Cozumel, where currents cannot only be swift, they can be downright hairy. From what I have read, there's no danger of a down current on the coast, as it is a flat bottom (please correct me if I am wrong). The only added degree of difficulty I am seeing is the lack of concierge service I get in Coz. (I'm spoiled)

 

[60plus]

It is about liability and knowledge. If you are not certified for the depth your medical insurance will almost certainly be invalid. Knowledge - on a typical dive to 20m you are very unlikely to get dcs. Do something careless on the ascent from your second dive of the day to 30+m and you are at far greater risk of dcs or going into decompression. Getting certified for deep (to 40m) is not expensive. I paid about €330 for 6 dives from a boat over 3 days to get both my nitrox and SSI deep diver certs. That is not much more than the cost of the dives alone.