The certification is all about training you to handle situations so you don't panic. Second reason is you must be certified to rent gear and tanks; example would be you and a buddy want to do some independent shore diving. Yes, you can snorkel, snuba and do resort dives to 20 feet and see a lot of amazing corals and fish. At that depth, if something goes awry you can surface with minimal risk/concern. At 60 feet it is quite different. Again, certification and training will teach you the about decompression, equalizing, risks of holding your breath and actually practice handling scenarios / situations so you don't panic. Examples of situations include a flooded mask, free flow regulator, someone kicking your regulator from your mouth and my personal favorite is your wife vomiting through her reg. (it attracts fish like you can't imagine
)
So why go beyond 20 ft; in short, not all destinations have shallow diving. I did Flower Gardens Marine Sanctuary in the middle of the Gulf and the top of the reef was 55 feet down. Off of Fort Lauderdale many dive sites are artificial reefs created by sinking old ships and they typically start at 60-70 ft. and go 100-120 feet to the bottom.
Local diving: very few people are aware that the great lakes is one of few places in the world where you can see 200 year old Schooners still largely intact. The best ones are in water deeper than 80+ feet. This is due to the cold, freshwater, dark conditions and depth prevents winter ice from damaging them. When wrecks sink in salt water there is a marine worm that consumes the wood. Intact salt water wrecks are typically modern steel ships / submarines since 1900. I have done some of the wrecks in Lake Erie because I love diving and it is what we have local; my wife has no interest in diving local. Conditions are cold, green, visibility can be poor and there are no colorful fish or corals. Quarries are about the same but a bit warmer. Most people who get serious about Great Lakes wreck diving will take drysuit training and rent or purchase one for warmth.
For us, scuba coincides with a tropical destination vacation during Cleveland winters. My aquarium holds me over the other 51 weeks of the year:twitch: . Always glad to answer questions or talk diving.
