Deep diver speciality certification in the Maldives

[seba76]

Hello,

We are planning a trip to the Maldives in November. Our itinerary includes a Liveaboard, followed by a stay at a resort in South Ari Atoll.

Both my wife and I are advance certified, having ventured below 30 meters on occasion.
To enhance our skills and ensure our readiness for depths ranging from 30 to 40 meters, I intended to pursue a deep dive certification.

I reached out to the ressort dive center regarding this certification, and here is their response:

"We offer the PADI Deep Diver Specialty course, which comprises theoretical instruction and three training dives conducted from the boat.

It's important to note that, due to government regulations in the Maldives, all divers are restricted to a maximum depth of 30 meters."

I'm curious about the feasibility of obtaining a deep diver specialty certification under these circumstances. How can this certification be issued if diving beyond 30 meters is not allowed? Would it be advisable to postpone the certification until visiting a country unaffected by such regulations?

Thank you for your guidance.

 

[Angelo Farina]

Maldives are not the best place for deep or tech diving, due to their legal limit to 30m.
I am not aware of any diving operator allowed to exceed that limit...

 

[BlueTrin]

@tursiops @boulderjohn : tagging as they are usually helpful with the PADI requirements.

OP, I’d just ask the shop how they plan to do it and the minimum requirement from PADI.

I suspect PADI does not require to go under 30m for the cert dives that’s why they can do it?

 

[rongoodman]

I wouldn't bother unless you have an operator mind who requires it.

 

[scubadada]

Hi @seba76

If you and your wife have rarely descended below 30 meters, a Deep Diver course might help increase your confidence and perhaps your skills. Doing the course with a depth limitation of 30 m does not make much sense.

My son and I did Deep Diver in Grand Cayman in 2004 when we both had about 80 dives, a quarter of which had been >30 meters. The course requires 4 dives, we used the AOW deep dive as the first dive and did 3 more. Our dives were to 33, 36, 40, and 31 meters. We did gas sharing on dive 3. Dive 4 was an out and back wall dive planned and executed entirely by my son and me.

As we had previously done a number of dives to these depths, we did not gain significant new knowledge or skills. We were introduced to more detailed gas planning and to the concept of respiratory minute volume (RMV), called surface air consumption (SAC), by some. Subsequently, I added the calculation of RMV to my dives and have found it very useful.

Question - Definitions for SAC and RMV?

This topic comes up over and over. Let's see what you think. Please vote once for SAC and once for RMV or vote for #5 and elaborate in your post or #6 if you don't know what this is all about.

scubaboard.com

Average Gas Consumption

There has been extensive discussion lately regarding average gas consumption. A poll may help give us a better idea of what the normal distribution of RMVs is. 1 cu ft = 28.32 liters 1 liter = 0.035 cu ft 28.3 l/min

scubaboard.com

After nearly 20 years and 2200 more dives, I have never been asked for my Deep Diver certification to qualify for a deeper or more advanced dive. The only cards that have routinely been requested are AOW and nitrox. I am sometimes asked for my Solo Diver card by operators who do not know me and have used my DPV card on a few occasions to avoid an initial guided dive when renting a DPV.

Best of luck in your training and diving

 

[tursiops]

@tursiops @boulderjohn : tagging as they are usually helpful with the PADI requirements.

OP, I’d just ask the shop how they plan to do it and the minimum requirement from PADI.

I suspect PADI does not require to go under 30m for the cert dives that’s why they can do it?

"Depths
Conduct Dive One between 18 metres/60 feet and 30 metres/100 feet. Dives Two,
Three and Four may not exceed 40 metres/130 feet."

I would not teach Deep unless I can get to 130 ft/40m.

 

[seba76]

I wouldn't bother unless you have an operator mind who requires it.

I don't expect to gain a lot more competences by taking this certification; however, I've heard stories around me of divers who had incidents below their certification level and received no compensation from the insurance for disability or lost earnings. Therefore, I prefer to ensure that I'm fully compliant in the unlikely event that something happens to me or my wife between 30 and 40m.

I just don't understand why they would certify you for 40m if you can't go below 30m. It's like giving you a certification for wreck diving when there are no dive sites with wrecks around.

I'll probably wait and see if I can do that during my trip to Ustica next summer.

Thank you all for your advice.

 

[boulderjohn]

"Depths
Conduct Dive One between 18 metres/60 feet and 30 metres/100 feet. Dives Two,
Three and Four may not exceed 40 metres/130 feet."

I would not teach Deep unless I can get to 130 ft/40m.

I agree, although I might be willing to do it if I could get to 110 feet for the specialty.

I firmly believe that it is important for deep diving, whether for AOW or the deep dive specialty, to get as deep as allowed. You truly learn about how much faster you go through gas that way, and you learn about your own psychological response to depth. I once took an AOW student to nearly the 100 foot limit, and his SAC rate absolutely skyrocketed there, and he was too frozen to check his gas. His buddy actually took his SPG and signaled that we had to start the ascent pretty much as soon as we got there. He learned that he was not psychologically ready to go to that depth, and he would not have learned that going to the 61 foot minimum.

 

[Angelo Farina]

I'll probably wait and see if I can do that during my trip to Ustica next summer.

Thank you all for your advice.

Ustica is the perfect place for deep diving.
Be aware that here in Italy "deep"means more than 50m.
50m used to be the boundary for recreational diving here. Aldo deco was considered recreational if not involving a gas change...
Me recreational certification is for 50m, with deco in air.
I am not sure you can get such certification in Ustica just now, you should ask the diving operator.
I always warmly suggest to get deco training also for fully recreational divers (as me). Deep diving without deco stops is very limiting, the allowed NDL time is very short.

 

[seba76]

Thank you, Angelo,

I assume that the Deep Dive specialty certification with PADI will still be 40 meters without deco. The rules might be different for CMAS and SSI. For me, this would probably be sufficient since I'm a recreational diver. All the operators I've dived with so far have strictly prohibited going into deco, with some even warning that a deco violation would result in a 48-hour ban from diving, even if it's cleared during the ascent.

I checked out Orca Diving in Ustica, and they offer the PADI Deep Water certification. I might explore other dive operators as my trip date approaches.