dive master help needed please!!!

[redjellybean]

ok, so I know the answer, but...

newly cerified scuba divers can go 60 feet, but the wreck of the Rhone dive in Tortola is said to be 80 feet and the NCL excursion does not list any limitations other than you must be certified.

 

Also, I have heard that the North wall in Cayman is 100 feet.

Could someone please let me know if the are in fact 80-100 feet.

If newbies can go on these excursions?

and whether or not we should go on the excursions?

Thank you

[cruzegirl]

Well your right. As a newbie/O.W. certified your not supposed to go deeper than 60 feet until you have your Adv. open water. However, NUMEROUS divers do.

What you need to do is when you book your excursion and get together with the dive operator, let them know your status. They usually have groups that have newer divers on them and for the most part, they stay about 60-80 feet to be safe not knowing how good ANY diver is. And don't book any Adv. dive excursions. They will be expecting you to be Adv. and if your not, it could ruin the trip for you or your dive mates. That has been my experience so far. I wouldn't recommend going more than 60-70 feet as you don't know if you'll get narc'd (yes you can get narc'd in less than 80 feet), and you want to be sure your divemaster will be watching you carefully.

I did Grand Cayman north wall and they do go to 100ft. I think I recall logging in 109 actually..... But I have my adv. so I was good. And we have O.W. divers too.... so you never know.... I hope that helps.......

[scubaran]

ok, so I know the answer, but...

newly cerified scuba divers can go 60 feet, but the wreck of the Rhone dive in Tortola is said to be 80 feet and the NCL excursion does not list any limitations other than you must be certified.

 

Also, I have heard that the North wall in Cayman is 100 feet.

Could someone please let me know if the are in fact 80-100 feet.

If newbies can go on these excursions?

and whether or not we should go on the excursions?

Thank you

 

You were right to ask. I'm not a dive master but I am a PADI Rescue Diver and I've saved 3 people so far. In all cases, it was because the diver exceeded their experience in the conditions we were diving. While going to 80/100 ft. instead of 60 feet shouldn't be a problem. There is a reason you need to have further certification to go this deep. As I'm sure you know, about every 33ft (10 meters) you add one atmosphere. The human body acts differently with pressure added so you don't know how your physiology will react to the depth until you get there (hopefully with a dive instructor going for your AOW). As an example, when I got my advanced certification, the other student with me was on their third attempt at the depth requirement, and he failed on this attempt as well. He was just too incompacitated to complete the exercises needed. Get him above 80ft. and he was great.

 

Lesson learned, this is "recreational diving". As such, if you'd like to do those neat "deeper dives" get the extra certification, only took one week and one weekend for me. Don't exceed your training. DAN, PADI and others have too many "accidents" that could have been avoided but people exceeded their training. Sorry if this seems a bit harsh but the three people I saved luckly came out ok, they were embarrassed, no one had fun those dives and while it's great to be able to help someone out when they need help, it's a bummer to cut short your dive and miss out on those cool wrecks and walls. Don't be someone else's problem, get the AOW if you want to see these things. An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.

 

Randall

[cmdchiefthom]

redjellybean,

 

Your instructor obviously drilled the depth limit into you, and that's exactly what he or she, not only needs to do, but has to do to meet instructional standards. Now lets deal with the real world. Your Open Water SCUBA Certification allows you to dive pretty much anywhere in the world, on most types of dives offered on cruise ships. The dives are designated "Certified SCUBA" dives, and by reason of your card, you do fit that category. There are divers out there that have had an Open Water certification card for years, and pretty much dive wherever they want, and as deep as they want, without any physiological complications. Any diver can be affected by depth, on any given day depending on their physiology on that particular day, regardless of what level certification card they may carry in their pocket. I can testify to that by the fact inasmuch as I have gotten bent, within the tables, on a first dive of the day to 125', while diving with the Navy. So it doesn't have much of a bearing on your training, by more on your body on a given day.

 

Having said all that, the question I would ask is, how comfortable are you while diving? Although instructors anticipate you'll come back for Advanced Open Water Certification training, many Open Water divers simply don't. Did your instructor insure you were comfortable, and do you feel that way in the water? Have you dived since certification? What do you think about seeing a shipwreck, 80 feet down? Does 80 feet of water freak you out, or doesn't it matter? I can tell you this, there aren't any depth police down there that will issue you a ticket for not being a card carrying "Advanced" diver.

 

I probably should mention I've dived the Rhone on many occasions, and am well aware that many divers received their "Open Water" certifications on that wreck (not by me).

 

The safest thing you can do is to contact local dive operations in the ports your cruise is visiting in advance, and make private arrangements for Advanced Certification. That's exactly what my wife did during a cruise to Tahiti for her NITROX certification. You'll probably make better dives than are offered by the SHOREX desk, at a cheaper rate, and end up with your Advanced Diver certification card. What better way is there to enjoy your Caribbean cruise?;)

[redjellybean]

Wow! Thanks so much. This is all very good information and I appreciate all of the different and detailed viewpoints. I have done a bit more research and have found that most cruise line dives expect the passengers to only go 60 feet. And if others are allowed to go deeper they will separate us....I hope.

