How Deep Can Scuba Divers Go?

Recreational Scuba divers can go as deep as 130 feet (40 meters). This requires certification for deep diving, and anything deeper than 130 feet relates to technical or occupational needs. The World Record for the deepest dive is 1,090.38 feet (332.35 meters).

Keep reading to learn what the maximum accepted depth for scuba diving is, the intricacies of deep diving, and whether water pressure alone can crush a human. We’ll also acknowledge some of the deepest diving records standing today.

Contents hide

1 What is the Maximum Depth for Scuba Diving?

1.1 Recreational Diving vs. Technical Diving

1.2 The Safest Depth for Beginner Divers

2 What is Deep Water Diving?

2.1 Deep Diver Specialty

3 Common Risks of Deep Water Diving

3.1 Air Consumption

3.2 Decompression Sickness

3.3 Nitrogen Narcosis

4 Who Has Scuba Dived the Deepest?

4.1 Other Scuba Diving Depth Records

5 How Deep Can a Human Dive Before Being Crushed?

5.1 How Boyle’s Law Relates

5.2 Suits and Deep Diving

6 What is an Average Scuba Diving Depth?

7 References

What is the Maximum Depth for Scuba Diving?

The maximum accepted depth for scuba diving is 130 feet (40 meters). Diving at this depth requires many certifications, including:

Open Water Diver (or equivalent)
Advanced Open Water Diver (or equivalent)
Adventure Diver (as a subset of the Advanced Open Water Diver Course)
Deep Diver (specialty)

While this is the recreational limit for divers, certain occupations require diving to greater depths. Those in these occupations use technical certificates, higher training, and implement more safety procedures than recreational divers.

Recreational Diving vs. Technical Diving

Recreational diving centers focus on exploration. Divers can kick back and relax, soaking up the beauty of the ocean without needing to perform specific tasks or accomplish certain goals.

Technical divers pursue more rigorous training so they can perform different tasks in the water. More adventurous divers may pursue technical certifications, and certain occupations require certification for the job.

These certifications allow you to:

Diver for longer at a shallow depth than open water certifications
Dive beyond the recreational limit of 130 feet (40 meters)
Explore certain environments (i.e. caves)
Dive using special equipment, such as rebreathers

Most divers get by fine with recreational certifications and there is little casual need to dive deeper than 130 feet.

The Safest Depth for Beginner Divers

Beginner divers should stick to shallow dives before heading any deeper. The deeper you go, the less forgiving the water is for errors.

You should never dive beyond your perceived capabilities. Starting shallow lets you get a good idea of how your body works in the water without increased hazards and risks such as narcosis or running out of air.

What is Deep Water Diving?

Deep water diving refers to any dives past 60 feet (18 meters). This point is distinguished by its higher risk of depth-related issues such as:

Nitrogen narcosis (and subsequent problems)
Decompression sickness
Running out of air

While those with mastery certifications can dive to depths 100 feet or less, they need the Deep Diver specialty to go down to 130 feet (40 meters). Other courses touch on managing gas or planning deep dives, but the specialty coursework digs deeper into those skills for safer management and responses.

Deep Diver Specialty

Deep diver specialty courses focus on the information you need to plan deep dives and respond to issues safely. While the specialty helps you dive deeper, the information is helpful for deep dives less than the 130 foot limit.

This doesn’t necessarily open you up for technical diving, but it lets you see more of the underwater world while making deep dives with an instructor. You spend plenty of time learning how to identify narcosis and respond if you or a fellow diver starts having issues at depth.

Deep diver courses put plenty of focus on managing your gas supply and how to plan your deep dive. You should have a strong diving background prior to pursuing this specialty, but what you learn in the course will boost your skills and give you the knowledge and confidence needed to tackle deep dives.

Common Risks of Deep Water Diving

Deep water diving has more risks than shallower depths. You face the general threats of scuba diving, but the ramifications grow the deeper you go.

Beyond this, deep water diving introduces new hazards, the most common being:

Increased air consumption
Decompression sickness
Nitrogen narcosis

While these can occur at shallower depths, it’s highly unlikely. The conditions of deep water diving cause your body to respond in ways that facilitate these illnesses and conditions, and each one has its own symptoms and derivative issues.

