Deep Dives

[Russoft]

Actually PADI and others are members of the RSTC. "The World Recreational Scuba Training Council (WRSTC) is dedicated to the worldwide safety of the recreational diving public. As such, one of the WRSTC’s primary goals is the development of worldwide minimum training standards"

Below is part of the minimum standards for OW. If it is not being done, the minimum standards are not being met.

From RSTC OW Diver. http://wrstc.com/downloads/03 - Open Water Diver.pdf


Bob

What certified OW divers actually do, and what they are capable of doing, are two very different things. While quality of instruction is the low hanging fruit and easy to blame for being deficient (PADI bashing), ultimately it's up to the student to learn and take responsibility for his or her own life. Upon certification I was fully capable, at age 12, to plan and execute a dive. Whether I practiced those skills or not was my responsibility. It seems the diving community has something in common with the church going community: moral panic.

 

[TMHeimer]

They aren't really common here although I do see them on boats and occasionally among shore divers. Their use is somewhat controversial because there have been fatalities attributed to poorly thought out pony bottle setups, and because the tradition has always been to rely on a buddy as a backup air source.

A "pony" is a general term for a second smaller cylinder. It can either function as a bailout, for use in emergencies, or a stage, for planned use at a particular point in the dive.



I was an absolute mess right after OW training. It took maybe 20 dives after that to get my act together. I just went and did low-hazard shore dives by myself until I figured it out. I think it's a happy fiction that OW is enough to create independent divers. A better way to look at it is that OW produces divers that understand enough of the basics to be able to continue their training on their own.

Agree somewhat. Low hazard shore dives is the way I went right after OW cert. I wouldn't say at all that I was a mess--did have a tank slip on dive #1 after OW. Also, my buddy was also new, which in retrospect wasn't such a good idea--two newbies buddying on deserted Nova Scotia coastlines. The OW course was good enough for us to get though those first few dives and get a good feel for diving. Then you can get a bit more adventurous.

 

[rgdiver1]

When I originally learned to dive in the 1960's, my instructor, who was a former military diver, strongly recommended that we avoid diving below 60 feet with a single tank. 60 feet was considered a deep dive then, and 75 to 100 feet was considered a very deep dive and beyond the range of normal scuba diving without special training.

Much later I became a certified cave and trimix diver and made dives as deep as 300+ feet. Now I realize my original instructor was right: With a single tank, no redundant air source and no real buddy, at 60 feet the surface is a long way away, if something goes wrong.

Personally I wouldn't dream of diving to the depths that the OP is describing under the circumstances described without the proper training, equipment, dive plan, and most of all a trusted dive buddy. There is nothing down there worth dying for, so why take chances. Take your time, and build up your experience slowly without taking undo risks.

 

[Clark Fletcher]

Anyone have any advice whether or not diving down this deep is a good idea or not at this point in my diving career?

I did my first "deep" dive (93 feet) on my 7th dive. However, it was at Blue Grotto and circumstances dictated that I dove with the resident scuba instructor. For me, diving at 93 feet was no more intimidating than diving at 40 feet. However, in my opinion, Blue Grotto is an easy deep dive.

My next deep dive was my 14th dive on the Pete Tide II (100 feet). And, while my dive buddy was even less experienced than I, our scuba instructor was on the dive and in close proximity during the entire dive.

I know it's been said 1000 times on Scubaboard before but, like most everything else in scuba, it's a personal thing. Some folks are ready for more challenging dives as soon as they cert. Some folks need more time to develop confidence and skill before they make certain dives.

You probably know better than anyone else what you're ready for. The fact that you asked the question in the first place is probably a good indicator that you'd be much more comfortable buddied up with a DM or at the very least someone with a lot of deep dive experience. If you've never done a deep dive before, you don't know exactly what to expect and it can be a little intimidating. I was the same way.

If the dive op can't or won't pair you with a DM, see if an experienced deep diver will buddy with you AND request the dive op have a DM supervise the dive. It's not an unreasonable request. Then, tell the DM before-hand that it's your first deep dive and ask if they'd keep and eye on you and your dive buddy.

Just my two cents. Hope this helps.

 

[yle]

In 26 years of diving with over 1000 dives I've never had a failure of any kind.

Is it possible you have had what some consider minor equipment "failures", but you handled the situation without much thought... and so you don't remember them as "failures"?

Hard to believe in 1000 dives you never had a freeflowing reg. Easy to believe that if you had a freeflowing reg you didn't consider it a "failure" (while others might) because you knew how to handle it.

 

[yle]

In 26 years of diving with over 1000 dives I've never had a failure of any kind.

Just occurred to me... if you're an instructor, regularly dealing with new students with well-used rental gear, your chances of seeing equipment failures (and having to respond to them) increase considerably.

If you only have your own, well-maintained gear to keep an eye on... then I guess 1000 dives without a failure isn't so hard to believe.

 

[Russoft]

Equipment failures (and when) in only 51 dives:

• Burst high pressure hose
• Leaking crimp on high pressure hose
• Failed depth gauge
• Leaking High Pressure Spool (bad o-ring)
• Badly leaking connection at LP hose / 2nd stage (broken o-ring on brand new LP hose)
• Leaking inflator hose coupling (x5)

Admittedly, only one of these was a serious failure.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Equipment failures (and when) in only 51 dives:

• Burst high pressure hose
• Leaking crimp on high pressure hose
• Failed depth gauge
• Leaking High Pressure Spool (bad o-ring)
• Badly leaking connection at LP hose / 2nd stage (broken o-ring on brand new LP hose)
• Leaking inflator hose coupling (x5)

Admittedly, only one of these was a serious failure.

Yikes! That's more failures than I've had in roughly 4,000 dives. Hopefully that's all rental gear, which is not typically good quality nor well maintained ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Russoft]

Yikes! That's more failures than I've had in roughly 4,000 dives. Hopefully that's all rental gear, which is not typically good quality nor well maintained ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

catastrophic failure was rental equipment, the rest was my own gear. To be fair, most of my gear I bought second hand. And most of that gear was sitting in someone's garage for 10-15 years. I did have the regulators serviced, but I guess annual servicing doesn't include checking hoses.

 

[BDSC]

If you only have your own, well-maintained gear to keep an eye on... then I guess 1000 dives without a failure isn't so hard to believe.

That's my situation exactly. Have always tried to keep my gear in the best possible working order. So far it's worked out.