Any reason to pay for more C cards?

[Lorenzoid]

Computer Diver teaches you enough about them so that you ought to be able to successfully shop for and buy one of your own, now knowing what features to look for, what questions to ask, etc....

I would love to know what their advice is. I guess I'll have to take the course!

 

[lv2dive]

Good call re the cards

BTW, I do have to mention this - I'm sure your instructor will be covering it before your trip - but you would not be able to get a drift specialty out of that class from diving wrecks in NC. NC wreck diving is most decidedly NOT drift diving. In fact, I'd recommend bringing gloves bc many captains insist you ascend/descend on the line.and some of those lines will cut your hands.

Also regardless of water temps. I have found it prudent to always wear at least a dive skin covering me from ankles to wrists; the jellies like to hang out right in that 10-25 ft range... Can make a safety stop loads of fun!!! And another good reason for gloves <g>. (BTW I speak from experience, I've got a pic somewhere of welts on my arm that lasted three weeks, from the one dive of a three or four-day trip when I left the skin off!)

Hope you have fun with your dives and don't get blown out!

...
Our instructor taught the full content of both books - i.e. Deep, Computer, Wreck, Boat, and Drift. Plus an additional 2 days of U-boat specific stuff.
...
We will do an additional 4 dives over 2 days from a boat, off NC, to dive the U-352 and the Indra.
...
So, even though I will have had all the training and be fully qualified to have those two C cards (and probably Drift, too), I don't think I'll bother to get them. I don't care about having cards just for the sake of having cards.

 

[stuartv]

Good call re the cards

BTW, I do have to mention this - I'm sure your instructor will be covering it before your trip - but you would not be able to get a drift specialty out of that class from diving wrecks in NC. NC wreck diving is most decidedly NOT drift diving. In fact, I'd recommend bringing gloves bc many captains insist you ascend/descend on the line.and some of those lines will cut your hands.

Also regardless of water temps. I have found it prudent to always wear at least a dive skin covering me from ankles to wrists; the jellies like to hang out right in that 10-25 ft range... Can make a safety stop loads of fun!!! And another good reason for gloves <g>. (BTW I speak from experience, I've got a pic somewhere of welts on my arm that lasted three weeks, from the one dive of a three or four-day trip when I left the skin off!)

Hope you have fun with your dives and don't get blown out!

Thanks! Getting blown out would truly suck!

The instructor said he could issue us Boat, but he did not offer Drift. I guess what you said is probably why.

I have gloves and always wear them if I'm going to see a wreck. I figure I don't trust my buoyancy control and finning enough yet so I would always want to be prepared to put my hand out when doing a swim-through. Given the possibilities for what I might touch, having gloves on seems like a good idea. Plus, the instructor told us in class he always wears gloves when going to a wreck.

He also said the water temps when we go should be mid to upper 70s. That is definitely 3/2 full suit range for me. I have pretty much decided I would/will always wear a full suit any time I'm diving unless the water is just so warm that a full suit would make me too hot. Jellies and other possibilities - like, again, brushing up against something on a wreck swim-through - are definitely reasons for that decision!

 

[Searcaigh]

Another card to look out for that I believe one of my local dive ops is now teaching is the SMB card

 

[Coop42]

Another card to look out for that I believe one of my local dive ops is now teaching is the SMB card

I laugh, then I see divers like this...

He's obviously been at it for a while, based on his 'interaction' with the photographer at the 14 second mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KpZe7A1NqU

 

[Bob DBF]

From the looks of the rats nest, it's just as well that he didn't get the SMB inflated.

Next time he drys the SMB he should make sure the duckbill is open so it dosen't dry that valve shut. Don't ask how I know.


Bob

 

[hilljo88]

I think there's another way to look at this: if you are a new diver (OP has less than 25 dives?) then it makes good sense to want to spend time with an instructor in a training environment. This doesn't necessarily have to lead to a "Card" per se. And having a Card doesn't mean you are proficient in that particular speciality, just that you checked the boxes on the training standards and sent in payment.

Most divers on this board see the value in training, but think card collecting is rather pointless, except for those few cards which must be displayed, such as Nitrox, etc.

 

[RJP]

And having a Card doesn't mean you are proficient in that particular speciality,

It does if the card has my name on the back where it says "Instructor."

proficient: (adjective) competent or having skill in doing or using something.

I'm quite certain I'm not alone in only issuing c-cards to competent divers.

 

[Storker]

I laugh, then I see divers like this...

He's obviously been at it for a while, based on his 'interaction' with the photographer at the 14 second mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KpZe7A1NqU

According to the video, the poor sod is a DM.

I don't think I looked much worse back when I, during one of my AOW dives (I think it was the PPB dive), attempted to shoot a sausage for the first time. And I was thoroughly embarrassed by my, uh, "performance". Or lack of...

 

[tomfcrist]

It does if the card has my name on the back where it says "Instructor."

proficient: (adjective) competent or having skill in doing or using something.

I'm quite certain I'm not alone in only issuing c-cards to competent divers.

I think what he was implying is that pretty much all diving skills are perishable. You could certify a superstar diver and after 3 years of not diving that same diver could be a complete mess...it does happen.