AOW certification help!

[WileEDiver]

-boltfish once bubbled...
WileEDiver

On your list of specialities, you forgot Cave Diver. I took extra Cave, Boat and Peak Performance Bouyancy Dives for my AOW.

In that case, I stand corrected.

One other point about AOW, I was on a boat once where it was strongly recommended by the trip organizer (the instructor who had chartered the boat) that only divers with "Advanced Open Water" (or equivalent) were permitted to dive one site (Farnsworth Banks on the "backside" of Catalina). In fact, if you were one of his students [I wasn't, I was an outsider who piggybacked onto their charter] who didn't have an "Advanced" card, He wouldn't let you dive there.

But the viz was lousy and they called off that dive anyway.

 

[-boltfish]

Cave Diver

Hmm. For some reason, the cave diver course isn't listed on PADI's website http://www.padi.com/english/common/courses/rec/continue/aow.asp .

Anyway, I went into a cold cave, down to a depth of 16m, and had to use a flash light. That's it really.

Here's a pic of the part of the dive site.

 

[Dryglove]

Are you sure it wasnt a "cavern diver" specialty http://www.padi.com/english/common/courses/rec/continue/caverndiver.asp

 

[-boltfish]

No because I'm only 16 (you have to be 18 to do a Cavern Dive Course) and it counted towards my AOW.

 

[crazed_dolphin]

Let me know if I'm wrong. After I got my OW in Guam, I went diving in Malaysia. My dive master told me that the 60ft isn't a rule, but a recommendation as long as you have someone more experience than you. ie a dive master. I was pretty much told the same thing by my AOW instructor in FLA.

 

[perpet1]

lal7176 once bubbled...
Are you sure it wasnt a "cavern diver" specialty http://www.padi.com/english/common/courses/rec/continue/caverndiver.asp

And if this is what you meant, and I am pretty sure it was, there is a BIG difference. NO PERSON THAT HAS JUST FINISHED OPEN WATER SHOULD BE CAVE DIVING. You need a lot of experience and very specialized training to attempt cave diving.

There is a DAN report about two open water divers that got lost in a cave last year on the first dive following their Open Water Cert. The story did not have a very good ending as it was a fatality report.


If I remember right the PADI Cavern Diving Course DOES NOT dive in an overhead enviornment. In other words you can always surface by going up. Just that when you get to the surface you are in a cavern....

Pete

 

[perpet1]

crazed_dolphin once bubbled...
Let me know if I'm wrong. After I got my OW in Guam, I went diving in Malaysia. My dive master told me that the 60ft isn't a rule, but a recommendation as long as you have someone more experience than you. ie a dive master. I was pretty much told the same thing by my AOW instructor in FLA.

It is actually the depth you are qualified to do down to. Does this mean you can't go deeper? Last I checked the Scuba Police were not giving tickets ofr excessive depth BUT there are things you need to know to go deeper. By relying on a "more experienced" person to dive with they are saying that you are not responsible for your actions while doing things you are not qualified to do. They are also putting themself at risk if you get hurt <which is another story>.

I personally think one should know the risks and accept them in order to perform an action. By not being qualified you are not, at least in theory, aware of the risks. A lot of certification is making people knowledgable of the risks associated with an activity.

Now I did a lot of certifications in Guam (I actually did my instructor cert there) and I know it is very easy diving deep there BUT that is not the case in a lot of places.

Dive Safe,
Pete:wacko:

 

[XJae]

If I remember right the PADI Cavern Diving Course DOES NOT dive in an overhead enviornment. In other words you can always surface by going up. Just that when you get to the surface you are in a cavern....

Is that true?
If it is it's funny.
I'm pretty sure all caverns are overhead environments.
The only difference between a cavern and a cave is that in a cavern you can always see ambient surface light.
Meaning you can always see the way out.
A cavern by day is a cave at night.

 

[perpet1]

yes that is what the PADI states on their website but I remember something in the standars that it can not be an overhead enviornment. That makes sense if you think about it.

What instructor in their right mind would take somone with no experience (relatively speaking) into an overhead enviornment. Even more to the point, I don't think even PADI would allow that.

I am not a PADI instructor though (I am an instructor for another organization) but do recall that.

Are there any PADI Instructors out there that can clarify what the standard actually says regarding the Cavern Diving Course?

BUT I have been wrong in the past and I will be wrong in the future. Although I try to minimize it in general.....

Pete :yinyang:

 

[SubMariner]

On overview of the Standards from the 2003 Instructor Manual:

Cavern diving is defined as any dive conducted within the light zone of a cave. Cave diving is any dive conducted beyond the light zone of a cave. The light zone of a cave is defined as that part of the cave from which natural light illuminating the entrance is visible at all times. The Cavern Diver course is to include four training dives,which are to be conducted over at least two days. The minimum number of recommended hours is 24,with time being equally divided between knowledge
development and actual predive preparation and water-training sessions.
The first dive is to be conducted in open water,practicing the use of lines and reels and emergency procedures.The final three dives are to be conducted in the cavern environment.Penetration-training dives are limited to within the light zone and within 40 metres/130 feet from the surface,vertical and horizontal distance included.No out-of-air drills are to be practiced in the overhead environment.
After the training dives,student divers are required to log their dives in their personal log books.

Does this help at all?

Take care, eh?!

~SubMariner~