PADI open water max depth

[MoonWrasse]

One of the reasons why the 18meter / 60 feet depth limit recomendation is there, is that you should have additional training to go further. There are several additional serious safety considerations one should understand which are not normally taught in a basic OW class.

 

[The Kraken]

The Wrasse touced on several aspects of diving, but without pointing to one specifically, and that is the fact that there is no one out there to police your persona diving habits, but that's OK.

There are no police in the depths of the oceans. You have been trained as an open water dive and have been given ADVICE to the limits of your training.

Should you desire to exceed the limits and scope of your training, then the results are laid directly upon your head. YOU are solely responsible for the consequences of any dive that you make, no one else in the world can MAKE you descend below the depths of the ocean. It is upon your head and yours alone.

If I sound crass, so be it, but that is a fact of life.

the Kraken

 

[ChrisA]

Quick question, what is the max depth for someone with a PADI open water card?
Thanks

PADI will say to "dive within your experiance and training." which for a new open water diver is generally interpeted as no more than 60 feet although some people would say 40 feet for someone which a brand new OW card because that is the experiance you got in the OW class. You would then take small baby steps and nroaden your experiance.

People call that PADI OW card a "Learner's Permit" for good reason

The absolute depth limit for rec.divers is 130ft. The AOW class teaches you to do dive to 100ft. Of course there are no scuba police and you are allowed to kill yourself if you want I've heard o people doing 1800ft on air on a single tank and living to tell about it.

 

[Diver Dennis]

PADI will say to "dive within your experiance and training." which for a new open water diver is generally interpeted as no more than 60 feet although some people would say 40 feet for someone which a brand new OW card because that is the experiance you got in the OW class. You would then take small baby steps and nroaden your experiance.

People call that PADI OW card a "Learner's Permit" for good reason

The absolute depth limit for rec.divers is 130ft. The AOW class teaches you to do dive to 100ft. Of course there are no scuba police and you are allowed to kill yourself if you want I've heard o people doing 1800ft on air on a single tank and living to tell about it.

1800' on air?

 

[Bruciebabe]

Here is an account of the first SCUBA dive to 1,000 feet. It certainly wasn't on air.
http://www.tech-dive-academy.com/journey.html

Also I thought that most insurance policies only apply within the limit of your training, look at the small print. So if you go past 30M as AOW you are not insured. This may not just be your travel policy, it may also be your other insurances such as life cover. They know how deep you have gone because they can look at your computer when you get bent. I was told that the guy who had to pay out £50K of his own money for getting bent going deeper than his qualification in the Red Sea actually dived well within tables/computer. It was dehydration that bent him, as the article says.

 

[JeffG]

1800' on air?

They must of had the PADI deep diver cert.

 

[Scubagolf]

My experience with numerous dive operators in warm water vacation locales is that 70' - 80' dives are routinely made without any apparent concern for specific skill/experience beyond OW certification.

 

[stiebs]

Also I thought that most insurance policies only apply within the limit of your training, look at the small print. So if you go past 30M as AOW you are not insured

It may also depend on why you reached max depth, if it really came down to it. The wording on DAN's Preferred Plan is "provided that the Member held appropriate certification for the dive". Now, if you had planned a trip down to 70fsw on a wall, but your BC ruptured and send you down to 120fsw before your buddy managed to help you back up, you were appropriately qualified and equiped for the dive that you planned.

 

[Nemrod]

My 1968 NAUI card says Scuba Diver, it says nothing about open water only or depth limits. My NAUI Advanced card is just that, it says " Advanced Course", it says nothing about restrictions to open water, wrecks, depth limits or anything else. On the back of the card the skill set listed includes virtually all of the PadI merit badge courses.

PadI is not a legal authority. N

 

[garyfotodiver]

I just checked the SSI website. I didn't find any direct reference to maximum depth for OW or AOW. There is a link to the RSTC standards. There, section 5.2.3 gives the depth for OW training dives as between 15-60 feet.

There is no reference to maximum depth for a certified diver.