Not allowed on a boat because of your dive agency card?

[Mike Campbell]

That YMCA cave card should still be good. That was a pretty good program and probably as intense (with the gear and knowledge of the time) as many of programs today. I actually remember stopping in High Springs back in the late 60's to buy line for the diving and eggs and bacon for breakfast after sleeping in someones cow pasture for the night....
Those were the good old days....
Mike...at least, I like to pretend they were anyhow....

 

[knfmn]

Hey guys, if you don't mind a slight diversion, I have a question. Is there any advantage to getting cards from multiple agencies, especially since it seems it is not a problem? At the recreational level, do other agencies offer something that PADI (my cert) doesn't teach?

In my area it is PADI or SSI, and the SSI shop did not give me good feelings. Of course I love my instructor who trained me for OW and want to take my other courses through her. However, I'm sure almost everyone else probably loves their initial instructors also.

I'm not an expert by any means, but I would tend to think that the main advantage to having the same cert from different agencies would be gaining exposure to the different teaching methods from different agencies. I believe, but can't swear to it, that when I finished my OW cert in MX, the folks I was diving with would let you get two cert cards at the same time if you passed the tests for both agencies, I.E. SSI and a PADI cert. I didn't do it, but in retrospect, if it really was an option and not something I made up in my own little head, I probably would have, just for the heck of it.

Kristopher

 

[Randy43068]

Some of you folks should be questioned thoroughly, perhaps even detained while your sanity is sorted out.

 

[DiverLS]

I dived with NO card one time. We went to Monterey and I was a little nervous diving with someone I just met. I forgot my cert cards.

So my buddy showed his instructor card, probably the only time he's showed it since that day over 2 years ago. I got to dive as his student. But since I had my own drysuit the guy let me on the boat as certified.

And the instructor is now my snuggle buddy. That's a dive buddy with benefits

 

[jan-japan]

"I'm sorry Mr. Johnson. This certification doesn't qualify you for general open water dives. As I'm sure you're already aware, with a "Scuba Diver" certification, you may only dive under the direct supervision of a Divemaster, Assistant Instructor or Instructor to a maximum depth of 12 metres / 40 feet. Of course, you can always upgrade to an Open Water certification, just sign up for one of our classes here!"

Scuba Diver Open Water Diving Adventure Courses - PADI Scuba Diving Training Organization

Naui Scuba Diver is equal to Padi OW Diver. PADI Scuba diver is equal to Naui passport diver. So yes, Mr Johnson will be able to dive anywhere, and I'm sure he did in over 30 years of being a diver.

 

[Dive Africa]

The funniest I ever had, was arriving with a mate at a spot we don't normally dive (somewhere on the South African south Coast) my buddy has never done a sports diver cert, but at the time was a police diver with some 15 years diving experience of zero viz, dive in all types of .... water including caves, sewers, rivers.. fishing out bodies and the like.... they refused to let him dive and it took a number of calls to some people known jointly by me and the operator to get (from a well known ITT) a "ha-ha-ha-ha... yes I think he can dive... but you better watch him just in case " before we where let into the water.

To my mates personality: he subsequently did an OW and AOW... he just grinned when the instructor told him that he was a natural and must be sure to keep diving... maybe come and do a rescue course when he had done enough dives - that was after an instructor mate offered to just certify him

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

You know, I seem to see that it is PADI outfits who don't like to take other cards, if it happens, cause then they offer more courses....:cool2:

 

[drbill]

I was certified by the Los Angeles County Underwater Unit back in the 60s. I never bothered to get another card until 2001 since the LAC card covered "everything" in BOW, AOW and Rescue back then and I only dove the areas I lived in. When I started doing international dive travel, I was confronted at the very first stop by a young PADI instructor FROM Los Angeles who did not have a clue what the LAC c-card was. He made me do a check out dive before I was allowed to dive on the boat... despite the fact I'd been diving since well before he was born. I had more "trouble" with other dive centers until I got to Cairns, Australia. The instructor at Deep Sea Divers Den I talked to not only recognized my LAC c-card, but said it was a "museum piece." I explained my problem and he gave me a PADI AOW c-card (after I did all the required steps) while I dove the GBR with their shop. I will be interesting to see what happens when I travel to the Red Sea, South America and the Philippines "soon" (soon as I get the $$$).

 

[tomfcrist]

Ditto, YMCA Silver Instructor, SEI Instructor, CMAS 2 star Instructor, NAUI Helitrox, and PADI DM. Only issue I might have is with the moron who will not accept my Helitrox (NAUI entry level trimix) to get a nitrox fill. But then again a place that dumb I likely don't want to dive with anyway. Who knows what else they don't know? But I carry one of my nitrox cards anyway. It doesn't say nitrox instructor on any of my cards even though I can teach it.

Jim that is funny as heck. I am a NAUI Instructor. When down in the Keys last year i stopped by a NAUI dive center to get some Nitrox fills and the guy behind the counter asked for my NITROX card. When I showed my Instructor card, he refused to accept it and said, "sir i need to see your Nitrox card". I asked to see his manager, who Immediatly filled my tanks while we laughed about what happened. Some people are just uneducated.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Jim that is funny as heck. I am a NAUI Instructor. When down in the Keys last year i stopped by a NAUI dive center to get some Nitrox fills and the guy behind the counter asked for my NITROX card. When I showed my Instructor card, he refused to accept it and said, "sir i need to see your Nitrox card". I asked to see his manager, who Immediatly filled my tanks while we laughed about what happened. Some people are just uneducated.

I carry my trimix card. Had a guy in Bonaire question whether or not it was good for a nitrox fill, so I told him to just give me trimix without any helium in it. He thought about it for about a second and busted up laughing ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)