Posted by Jason on November 20, 2001 at 13:02:50:
In Reply to: Question for Captain Tim posted by Bill Johnson on November 20, 2001 at 10:38:19:
Bill, there is no limit for OW divers, just a starting point. It would be unwise for new diver to jump down to 120ft the weekend after. But it would be perfectly reasonable for them to do a few dives in the 70s, 90s, 100s, and then 120. Gradual increases in depth or difficulty is what they should have learned from their training. Not the ridiculous notion that they can't do it without more training. AOW could easily be 70ft dives and *must* be under 100 with some agencies, and "Deep diving" is a total joke.
If you defined advanced diving as Matterhorn or the like, you might have something. But Farnsworth isn't even close to that. It's well short of the advised rec limit on depth, and most days you can stay above 100 with ease. In the worst case scenario, you don't leave the anchor line and then come back up.
A big problem with many diving instructors is that they focus so much on the skills that they don't teach a thing at all about actual diving. Functionally, they've taught the student to read, but not to appreciate it. A weekend with a buddy like me will fix that in short order, and at no cost.