A dive operation in Cozumel that does not take OW students beyond 60 feet will be out of business in no time. The same would be true if they refused to take customers through swim throughs without some kind of certification. Imagine if an operator in Truk Lagoon or South Florida or the Philippines refused to let divers enter wrecks without wreck certification. If any agency tried to impose such rules on an operation, that operation would be switching to another agency in 5 minutes.
This kind of mentality is what is wrong with the industry! And by the way, the following isn't directed necessarily at John - I just happened to pick his quote above because it is a common example of the mentality of the majority of the industry - that I found interesting enough to comment on. So don't take it personally John - my critique is for the purpose of open discussion about bettering the industry - not disparaging you:
1. When operators blatantly ignore certification levels, it devalues post ow training / certification. Why would ow divers ever think they need to get additional education and training if operators are telling them they don't need any overhead or deep training to dive Devil's Throat in Cozumel?! So arbitrarily picking the biggest agency (replace the word padi with another fitting agency acronym if you prefer), padi operators are basically telling padi clients that additional padi courses are unnecessary. I submit that everyone with this mentality is looking at the issue the wrong way. While i can appreciate operators being afraid of losing clients if they deny taking them on dive outings beyond their certified levels - so they take under certified clients diving anyway, I submit that those padi operators actually losing perspective post ow education students by telling those ow under certified divers that post ow education is not necessary!
2. Operators should look at certification limits as opportunities - not hindrances! Advanced training should be presented as a fun and exciting addition to safely conduct challenging dives on vacations, that come with a private guide / instructor as a bonus! They are opportunities to help certified divers discover that they don't know what they don't know. There are operators I know of that use advanced trip denial as sales opportunities very successfully - and the customers are happy they learned to do the dive safely. I submit that the more divers certified at post ow level results in more invested and dedicated divers for operators to take diving.
3. Operators can be held liable for taking divers on dives the divers aren't certified to do. See Sotis vs. IANTD. Instructor accompanies another diver as his buddy - that the other diver is not certified to do, and when the undercertified buddy dies - the instructor is held liable.
4. Agencies that are known for shrimp cake training need to improve their level of training so students don't feel like they're getting ripped off anymore! Classes like rec Wreck - that leave customers thinking they got ripped off ruin class offerings for the whole industry. The whole business model of cheap crap training and expensive gear is wrong. But if you are going to offer real training at real training prices, then the product better be worth it! And the solution isn't the instructor going above standards for his class - because when another instructor offers the same certification from the same agency at minimum standards and half the price, it devalues the above standard instructor's class.
5. Another erroneous industry mentality is the idea that experience equals qualification. Just because one has read Scubaboard and executed an advanced dive five times without dying doesn't mean they actually know how to do it, and aren't unknowingly placing themselves in danger every time they do it. In addition to training, certification also helps ensure understanding and knowingly accepting all the risks involved with that dive. Without certification, divers might think they have planned for and accepted all the risks, but very easily could have skipped some. This is an easy enough concept for prospective students to understand - assuming you are offering a quality product!
All these points are just more proof to me that it's the agency - not the instructor. Yes - some instructors pick up the slack for their agency (which I personally don't understand - why not pick an agency where at least in their own minds they don't have to pick up the slack), but ultimately it is my humble opinion that agency culture drives how their operators and instructors relate to and conduct trips and training for divers - which I believe has resulted in the five issues above. You can choose to believe whatever you want though.
cheers
