60 ft.

[Jim Lapenta]

I do not see where verifying experience and insuring diver safety are not important things. IF the focus was taken off getting numbers and put on safety there would be less accidents. I do not run a boat. Wish I did. If I did I'd probably need to have another source of income. Because I would check certs, logbooks, and in some cases want to see the divers in the water before allowing them on an advanced dive.
But as to the original poster SEI Diving OW cert technically is good to 100 feet. We do not recommend new divers go beyond 60 without sufficient experience and gradually building up to deeper depths. But they have the knowledge and training to expand their diving on their own should they choose to, including calculating deco obligations if something unforeseen occurs.

 

[Charlie59]

I think you may be a little harsh on the dive op. How does a dive operator benefit if you go back to Podunkville and take advanced open water? They must fear lawsuits or diver injury.

I doubt any reasonable dive op would keep you from going below 60 ft if you showed them a logbook filled with 100 foot dives.

 

[Tigerman]

Thing is that the cert SHOULD give you an indication that the diver has been trained and sufficiently capable of performing a certain type of dive. Of course we all know this to not always hold true, unfortunately. The log however doesnt neccesarilly give a perfect picture either and the cert is a whole lot easier to check and probably put you in a much better position with regards to liability.

In that regard I like the way its done in Egypt (red sea). First dive upon arrival will be a <60ft, local dive to check your basic skills to atleast have some idea if your cert tells the truth.

 

[scubamama5]

Way back when..being a "known diver" was all one needed to board a charter. Doin' deep? Invitation only.

The conversation could go something like this:
"Have you dove with us before? No?
Have you done any diving around here? No?
Have you a log book with some recent deep dives (stamped)? No?
OK.
We have an Instructor/DiveMaster available to go with you..No?
Want to do a "Get To Know You" shallow dive? No?"
Well...Okay! Here's the number for the Boat Rental..just down the street..

This is how it is, folks get sued, for just anything..stub your toe? (was the rocks fault)

Divers sayin' they got more expereince that what true...costs to defend suits like that.


BTW: ScubaBoard needs our help..They're getting sued too!!! Donate today..thanks

 

[Walter]

Well, look at it this way..

Youre a dive op owner. You get 2500 different divers on your boat(s) each year. How do you intend to have any idea wether someone actually has been trained and not just been lucky to survive a certain type of dive? The "best" way to do this short of starting to do time-consuming investigations is to check certs and hope the course was run according to the standards. If the **** hits the fan, atleast youve covered your ass.

Well, you've certainly covered your butt against an injury/death suit from the OW diver you didn't let on the boat, but what about that AOW diver who has made exactly one (1) dive to 60 ft, has eight (8) dives to 20 ft and a total of nine (9) dives in his life. You are letting him dive to 100 ft and you just told him he's qualified to make the dive. I'm not a lawyer, but I suspect you have just uncovered your ass in a very big way.

 

[captain]

If I take a taxi to Mount Everest to climb the mountain and I die on the mountain can I sue the taxi driver for taking me to the mountain. A charter boat is a water taxi and should act as such.

 

[Bob DBF]

Well, you've certainly covered your butt against an injury/death suit from the OW diver you didn't let on the boat, but what about that AOW diver who has made exactly one (1) dive to 60 ft, has eight (8) dives to 20 ft and a total of nine (9) dives in his life. You are letting him dive to 100 ft and you just told him he's qualified to make the dive. I'm not a lawyer, but I suspect you have just uncovered your ass in a very big way.

The AOW diver has been certified by a training agency to have the ability to make the dive. The boat driver is checking his certification, checking his ability is for trained instructors. The boat driver is showing due diligence by checking certification and turning down those not certified for the dives to be made.

I'm with captain on on this one "A charter boat is a water taxi and should act as such."
Just get me to the dive site, I'll do the diving.

Bob

 

[Diver0001]

I thought PADI taught that the max rec depth was 100', but that open water cert divers should not go beyond 60' or make dives that involve more than a 3 min safety stop.

In 1987 there were two recommendations, IIRC. 60ft for OW and 130ft for AOW. I don't recall the deep specialty being available back then. As far as I'm aware the 100ft intermediate step is a relatively recent addition.

As for why 60ft. There are several theories and old wives tales about how this limit got set but any way you look at it, the limit is logical because it's more or less the cross over point for the majority of divers (using an AL80) where the NDL becomes a limiting factor in the dive instead of air supply.

R..

 

[helopilot2be]

And maybe it is my naive self, but I'd like to think that the certification agencies set the limits at the currents depths more for a combination of safety and ease of understanding to the new diver than the desire to make a quick buck.

I get what you are saying, but what I think some of you are missing was that in 1987 with NAUI 60 ft was not a limit or even a recommendation. I am 99% sure of this. It was too long ago for me to be 100% sure. But when I did my checkout dives both my instructor and the independent dive operator put our group (all uncertified divers) on a barge that was in 70 feet of water. So I am fairly certain we were not violating a limit or even a recommendation. Oh well.
Chris

 

[captain]

The original 130' limit was adopted by the certification agencies from a Navy table that designated the type of equipment to be used depending on the nature of the dive. Using scuba with double 90 cubic foot tanks, 130 feet was chosen as the the limit that the available air supply would allow a diver a sufficient amount of time to accomplish the mission. It had nothing to do with anything else. The rec agencies just started adding their own arbitrary limits.