Temporary PADI C-card

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VFV

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Messages
14
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Location
MD
# of dives
50 - 99
Hi! I'd be grateful if anyone has a thought:

We finished a PADI Open Water class last weekend in a PA quarry and are off to HI next week to dive. I was told by the shop owner that every dive shop in HI will be able to look up our padi certifications so it won't be a problem that we don't have cards and we won't need (and can't be provided with) temporary certification cards. Before we decided to get certified through this shop we asked both the owner and instructor about temp cards and they said they provide them. Now, it appears, they don't? Something must have changed. I was asked to call back tomorrow (again) when the instructor will be in and talk to him. We weren't asked to bring logbooks to the last dive, so they weren't signed by the instructor.

Are there such things as PADI temporary certification cards? Is it true that all dive shops in Hawaii will be able to look up our certifications online and that physical c-cards aren't necessary? This is confusing.

Thanks for insights!
 
I have asked a shop to look up a padi cert and was told they were not a PADI dive shop so could not look it up. I was going to suggest the log book but with out the sig that's a problem. I would suggest taking your log book into the shop and having the instructor sign off with his # that OW was complete.
 
1. With the same spelling of your name that is sent to PADI and your date of birth, the shop can look up your certification.

2. The only catch is if it hasn't been entered into the system yet. Previously, everthing was done on paper and sent to PADI; therefore, there was a potential lag before your data was in the system. The temporary card handled the lag time. Now everything is supposed to be entered electronically after you complete your certification dives with maybe a day or two lag.

Edit: For #1, it doesn't even need to be a PADI shop, just someone with access to the PADI Pro's area.
 
When we got certified in 02 I was given a temporary card. If I remember correct it was a sheet of paper that we filled out and the instructor signed with on or two cards on the bottom. He sent in the paper on top and I kept one card on the bottom. I still have it, and its a good thing too. The dive shop in Jamaica didn't believe my c-card because the film on front that said i was an open water diver came off. I gave him my temp card and he was cool with it then.

I'd call PADI. Get it straight from the source. I struggled to get a replacement card for my wife after her name change until I called them..5 days later I had a card.

I'll pm you the name/number of the guy we talked to. He was super nice.
 
Check your e-mails. As soon as you've been processed as an Open Water Diver PADI will send you a 'congratulations' e-mail.

Really your Dive Shop should give you a temp card. But if you process certs online this entails you printing the details out yourself (the dive shop that is) so cheap shops can just not bother doing that. It's poor practice. I've seen it done a lot; one dive centre; I know, always claims that their internet is down and then batch process every cert at the end of the month rather than piecemeal (you know who you are!!)

Dive checking at PADI shops is easy and you should have no problems in Hawaii, but the shop is being slack.
 
Hi! I'd be grateful if anyone has a thought:

We finished a PADI Open Water class last weekend in a PA quarry and are off to HI next week to dive. I was told by the shop owner that every dive shop in HI will be able to look up our padi certifications so it won't be a problem that we don't have cards and we won't need (and can't be provided with) temporary certification cards. Before we decided to get certified through this shop we asked both the owner and instructor about temp cards and they said they provide them. Now, it appears, they don't? Something must have changed. I was asked to call back tomorrow (again) when the instructor will be in and talk to him. We weren't asked to bring logbooks to the last dive, so they weren't signed by the instructor.

Are there such things as PADI temporary certification cards? Is it true that all dive shops in Hawaii will be able to look up our certifications online and that physical c-cards aren't necessary? This is confusing.

Thanks for insights!


I finished my certification in Mexico and the shop I finished up with printed out a temporary PADI card that afternoon. I think I had it in my hands within 15 minutes of us getting back to the dock. I can't speak to the ins and outs of which shops can and cannot provide temporary cards, but I had been given the understanding that everyone could.

I do think that dive shops are able to look up certifications online, but I would be super leary about travelling all the way to Hawaii without something.

I would have a super problem with 1. not being told to bring your logbooks to have your training dives signed off on by the instructor and, even more importantly, 2. them telling you one thing and then changing their story after you've paid for your training and finished your dives.

Basically I think your best recourse is to gently hound the dive shop for a temp card. You could also try calling PADI if you're suspicious. They can probably speak to whether or not your cert card can be looked up online with a lot more authority than I can.

Hope some of this helps a little.

Kristopher
 
Check your e-mails. As soon as you've been processed as an Open Water Diver PADI will send you a 'congratulations' e-mail.
Really your Dive Shop should give you a temp card. But if you process certs online this entails you printing the details out yourself (the dive shop that is) so cheap shops can just not bother doing that. It's poor practice. I've seen it done a lot; one dive centre; I know, always claims that their internet is down and then batch process every cert at the end of the month rather than piecemeal (you know who you are!!)

Dive checking at PADI shops is easy and you should have no problems in Hawaii, but the shop is being slack.

I wouldn't count on receiving that email. I never got one.

Kristopher
 
SSI lets you look up a diver and print a temp card right from their website. Does PADI offer anything like that?

Also, if you know who you'll be diving with, give them a call.
 
when I got my ow and then my aaw I was issued a green Temp card with my number on it.
come to think of it so did my wife.
 
Hi! I'd be grateful if anyone has a thought:

We finished a PADI Open Water class last weekend in a PA quarry and are off to HI next week to dive. I was told by the shop owner that every dive shop in HI will be able to look up our padi certifications so it won't be a problem that we don't have cards and we won't need (and can't be provided with) temporary certification cards. Before we decided to get certified through this shop we asked both the owner and instructor about temp cards and they said they provide them. Now, it appears, they don't? Something must have changed. I was asked to call back tomorrow (again) when the instructor will be in and talk to him. We weren't asked to bring logbooks to the last dive, so they weren't signed by the instructor.

Are there such things as PADI temporary certification cards? Is it true that all dive shops in Hawaii will be able to look up our certifications online and that physical c-cards aren't necessary? This is confusing.

Thanks for insights!

Have the instructor sign off on your log book and show the log book to the dive charter.

Or unless paperwork had changed by PADI, the instructor was suppose to sign a tear-away little card that acts as a temporary card (supposedly good for 30-days).
 
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