History of 18m depth limit?

[rsingler]

Actually, that was the only reason I got AOW: I'd been diving for 25 years, and wanted to book a deep boat dive during a vacation in Hawaii. The dive op said, "Sorry! You need AOW." I said, "I've been diving for 25 years." They said, "Sorry! You need AOW to go on this trip."
I didn't get the trip.
I got AOW.

Although the quote is out of context, Shakespeare seemed appropriate at the time: "First thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."

 

[kelemvor]

So, basically.. some or all agencies have either deliberately or inadvertently provided ambiguous information to students and the world at large. Because of the ambiguity, few can agree on the facts of the matter. Those that do agree, tend to split hairs on the definition of "recommended vs certified." We see that happening in this very thread.

Sheesh.

It really is no wonder there's so much uncertainty around the subject. As it sits, it would be a true miracle if there were not.

 

[kelemvor]

It looks like Efka76 probably left the room, but when my girlfriend took her OW course the instructor seemed to think he was required to take her to at least 60 feet, which he did. Actually, I think she said they went to 62 feet. Not long after she received her PADI OW card we were on a dive boat at Cozumel and the DM said "the deepest part of the dive will be 90 feet." She was concerned because she thought she was only certified to 60 feet. I asked about it here plus I looked it up in her PADI book and it was very clear that she was NOT limited to 60 feet, but merely that was the suggested "starting point" and as she progressed and gained more experience, she was, to put it simply, certified to whatever depth she had attained (within recreational limits, of course). That would be a little over 80 feet as of right now. Maybe things are different in Mexico than in other parts of the world, but so far nobody has told her she can't do a dive because she is only OW certified. I can't find her book right now in order to quote it exactly, but I'm certain that she is not, according to PADI, limited to 60 feet. I suspect that this misconception influences many divers to immediately take the AOW course so that they are no longer limited to 60 feet.

I'm sure PADI wouldn't intentionally mislead people so they would feel compelled to take an additional course just to make more money (I believe "satire" was mentioned earlier in this thread).

The only time I've seen an operator insist a diver must have AOW to do a dive deeper than 60' from their boat is when that same operator also sold dive certifications. Make of that what you will. I know what it taught me on the subject .

 

[JamesBon92007]

I have a friend with whom I've gone diving in Cozumel who is probably around 80 and has been diving since before there was such a thing as a certification. A year or so ago she said she was in Hawai'i and they told her she was too old to dive. The story does have a happy ending: she found another dive op that let her dive I guess Hawai'i must have some tougher restrictions than some other places. When I was on Maui in 2011 or 2012 the dive shop told me that a BC and a flag/float was required. Nobody told me I couldn't dive alone

 

[dmaziuk]

3. It's the Swiss and the Belgians, not the French, who are famous for their chocolate

It's an ay-merrikin joke. They used to have a president here that everyone though was all bad and not well versed in foreign culinary policies...

PS. and I'm yet to try a Swiss or Belgian chocolate to match the British Montezuma pure.

 

[kelemvor]

I have a friend with whom I've gone diving in Cozumel who is probably around 80 and has been diving since before there was such a thing as a certification. A year or so ago she said she was in Hawai'i and they told her she was too old to dive. The story does have a happy ending: she found another dive op that let her dive I guess Hawai'i must have some tougher restrictions than some other places. When I was on Maui in 2011 or 2012 the dive shop told me that a BC and a flag/float was required. Nobody told me I couldn't dive alone

Around these parts there's an actual law on the books requiring a flag. AFAIK that's the only real "rule" about scuba diving. I guess there's probably some rules about not diving in particular locations, but I can't name one.

 

[tursiops]

A year or so ago she said she was in Hawai'i and they told her she was too old to dive. The story does have a happy ending: she found another dive op that let her dive I guess Hawai'i must have some tougher restrictions than some other places.

Why do you generalize from one stupid operator to the entire state?

 

[hammet]

The only time I've seen an operator insist a diver must have AOW to do a dive deeper than 60' from their boat is when that same operator also sold dive certifications. Make of that what you will. I know what it taught me on the subject .

Beaches Turks & Caicos. They segregate the divers by OW and AOW in DM led groups.

 

[JamesBon92007]

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

When I got certified I knew that the "recreational limit" was 130 feet. A couple of decades later it seemed to have become 120 feet. Then I started hearing about 60 feet. Some depth gauges from the 60s have a red zone after 130 feet. There was a lengthy thread on the subject and nobody seemed to be able to find, in writing, any place where it was written as a fact in a dive manual. I guess I always assumed that if you are going any deeper you should probably be breathing something besides air.

 

[JamesBon92007]

Why do you generalize from one stupid operator to the entire state?

I didn't think I was. I was generalizing based upon the other rules that I'd encountered, plus what kelemvor said.