Do you dive deeper than qualified ?

[torbaydiver]

I'm interested how many people with only basic qualification i.e Padi open water /bsac Ocean diver or equivalent dive deeper than trained !
Personally I'm padi open water and have been to 28 m in the UK and 36 m in the red Sea , I'm considering doing my BSAC sports diver which restricts you to 30 m but considering I have already been deeper than this I'm wondering whether I will learn much!

[Janos]

Sports Diver qualifies you to 35m (after post-qualification experience), but definitely do it, as further qualifications teach you stuff (eg rescue skills) which is useful in 20m, and is not just about diving deeper.

Laters,
  Janos

[daz]

I am afraid I went for a null vote as I have gone past the AOW stage.

But I have been suicidal a few times and extremely suicidal once (It's out of my system now and too be honest it was not that exciting)

Generally now I tend to stick to 30m/35m as a norm (bottom permitting, that's the sea floor not the sphincter!)

Although littles trips down to 40m(ish) in the red sea have been known.

Abroad the majority of my dives have been most enjoyable in the <20m range.  More to see and longer bottom time.

Daz

[Adrian Kelland]

A minor correction, BSAC SD limit is 35m and should be approached in a progressive fashion. Ie once you have completed your SD training, you can start diving past the 20m limit of Ocean Diver, to 25, 30,33,35m for example. During your SD training you are still an OD or whatever, with the appropriate depth limit.

Dive as deep as you like, your head won't explode - implode maybe

-Janos beat me to it.

Adrian

[Dave Crampton]

<font color='#000080'>I Have dived below my BSAC Insured limit twice now.  I'm not proud of this. The first was on holiday in the med last year, down to 26m, though I was with a group of experienced divers being led by the only good dive guide. The Second was with the VASTLY experienced and well sorted instructors from Dales Divers, over seen by Andy HayHurst. This was a qualifying dive using Nitrox and 26 M was my limit that dive/mix, though I stayed above 24m. On both dives I felt confortable as the vis was in excess of 20m, and I was accompanied by some great divers (His Diggsness, on the second).

I should point out that diving below your qualifed limit of 20m for Ocean Divers and 35m (after progression, thanks Janos) for Sports Divers, voids you cover by BSACs insurance, as does (and this is pure conjecture) diving outside the knowlegde of your DO if your a BSAC diver? Any DOs care to coment on the insurance implications of diving outside your DOs knowledge/consent?

Dave C
Ocean Diver (The best grade to be as all your kits shiney and new and your very keen to dive in any small puddle  )

[daz]

Without getting into a discussion on the rights or wrongs of it consider this.

If you are diving below the limit of your training or agencies recommendation then your insurance maybe null and void.

Abroad this could have implications in the event of an accident requiring medical assistance.

There are insurance policies that do not have any depth limitations such as DAN. &nbsp;Only you can decide whether they would be of benefit to you.

Daz

[MATTBIN]

Adam &amp; I both went past the 18m limit of OW whilst in Lanzarote after we had got our OW certs, but we were being guided by an Instructor, shortly thereafter we did AOW. We viewed the deeper than limit as a part of our progress to slightly deeper diving. Never gone below 30m since AOW, and to be honest havent seen the point anyway.

Just not a depth junkey.

Matt

[JohnD]

<font color='#F52887'>I dive with my club to 35m (sport diver) but I am qualified to 45m with TDI. I am doing my Dive leader which takes me down to 50m (in small progressive steps, &nbsp;of course)

[JohnD]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (dcrampt @ Mar. 20 2004,18:34)]Ocean Diver (The best grade to be as all your kits shiney and new and your very keen to dive in any small puddle  )

<font color='#F52887'>I am Sport diver/Ass. Instructor and will dive in any puddle too. that is why I dived today at the NDC (for the 3rd weekend in a row) when I didnt have to! I am back there tomorrow because Plymouth this weekend was blown out.

[Helen F H]

<font color='#000080'>When i was a club diver (as it was) i never dived beyond what i was qualified for - 20m. &nbsp;This was due to the club having a good structure and not allowing me to do anything i wasnt allowed to do.
Once i got to sports diver it took me a while to get to 35m, but i never went deeper, despite several dives where i could have done.
Now im Dive Leader, and i have been as deep as i can go really. &nbsp;Im planning on going past 50m this summer, and so any idea what im sposed to do? &nbsp;Inform DO?