Something's not right...

[Tiny Bubbles]

ok, Make it 50 ft. LOL

In retrospect, 15 feet would have been more appropriate at the time.

 

[sea nmf]

I happened to take the PADI Deep Diving Cert. While it was an interesting class, I don't think one dive makes a person qualified to all of a sudden to do deep dives.

I think you have to gain experience. How will you gain experience without doing it?

 

[hecker-the-wrecker]

Thanks for clarification of "open water" it still means what I thought it meant!!!

 

[TCDiver1]

They certified my wife and I to 60' without ever taking us there, so how did they know we were good to 60' when they gave us our cards?

-Tiny-B.

You weren't certified to 60'. If you were OW certified, the maximum recommended depth you dive is 60' per some agencies. Thats recommended, nothing absolute about it. Most agencies i'm aware of also recommend you dive only in conditions you are familiar with and/or were trained in.

I can't tell you the number of caribbean certified divers i've seen come to our cold, low vis waters and freak at 15 feet on their first dive here.

Its common sense people. Don't dive to depths or in conditions you are not comfortable with. Get some training and/or experience to get comfortable with the desired depths and/or conditions you want to dive in.

Oh & don't feed the dweeb.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I happened to take the PADI Deep Diving Cert. While it was an interesting class, I don't think one dive makes a person qualified to all of a sudden to do deep dives.

I think you have to gain experience. How will you gain experience without doing it?

The idea is to extend your training and experience in manageable sized steps.

Going too far too soon results in a situation where a diver doesn't feel in control and that's what causes panic.

It's not an extra couple feet of depth that will get you in trouble. It's the extra gas management, planning, the reduced time available to deal with a problem, the dark, cold, narcosis and trying to deal with it all (or some combination) with skills that still suck at any depth.

Most of the divers that I've seen get hurt (or close) did it to themselves by freaking because they didn't like what was going on when the original problem shouldn't have really even been a problem. It's not the problem that's the problem but the perception of the problem and the reaction to it.

 

[Wijbrandus]

>>Most of the divers that I've seen get hurt (or close) did it to themselves by freaking because they didn't like what was going on when the original problem shouldn't have really even been a problem. It's not the problem that's the problem but the perception of the problem and the reaction to it.

This is so true. While I have limited diving experience, I used to work on an in-plant fire and rescue team. Many of the injuries and problems we encountered were made far worse by the victims (and friends) reactions to it. Adrenaline and instinct tended to create far more havoc and damage than simply calmly thinking through the problem.

I have a feeling that's really the trick to deep and dark diving: overcoming the rush of adrenaline and resulting panicky feelings if and when something goes not according to plan. If this is like my haz-mat response courses, it comes as a result of training and training again until the proper response becomes a habit and you can keep your cool.

Don't mind me. I'll be over here diving in the shallow water for now.

 

[miketsp]

I disagree. They are not "qualified". They are "certified", and as OW they are certified to 60' (especially on their first dive). On the last part, unless the dive operator intervenes, it is their decision, yes. Not necessarily a good one, but theirs.

You're trying to split a non-existent hair.
Websters definition:
qualified - holding appropriate documentation and officially on record as qualified to perform a specified function or practice a specified skill; "a registered pharmacist"; "a registered hospital"
Synonyms: certified.

Once the diver has his certification, the 60ft then becomes a recommended limit and even then only for certain agencies.
When my wife did her basic OW, the first checkout dive in open water (boat dive) was at 24m and the other OW qualification dives were done deeper. Basically because there was no shallower water available. According to all the material supplied during the course the training limit was 29m and this then became the recommended limit after course completion.

 

[matt_unique]

What do you think?

OW students (certified to 18m or 60ft) are always keen to get out on a boat trip, especially if they haven't done one during the course, and rightfully so. But, and this perplexes me, neither the dive shop nor the boat operators seem to care about the depth that they take them to.

I see it all the time. Only last week I was witness to 5 newly qualified divers being taken to a spot where the minimum depth was 22m (71ft)! On this occasion this was their 5th dive, the four others being the open water course.

It must confuse the hell out of them because they just get through a course where they are told that the recommended depth is 18m or 60ft and straight after qualification they are diving a lot deeper. The thing is because the dive shops are saying its OK by not saying anything the newbie’s don’t question it. They trust what they are being booked into because the guy booking them in has more experience than they do therefore it must be Ok.

Something’s not right somewhere.

Coogeeman

Definitely happens all the time. I completed my OW in Cozumel and there were students in our class that could not put their gear together without help. I could not believe they certified everyone. My first certified dive was down to 110' on Santa Rosa Wall. We entered a swim through at 60' and came out at 100'. My buddy and I were both newly certified and started to descend down to the Abyss. The DM got our attention and signaled us to rejoin the group. This was my own stupid mistake of course but if I were a charter captain or DM I would cover my as* in terms of liability (plus it's the right thing to do) and ensure everyone was diving in the appropriate conditions to the appropriate depth.

--Matt

 

[miketsp]

I ran a search for definitions of "Open Water" and found the following repeated on many sites from LDSs, swimming associations etc.

Open Water swimming shall be defined as any competition that takes place in rivers, lakes or oceans.

Open water is defined as non-confined water, like an ocean, a lake or a river (with notably different conditions than a swimming pool).

'Open water' means a natural body of water open to the sky.

 

[Coogeeman]

Some interesting replies here, thanks guys.

You can teach theory till you are blue in the face and four dives doesn't make a diver. Diving is all about gaining experience. You learn something on every dive and divers have to get out there to experience diving to become a diver.

What i was trying to get at was that newly qualified divers shouldn't be diving at depth until they have the experience to do so. Doing four "led" dives on an open water course doesn't mean that you can dive to 25m (80ft) and know how to deal with any and all of the problems that you face down there.

Don't jump in at the deep end.

Coogeeman