I just had a pleasant evening turn into a rather annoying disagreement with a PADI DM who has dove and worked in several Latin American countries and New Zealand. At home, he DMs in Canada.
Basically - he told me that as an AOW it wasn't "legal" for me to dive without DM supervision and that many places would refuse to rent me gear without either supervision or a DM cert.
Yes - he used the term "legal". I was further told that other qualifications are useless (I don't see myself progressing much further in PADI but I want to take courses elsewhere).
Oh. Also - apparently AOW certifies you for overhead (he talked about a guy freaking out in a "cave" in Nicaragua) because of the wreck dive.
So I'm a bit annoyed and slightly tipsy and I'm wondering if anything - anything at all - is true. I suspect he's a DM with a bit of a god complex (there was some bragging involved) but who knows. Maybe I'm being obstinate.
So, ScubaBoard.... Educate me.
In some countries there is a strict requirement to dive with a registered local guide regardless of your certification level. Turkey is one example of this. The law was implemented in order to stem the wholesale plundering of artifacts from dive sites. Greece used to to this as well but I'm not sure if they still do.
I also know that in some countries like Spain and Belize that you're not permitted to dive in marine reserves without a local guide, again, regardless of your certification level. I suspect that many countries have certain marine reserves that are tightly controlled, not only for protecting the underwater fauna but in order to create and maintain a source of jobs for locals. For example again, in Belize you're not even able to become a dive guide there unless you are a citizen. None of this has anything to do with your skill as a diver or the quality of your certification. It's just business. It's good to make this point clearly, it's not "illegal" in many cases but it can be "made impossible" by local operators who are defending their turf.
As for not being able to rent gear etc. It's possible that some shops or in some places that you will have trouble with it. Again, not because of your certification but due to local dive operators protecting their business. The only exception that I can think of to this are some places in France where you may have trouble renting gear with a PADI certification due to a high degree of chauvinism regarding the alleged superiority of the local French certifying authority. It's not as bad now as it was in say 2000 but the French think they invented diving and PADI had a lot of trouble getting much of a beachhead in France for a while. Diving with a guide may be the path of least resistance in such cases.
There are also some areas that are "off limits" to divers for safety reasons. The entrances and areas around harbors, close to some dams, in shipping lanes, private property, protected wrecks, marine reserves, fish/mussel farms, etc etc. While it's generally true that you are allowed to dive independently with a buddy, the point here is that you still may not be able to dive in a given location due to local laws/regulations that have been passed for your own protection.
Finally, the AOW certification does not include protocols for diving in overheads. However, many guides do distinguish between "swim throughs" and "overheads" and a lot of dive guides to take people into caverns, cenotes, lava/coral tunnels, wrecks, etc. This can be a lot of fun but there are obviously risks involved. There are no scuba police who will stop you from going into those places but you must be aware of the risks and have a plan if things get pear shaped.
does that help?
R..
