SSI Open Water Diver

[LisaS]

Hello everyone !

20 years ago (ouch) I took part in the New Waves SSI program on Princess Cruise lines for the Open Water diver. I had done some resort courses and tons of snorkeling, and thought it was time to get serious about under the water.

I was thrilled at the option of doing all the class room work on my own, and being able to do my dives in the warm, clear water of the Carribean (not the frigid murky waters of New England).

My instructor was very good, the pool training and dives I felt were informative and well run. I admit to jolting when my mask was ripped off at 40', but I remembered my training and did fine.

I do have my card, showing 5 or more logged dives. My divelog however, is not signed off for Level 1 and shows no 5th dive. The reason for this was the last day for diving, everything was cancelled due to rough water, no boats went out, too dangerous. Of course with the time constraints of the cruise, there were no further days to dive.

Now I am heading for the western Carribean on another cruise, and when visiting Belize there is a wonderful dive I would like to take part in.

If I take one of those intro to Scuba at an ealier port, will this enable that 5th dive to be filled in ? ( and legitimately have my 5 dives ?)

Any thoughts and advice is very welcome.

 

[flots am]

20 years ago
. . .
Any thoughts and advice is very welcome.

I'm not sure if SSI has a limit as to how long you can wait before starting and completing your Open Water dives (it's probably in the standards, but I never had a need to look it up before), however at this point it doesn't matter.

After 20 years, I'm reasonably certain that you can no longer perform the required skills or pass the written exam, since the skills fade quickly without use (I get rusty after a couple of months) and the test has changed along with some of the recommendations for ascent speed, time-before-flying and others.

I'd recommend that you retake the class. You can do the class and pool sessions locally, then do your open-water dives in Florida before your cruise, if you set it up with shop there (it's called a "referral").

You'll need to allow yourself a couple of extra days before your cruise, since the standards don't allow doing all the required dives on one day. It generally takes two.

Also, some shops are very flexible concerning classes. If the place you took your class from is still around, they may let you join up with a new class when it starts, for free or cheap.

flots.

edit: Sorry I missed the part about you having the card. If you have the card, you're certified.

Your dive log is irrlevant at this point even if it's signed, since nobody will care about a 20 year old dive.

You do have your card, however it's now a liability instead of an asset, since you can walk into almost any dive shop or boat in the world and go diving, without having the skills to do it safely, which means that right now, all your card is really good for is getting injured.

I'd go with what tstormdiver said: At a minimum do a refresher, and ideally, do the whole class. You should be able to do this is Florida in a day or two (for the refresher) if you find a shop to work with you.

 

[crosshairs]

I cant answer the question at hand, but I would think since its been 20 years since your last dive, and you really had no experience then, I would be inclined to just take the open water training over again if your thinking about doing some diving.
This is not a sport you want to get into half trained...its a lot of fun, but it can go bad quickly if your not prepared

if your only going to dive on this vacation, and not again for another 20 years, just take the intro class and not worry about the certification.

with most of the resort training company's , you can be done in 2 or 3 days if that works for you

 

[tstormdiver]

If all required 4 dives were done & got the certification card, then the is certified. After OW training & outside of additional training, what you record as a dive is up to you. Now,... that said, I agree with Flotsam. You should do at the very minimum of a refresher, but going through the course again would help solidify those skills that you may have lost over time. 20yrs is a long time to go without using those skills.

 

[LisaS]

Thanks for all the replies.

I should have mentioned that I have done 3 "resort dives" since getting my card......but they are not "logged".

I had planned to do another on the first stop, then the problem would be presenting my card for the cert dive (I'm assuming they will want to see the log.....and that's where the issue would show, no 5th dive and no "logged" dive in 12 months.

I have confidence in my abilities, I'm more at home in the water than on land, but I never fail to respect the ocean and what she can do.

So I think I'll stick with snorkeling this time, and maybe in the future spend 2 weeks on an island and get re-certified.

Again, thank you all !!

I'm not sure if SSI has a limit as to how long you can wait before starting and completing your Open Water dives (it's probably in the standards, but I never had a need to look it up before), however at this point it doesn't matter.

After 20 years, I'm reasonably certain that you can no longer perform the required skills or pass the written exam, since the skills fade quickly without use (I get rusty after a couple of months) and the test has changed along with some of the recommendations for ascent speed, time-before-flying and others.

I'd recommend that you retake the class. You can do the class and pool sessions locally, then do your open-water dives in Florida before your cruise, if you set it up with shop there (it's called a "referral").

You'll need to allow yourself a couple of extra days before your cruise, since the standards don't allow doing all the required dives on one day. It generally takes two.

Also, some shops are very flexible concerning classes. If the place you took your class from is still around, they may let you join up with a new class when it starts, for free or cheap.

flots.

edit: Sorry I missed the part about you having the card. If you have the card, you're certified.

Your dive log is irrlevant at this point even if it's signed, since nobody will care about a 20 year old dive.

You do have your card, however it's now a liability instead of an asset, since you can walk into almost any dive shop or boat in the world and go diving, without having the skills to do it safely, which means that right now, all your card is really good for is getting injured.

I'd go with what tstormdiver said: At a minimum do a refresher, and ideally, do the whole class. You should be able to do this is Florida in a day or two (for the refresher) if you find a shop to work with you.

 

[flots am]

So I think I'll stick with snorkeling this time, and maybe in the future spend 2 weeks on an island and get re-certified.

Another option is to figure out which is the first SCUBA-friendly island you're going to, call an SSI dive shop there and schedule a "SCUBA Skills Update" class. They should be able to do it while the ship is in port, and you'll get to dive there, and on the rest of your trip.

They'll put a "SCUBA Skills Update" sticker on your C-Card showing the class, and you'll have a couple of logged dives for your logbook to show at the next island.

flots.

 

[luscioman]

Contact Divers Den in Miami for a SSI review course before your cruise. Looks like its classroom one pool session and a dive.
SCUBA, Dive Certification, Snorkeling Gear at Divers Den Miami in Florida