What you say is true. There aren’t any scuba police and I’ve watched DM’s lead dives to depths that exceed certification levels of some of their boat passengers. But one thing that is pretty standard these days is that the first boat dive of a trip is pretty much devoted to “prove to us that you aren’t going to kill yourself or your buddy.”
The other thing is that Dive Tables are probably going the way of the Dodo. I expect everybody will train with a computer before too long. Progress, I guess.
Yes, the dive tables are fine for students to learn decompression theory, but practically, the only way to dive is with a computer (I use two of them). As far as the 60/60 that is fine if you are using the tables, but modern computers and the use of Nitrox has made the “tables” an anachronism for avid divers. Some have said that below 60’ there isn’t much light, but that depends where you dive. Go out to Papua New Guinea or the Solomon Islands, you find a lot of light at 100’. Yes, Tallguy, the Dodo has flown....Cheers...