Air Consumption

A common concern with scuba diving is running out of air in your tank. This is far less likely to happen with a shallow dive, and it’s easier for you to get to the surface to correct the issue.

AIr consumption increases the further you dive. The density of the air in your tank increases alongside the surrounding pressure, and you use it up much quicker.

This increases your risk of running out of air on a deep dive exponentially, and you need to dedicate more effort to checking your gauges.

Decompression Sickness

You should receive an introduction to DCS in your basic diving courses, but it becomes a bigger problem the deeper you dive. Also known as the bends, this happens when nitrogen gas expands in your body during ascent.

These bubbles get trapped in your joints and can cause severe pain. Divers plan decompression stops to prevent this from happening, but you should look out for symptoms even if you take all the required precautions.

Nitrogen Narcosis

Deep divers learn to identify and respond to the threat of nitrogen narcosis in themselves and others due to the increased risk the further down you go. While you may just feel drunk, other signs include:

Tingling extremities
Tunnel vision
Disorientation
Dizziness

It may lead to the most interesting dive you’ve ever had, but nitrogen narcosis can be deadly if it’s not addressed.

Who Has Scuba Dived the Deepest?

Ahmed Gabr holds the Guinness World Record for diving the deepest. Gabr dove 1090.38 feet(332.35 meters) in Dahab in the Red Sea on September 18th, 2014.

It took him nearly a decade to prepare for the open circuit dive. While descent took only 15 minutes, the ascent lasted another 13 hours and 35 minutes.

Gabr’s team was 30 strong, including:

8 other divers
Technicials
Medical staff
Representatives from the media

This record was previously held by South Africa’s Nuno Gomes who dove 1044 feet (318.25 meters) in Dahab.

Other Scuba Diving Depth Records

Gomes still holds the world record for the deepest cave dive at a depth of 927 feet (282 meters) at the Boesmansgat Cave in South Africa in 1996.

The deepest female scuba diver on record is Karen van den Oever. In 2021 she accomplished a personal goal she set 17 years prior by diving 774.41 feet (236.04 meters), also at the Boesmansgat Cave.

How Deep Can a Human Dive Before Being Crushed?

In a theoretical situation where we equalize our own air space for the entirety of the dive, there is no depth with sufficient pressure to crush human bone. You would need to dive 35.5 km to reach a point to crush bone, but this is 3 times the deepest part of our ocean.

The main issue with being crushed while underwater revolves around the issues of equalization. Your air spaces (lungs, sinus cavities, middle ear) are more likely to “crush” due to collapse from differences in pressure, but equalization could theoretically tackle this issue.

How Boyle’s Law Relates

In Boyle’s law you learn that there is a linear relationship between depth, pressure, volume, and density in water. It looks something like this:

Depth	Pressure	Volume	Density
Surface	1 bar	1x	1x
10 m	2 bar	1/2x	2x
20 m	3 bar	1/3x	3x

As you dive, the air you breathe gets denser and the volume of the gas decreases. These changes happen automatically around you, but if you do not find ways to equalize your body to those changes then it will attempt to do so on its own.

This is how you end up with issues such as pneumothorax, where tissue of the lung wall is compromised and air leaks out, then pushing on the lung and making it collapse.

Suits and Deep Diving

Pressure suits work to protect you in the water while also allowing you to equalize air space. Without a suit, this happens naturally, but you have issues with temperature and buoyancy the deeper you dive.

A pressure suit traps bubbles around you underwater and gives you control over gas pressure inside the suit. Divers learn to add gas to the suit during descent to prevent painful squeezes.

There are also hard bodied atmospheric suits made to withstand pressure on their own. These hold an internal pressure of 1 bar, and their rigid frame prevents crushing of the diver. You have less mobility with an atmospheric suit.

What is an Average Scuba Diving Depth?

Most recreational scuba divers stick to depth limits around 60 feet (18 meters). This is the maximum depth for PADI Open Water Diver certified individuals, and it serves as a good point for observing ocean life and spending more time underwater with minimal risk.

Experienced divers that pursue their mastery certification can go as deep as 100 feet (30 meters), and those with the depth specialties can get as far as 130 feet (40 meters). You would expect experienced divers that pursue these certifications to take advantage of these depths.