Is there a legal depth limit for scuba divers in Egypt?
I have been to Egypt for a few times since about 2005. Many of the diving centers told us there is a legal depth limit of 30m (100ft) for all scuba divers (including CMAS 3* and PADI Dive Master). However, I found a document by "CWDS" (Chamber of Diving & Watersports) which says
The maximum depth for diving with compressed air is 40 meters (if the training qualifications and the experience of the divers allow it)
What is the CWDS? Do the rules from the document apply (i.e., the dive centers just pretend the 30 meter limit to prevent us from diving deeper) or is it true that there is this kind of limit? (Or is it even allowed to go deeper than 40 meters with a single tank of air?)
Note: I do neither care about limits by diving organisations (PADI/CMAS/...) or insurances, nor about limits by using Nitrox (which is free in most centers).
Clarification: This question is about Egypt, whereas my other question is about Turkey. Therefore this is not a duplicate.
Best Answer
What's the CDWS?
The Chamber of Diving and Water Sports is a govermental organisation funded in 2007 by the Egyptian Mynistry of Tourism, whose purpose is to regulate all diving and water sports activities in the country. Quoting from the CDWS About Us webpage:
The Chamber of Diving and Watersports was founded by Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism in 2007 with a goal to improve quality, safety and standard of services in the diving and watersports industry, as well as to preserve unique environment of the Red Sea.
Indeed, the Egypt Tourist Authority states that the CDWS regulates all the diving centres in Egypt (emphasis mine):
All certified diving centres and schools in Egypt provide all levels of diving trainings [...]. Their activity is regulated by the official Chamber of Diving and Water Sports (CDWS) and they all own the EUF (European Underwater Federation) international certification.
What Does the CDWS Say?
In may 2009 the CDWS published a file (link in pdf) stating the depth regulation for scuba divers. It states that:
As for the maximum depths for recreational diving:
CDWS is implementing the World Recreational Scuba Training Council (WRSTC) standards www.wrstc.com for recreational diving.
The maximum depth for diving with compressed air is 40 meters (if the training qualifications and the experience of the divers allow it)
For Enriched Air diving; the maximum depth is up to a partial pressure of Oxygen (PPO2) = 1.4 ATA (maximum depth 40 meters on single tank)
Depth limitations for different activities:
For Advanced Enriched Air the maximum depth is: 40 meters
For Decompression procedures dives (Or equivalent) the maximum depth is: 45 meters
For Extended Range dives (or equivalent) the maximum depth is: 55 meters
For Normoxic (or entry level) Trimix the maximum depth is: 60 meters
For Hypoxic (or advanced) Trimix the maximum depth is: 100meters
It would therefore seem that the diving limit for compressed normoxic air mix is 40m.
Pictures about "Is there a legal depth limit for scuba divers in Egypt?"
How deep can you go with scuba certification?
The industry standard depth limit for recreational divers is 130 feet (39 m) at sea level. During the basic scuba certification, students experience depths of 30-60 feet (9-18 m), and a \u201cdeep\u201d dive is considered more than 60 feet (18 m).What are the limits of scuba diving?
In Recreational diving, the maximum depth limit is 40 meters (130 feet). In technical diving, a dive deeper than 60 meters (200 feet) is described as a deep dive. However, as defined by most recreational diving agencies, a deep dive allows you to descend to 18 meters and beyond. What is this?Can you scuba dive in Egypt?
Due to the excellent visibility and the easy access to excess depths it's an attractive location for technical diving and training. Egypt offers the full gambit of diving opportunities; wrecks, walls, drifts, pinnacles, shore dives, day boats and liveaboards.Can you dive 15 feet?
Safety stop diving gives your body extra time to release excess nitrogen that builds up in your system during the dive. Deep technical dives commonly require deeper and longer decompression stops, but three to five minutes at 15 feet is standard for recreational dives within no stop dive limits.Red Sea Record dive - 280 m - 918 ft (Part 1)
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Oleksandr Pidvalnyi, John Cahil Rom, Daniel Torobekov, Svetlana Obysova