I do NOT want to go more than 50-60 feet, and I do NOT want to ruin an advance divers dive, which is one reason why I want to schedule with a cruise ships tour. I assume that they expect us to be new as REAL divers usually schedule their own dives. Since the Rhone is 35-80 feet I will skip this dive until I have more training.

 

As for the northwall, is it worth to dive if we only go 60 feet ? (assuming they separate us from the advance divers). I would really like to do the stingray/northwall Grand Cayman dive through NCL.

Thanks again for all of your help

[scubaran]

Wow! Thanks so much. This is all very good information and I appreciate all of the different and detailed viewpoints. I have done a bit more research and have found that most cruise line dives expect the passengers to only go 60 feet. And if others are allowed to go deeper they will separate us....I hope.

I do NOT want to go more than 50-60 feet, and I do NOT want to ruin an advance divers dive, which is one reason why I want to schedule with a cruise ships tour. I assume that they expect us to be new as REAL divers usually schedule their own dives. Since the Rhone is 35-80 feet I will skip this dive until I have more training.

 

As for the northwall, is it worth to dive if we only go 60 feet ? (assuming they separate us from the advance divers). I would really like to do the stingray/northwall Grand Cayman dive through NCL.

Thanks again for all of your help

 

 

Hi,

 

I'd have no problems diving with a buddy with an attitude like that. :) When I dove the last two times in GC with the ship excursion, the dive masters told us we were going to do the wall down to 120 ft. Me being an amateur underwater photographer, wanted to stay above 60ft. and others in the group who were fairly new, kindly requested a shallow dive along the wall. The dive masters knew a place and we zipped right out of the doc for two great dives. If you sign up with the excursion, when you get to the boat make sure you voice your preferences. Almost all dive companies want to be accommidating and there are literally 100s of dive sites in GC, deep and shallow.

 

Randall

[cmdchiefthom]

Redjellybean,

 

Good choice. Me thinks your instructor did a pretty good job teaching you to dive within your limits! ;) You go and enjoy!:D

[KJHorton]

When we were recently in Cayman and Cozumel, we had people on our excursion request to go more shallow and they were accommodated. We had deep and shallow groups on both dives.

[redjellybean]

Thank you for confirming that they will separate us.

I have read posts that the cruise ship is a cattledrive. Many divers with minimum crew. I really dont mind a lot of divers, because I do not know any better and I want to be with the other people who do not know any better, I just want to enjoy my dive without having to worry about other people not getting what they want because of me.

 

I'm really quite easy to please/get along with so I do not foresee any major problems that would make me unhappy, (although no one wants to make me mad, it is not very pretty and I never forget).

After this cruise I am sure that I will arrange our dives on my own, but for now I am willing to use this as a learning experience.

 

I would be happier if I new who NCL pearl uses for their dives. I do not believe that the NCL excursion desk knows too much about their excursions. When I called to ask what equipment is included, they said everything. I suppose I will find out soon enough.

 

Still looking to dive in St. Lucia, Antigua, and barbados, but I haven't researched those islands yet. I have been spending a lot of time on GC, Coz and tortola. It's becoming a full time job! Well worth the work because last year I snorkeled with the Sun Princess catamaran snorkel excursion in Antigua. And they took us to a seaweed and jellyfish infested bay. So my advice to everyone...Do your homework!

You only have yourself to blame.

[scubaran]

Thank you for confirming that they will separate us.

I have read posts that the cruise ship is a cattledrive. Many divers with minimum crew. I really dont mind a lot of divers, because I do not know any better and I want to be with the other people who do not know any better, I just want to enjoy my dive without having to worry about other people not getting what they want because of me.

 

I'm really quite easy to please/get along with so I do not foresee any major problems that would make me unhappy, (although no one wants to make me mad, it is not very pretty and I never forget).

After this cruise I am sure that I will arrange our dives on my own, but for now I am willing to use this as a learning experience.

 

I would be happier if I new who NCL pearl uses for their dives. I do not believe that the NCL excursion desk knows too much about their excursions. When I called to ask what equipment is included, they said everything. I suppose I will find out soon enough.

 

Still looking to dive in St. Lucia, Antigua, and barbados, but I haven't researched those islands yet. I have been spending a lot of time on GC, Coz and tortola. It's becoming a full time job! Well worth the work because last year I snorkeled with the Sun Princess catamaran snorkel excursion in Antigua. And they took us to a seaweed and jellyfish infested bay. So my advice to everyone...Do your homework!

You only have yourself to blame.

 

Hi,

 

For Barbados I recommend West Side Scuba Centre. I dove with them a year or so ago and they were great (the only dive center I've dove with in the Caribbean that actually asked for your c-card but also the number of dives each diver had done and separated the group by experience).

 

Randall

[redjellybean]

thanks, I'll look them up