Do most dive shops require the Original PADI Cert cards or will a copy be ok?

[TMHeimer]

I tend to bring my actual cards with me, but always also travel with a simple front/back A4 color print out tht includes all relevant cards (including insurance) in my bag in case something goes missing. When asked for "my certifications" I always show that sheet, simply because it's easier than handing over a deck of cards. In nine years, dozens of trips/ops/boats/countries, and nearly 1,000 dives I've never been asked to produce the actual cards themselves.

Good idea. Since my wife's passport was stolen from the room in Vegas we now take copies in a separate place. She wished she had done than then to avert an obvious nightmare.

 

[ams511]

It cost me a few hundred bucks to get new PADI replacement cards through my DS.

I am sure it is different for tech divers, but for rec a dive op usually only cares about the AOW card and Nitrox. You really do not need to replace every card.

---------- Post added March 21st, 2015 at 01:29 AM ----------

I had a shop (attendant) that would not accept my nitrox card because I was going to dive air. I would never put any element of absolute stupidity out of the realm of the possible with some shop.

Every once and a while, there is always a humorous post over at the cave diving forum about someone given a hassle because the Dive Op wants an AOW card and they can only produce a full cave cert and a trimix card.

 

[RJP]

Every once and a while, there is always a humorous post over at the cave diving forum about someone given a hassle because the Dive Op wants an AOW card and they can only produce a full cave cert and a trimix card.

I was once told that my DSAT Tec Deep card - specifying "Decompression Diving / EANx & O2 up to 100%" right on the front - wasn't good enough to get 32% fills for shore diving.

"Do you have anything that says 'nitrox' on it?"

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I'd be leery of diving with an op like that. Who knows what else they don't know?

 

[RJP]

I'd be leery of diving with an op like that. Who knows what else they don't know?

I'll typically try not to confuse the dopey kid working the counter with "the op" in most sun-drenched, rum-soaked vacation destinations.

"I don't know how many pounds make up a ton of all the Nobel prizes that I've never won."

[video=youtube;5Da9sc6YDBo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Da9sc6YDBo[/video]

 

[Akimbo]

I was once told that my DSAT Tec Deep card - specifying "Decompression Diving / EANx & O2 up to 100%" right on the front - wasn't good enough to get 32% fills for shore diving…

There are lots of stories like this. I never bothered to get a nationally recognized C-card until I was told that my US Navy Saturation qualification wasn’t good enough to get an air fill. At least people can look up prerequisites on the Web now even when they have no clue.

 

[ams511]

There are lots of stories like this. I never bothered to get a nationally recognized C-card until I was told that my US Navy Saturation qualification wasn’t good enough to get an air fill. At least people can look up prerequisites on the Web now even when they have no clue.

Wookie mentioned the same thing a few times. Navy divers get hassled in Key West for fills and trips because they do not have a commercial C-Card.

---------- Post added March 21st, 2015 at 08:09 AM ----------

I'll typically try not to confuse the dopey kid working the counter with "the op" in most sun-drenched, rum-soaked vacation destinations.

You do need to wonder why the dive op has a dopey kid working the counter. That is the first impression people get of the business.

 

[Akimbo]

Wookie mentioned the same thing a few times. Navy divers get hassled in Key West for fills and trips because they do not have a commercial C-Card.

There were no commercial C-Cards then and this was in San Diego... yeah that place loaded with sailors and the home of all kinds of diving technology in the 1970s. Air-fill monkeys don't have to be divers or even interested. You would think that divemasters would know a little more, but the same kind of thing happens all the time. Some people are interested and learn beyond what it takes to get a card and others don't.

 

[RJP]

You do need to wonder why the dive op has a dopey kid working the counter. That is the first impression people get of the business.

Because the dive op is run/owned by a dopey guy who thought it would be cool to try to earn a living at his hobby... and has no idea how to run a business and/or that business doesn't pull in enough money to hire someone more qualified than the dopey kid. Plus, the dopey kid is often the third or fourth "first impression" the customer will get of the business.

 

[marcushall]

I can certainly imagine that if you present a card that doesn't look like one of the agencies that the dive op recognizes raises an issue about how to tell if the card really is valid. The cards that they see every day all "look recognizable", but suppose that I laminate my own card from some made up agency. How would they be able to verify it? I could have also created a dummy web site for it (if I was severely dedicated to this scheme). If they don't understand that I am certified by FIHVI, or cannot validate a US special forces ID card, should they just accept it on faith that this is valid?