Different Qualification Cards

[scubadada]

Can you really pay PADI extra for a combo card? It's a pain having to carry a Nitrox card plus another card.

Hi fnfalman,

You can easily order a card with your hightest certification level and enriched air diver on it online from the PADI website. Standard or Wyland cards are $30, Project Aware cards are $40, submersible cards are $35. I carry only a single combo card with me, I take my DPV card along when that opportunity is available as it is occasionally requested.

Good diving, Craig

 

[Walter]

I did once run into a person at a shop that wanted to see my nitrox card. I explained I wasn't getting any fills nor was I renting any tanks. She informed me I still needed a nitrox card to dive nitrox off their boats. I told her I was diving air. She wasn't happy about that and assured me the boat crew would check my mix. They didn't. Wouldn't have mattered as I was diving air and I happened to have a nitrox card in my pocket. Of course this was the same woman who thought you needed a different amount of lead for a night dive.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Sorry. No belligerence intended. I believe that those stories are more apocryphal and exaggerated than true. People use them to make points about "cards". I have never personally met anyone who has been turned away from a boat because they never recognized his or her tech card. Me and you both know that if this happens, we will get the name of the boat, the skipper or boat crew announced loudly on the board. The stories are all classical "SNOPES like". "John Chatterton was was turned away from a boat because he forgot his c-card".

Apocryphal?

My story is absolutely true ... I own a few dozen cards, but none of them say PADI on them. Therefore, this fool wasn't going to let me go on his boat.

Actually, I thought it was funny. I was in Maui ... there's more dive ops in Maui than there are coffee shops in Seattle. My buddy and I walked across the street and signed up with his competitor, who was happy to take our money and take us diving.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Of course this was the same woman who thought you needed a different amount of lead for a night dive.

Of course you do ... it's much lighter during the day, so you'll need more weight to get down ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[tridacna]

Apocryphal? ... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Bob, I think that 99% of what is "reported" on the Internet is apocryphal!
What actually happened? Now I'm curious.

 

[tridacna]

I did once run into a person at a shop that wanted to see my nitrox card. I explained I wasn't getting any fills nor was I renting any tanks. She informed me I still needed a nitrox card to dive nitrox off their boats. I told her I was diving air. She wasn't happy about that and assured me the boat crew would check my mix. They didn't. Wouldn't have mattered as I was diving air and I happened to have a nitrox card in my pocket. Of course this was the same woman who thought you needed a different amount of lead for a night dive.

I had someone in a dive store deny me Nitrox fills after I gave her my IANTD Trimix card. "It doesn't say Nitrox", she explained. I started to sputter and the owner came over and sorted things out. No boats involved though. I have no PADI cards and I've oftentimes thought of getting one just to pacify idiotic dive staff.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Bob, I think that 99% of what is "reported" on the Internet is apocryphal!
What actually happened? Now I'm curious.

Exactly what I said happened. I presented a card, it was rejected. I presented a different card, it was also rejected. When I asked the guy what he wanted, he specified that he only recognized PADI cards. We walked out, shook our heads, laughed, and signed up with his competitor.

I didn't feel bad at all ... I don't WANT to give my business to stupid people ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[muddiver]

I wonder, it you have a "PADI" DM or Inst. card and you go in to a PADI shop for a Nitrox fill, do you think that you would get denied because the card does not say, spacifically "Nitrox Diver" on it?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I wonder, it you have a "PADI" DM or Inst. card and you go in to a PADI shop for a Nitrox fill, do you think that you would get denied because the card does not say, spacifically "Nitrox Diver" on it?

Depends on the shop ... or perhaps even the employee you deal with.

I had a student call me one time from Cozumel with a problem. Seems the dive op wasn't going to recognize his NAUI AOW card because it didn't have a number on it. I explained to the dive shop employee that NAUI doesn't assign numbers (they do now, as of this year), and that it was, indeed a valid AOW card (ironically, one that's more difficult to earn than most ... and having been to Cozumel, this particular student probably had better skills than some of the DM's working there).

At any rate, I asked to speak to the dive op owner. Before I got two sentences into the situation, the owner asked what was the problem. "Your employee, apparently", I said. She assured me there was no problem, and we concluded the call. My student was accommodated.

Most times things like this happen, it's a case of ignorance.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[pir8]

PS - any boat that won't let you on with a Tech card is doing you a favor, as that's not a boat I'd want to get on anyway.

Yeah Yup