Padi JR Open Water rules.

[divingmedic]

Ok we are going to AKR in two weeks. My ten year old just got her Jr Open Water via SSI. I was reading on the AKR web site that they state PADI has a rule that Jr Open Water divers are not allowed to make night dives. SSI has no rule about this. So my question for a PADI instructor on here is why? If SSI has no rule about this I think I should be able to take my daugther on a night dive at the house reef which is about 25 feet deep.

[SkuaSeptember]

The only reference I could find quickly in the manual is that the minimum age for the Night Diver specialty is 12. These are standards for training that are to be followed by PADI members acting in a professional capacity. I suspect that the rational is to avoid task loading in a less mature and less experienced diver.
As long as your daughter is diving with you, you need not fear that the PADI Police will show up in the SCUBA Blue submarine to revoke her C-card. If she is up for it, Great! But if there is any doubt, don't push it.

[divingmedic]

I do not plan on it. She has told me she wants to do a night dive with me. I do not plan a late dive. Maybe starting about 15 minutes before sunsent and ending about about 15 minutes after sunset. That way she can see the reef both ways. And thanks for the answer.

[chilly willy]

Originally Posted by divingmedic

I do not plan on it. She has told me she wants to do a night dive with me. I do not plan a late dive. Maybe starting about 15 minutes before sunsent and ending about about 15 minutes after sunset. That way she can see the reef both ways. And thanks for the answer.

This is the best way to introduce her to a night dive, you might also consider a night with a full moon that has already come up before sunset.

[mitsuguy]

Even a PADI instructor wouldn't be prohibited from taking a 10/11 year old on a night dive either...

But to earn the specialty rating, and do the adventure dives, they would have to be 12 years old....

But, call it a guided dive and not in an instructional setting, and no adventure / specialty dive paperwork, then it doesn't matter the age...

Some customers of ours just left, but, when they were here, we took them and their 10 year old daughter on two night dives...

[mitsuguy]

I will add this.... the problem with some places is that they play things ultra safe...

here's what I mean by this:

PADI Open Water is a certification in which we don't exceed 60 feet in training, AOW = 100 feet, and Deep Specialty = 130 feet... Some places interpret that into if you don't have the Deep specialty, you don't go to 130 feet... But if you read the manual, the way it really reads is that during training dives, these depths are not to be exceeded - but after training, it doesn't matter and it's up to the diver to set their own limits... (as noted, there are no scuba police, unless I'm around and I catch an instructor breaking a standard)

[divingmedic]

Thank you all. I just hope the resort is not adament about the night dive. They have it posted on their web site that no children ages 10 and 11 may do a night dive.

[Rogue]

That would be a resort policy and not an agency specific policy. I would contact them directly and clarify with them.