100' before AOW?

[Garth]

I knew exactly where we were in the water column the whole time.

 

[MarineResearch]

Dive guide in Roatan took us to 115' when we were at about dive number 20 (OW only). I didn't know we were that deep until we were there. Started slow ascent shortly thereafter. It wasn't smart then, and I sure wouldn't recommend it now.

I'm guessing you went down, looked at the big boat and then moved on. If so, this is an easy place to dive with good visibility and minimal current. Not a difficult dive. However, either the dive briefing was deficient in not mentioning the target maximum depth, or someone wasn't listening.

I know people with a lot of dive experience that shouldn't go anywhere near 100'; they are horrible divers and a disaster waiting to happen. Inversely I know two new divers that dive like they have been at if for years; almost perfect buoyancy, low gas consumption and good working knowledge of dive physics. They both did very well diving to 100' in Bonaire after about 12 open water dives; although they did have an instructor and DM watching them very closely.

 

[Captain12Pk]

would/did any of you dive to 100' before AOW? and if so... about how many dives did it take to work up to that?
I understand the need to be comfortable but assuming you are comfortably and are with an experienced diver would you have any hesitation about diving to 100' within your first 10 dives?

My first dive after my OW certification was to 108 fsw. Of course the OW course cirriculum was much different then. So we're probably not comparing apples to apples here.
My advice to you would be ... "if you don't know how to properly plan your gas needs, you have no business at that depth". Stay within the confines of your training.

K

 

[TSandM]

In general, I don't think a new diver with 10 dives or less should be that deep, simply because it's a long way to the surface. New divers can use gas incredibly fast, and that's only magnified at depth; should they get distracted or lose bandwidth, running out of gas is a real possibility. They usually don't know how long a tank will last them at that point in their career, nor do they have much idea of what a safe gas reserve is.

If anything goes wrong -- flooded mask, freeflow, loose tank -- they don't know how they'll react to stress (nor does their buddy) and it's a long way to bolt. It's a long way to manage an air-sharing ascent, too; we lost a diver here four years ago trying to do just that.

For someone who is an experienced deep free diver, I might make an exception, because such a person certainly has the ability to maintain equanimity under stress, and is unlikely to panic because of a mask flood or a faulty regulator.

 

[FWADIVER]

I should mention on that dive i had an LP121 with a cave fill, so I had almost 150CF of gas...

 

[Blackwood]

If my log is complete (which I'm almost certain it is not), my first >100 foot dive was my 55th.

I don't have AOW, and never will.

 

[BDSC]

would/did any of you dive to 100' before AOW? and if so... about how many dives did it take to work up to that?
I understand the need to be comfortable but assuming you are comfortably and are with an experienced diver would you have any hesitation about diving to 100' within your first 10 dives?

I did exactly what you are talking about. My first dive trip after certification was the the Florida springs and we got in 6 dives. (Never went very deep) A month later I took a trip to the Keys with a very good friend who had been diving for years. Our third dive of that trip was on the Duane or Bib, don't remember which but it was over 100ft. I don't mind admitting I was a little nervous about it but it all went well and I never felt as if I was somehow doing something really dangerous. If you feel confident in your abilities as I did, I'd do it.

 

[Captain12Pk]

.....

 

[MaxBottomtime]

First dive below 60 feet was #225.
First solo dive was #219.
First dive below 100 feet was #308.
AOW after 320 dives.
First oil rigs dive was #712.
First dive below 200 feet was #669.
I've always been conservative. I've known five divers who died under water. All had extensive technical training. Bad things can happen to anyone, so I don't push myself too hard.

 

[azchipka]

AOW is a funny thing. You don't really learn anything new in AOW, just rehash what you've already learned in OW, only now you have some diving experience to relate it to.

if you ever end a course and don't learn anything then it's time to find a new instructor. A good instructor will take what you know and expand on it while staying in the requirements of the course your taking.