How to answer "what is your highest certification level"?

[Wibble]

I check in with a Rescue cert and a nitrox card, My buddy checks in with a trimix and an advanced nitrox cert. Do you really think the crew on the boat will treat us differently? I doubt they would even know how we checked in.

We are doing a drift dive in SE Florida. I have more than twice my buddy's dives and twice the number in local conditions. Who's the better diver?

Its not really the "better diver", more that one can easily forget that you need to dig out the noddy PADI qualifications that are far superseded by one's normal dive level. Some of us literally never do "recreational" diving -- rebreather, decompression, depth, redundancy, gas switching, rich mixes, solo; mostly all of the above.

Learning point: don't throw away the early-learning-diver PADI cards and bring them to holiday destinations.

Whinging point: nitrox cert... Like they're going to fill your tins with any mix that's richer than you need for the dive... Of course everyone has to check their gas in case someone's given you 100%. However, a boat-supplied set of "filled" rental cylinders are not going to vary.

 

[Jcp2]

Sometimes there can be a CO surprise in just a single tank amongst many.

 

[Manatee Diver]

Its not really the "better diver", more that one can easily forget that you need to dig out the noddy PADI qualifications that are far superseded by one's normal dive level. Some of us literally never do "recreational" diving -- rebreather, decompression, depth, redundancy, gas switching, rich mixes, solo; mostly all of the above.

If we are going by that standard, I rarely have to present my tech cards. In fact I think I am at 5 times presenting my tech cards in the past year, and 4 times for my AOW/Nitrox. By the end of the year the tech number won't have increased much if at all (as most of those were because I didn't renew my Ginnie pass for a couple of months) but I will probably have an additional half a dozen that I had to pull out my AOW/Nitrox.

 

[Wibble]

Sometimes there can be a CO surprise in just a single tank amongst many.

That would be a surprise -- and an utter failure of quality control from the filler.

Worst of all would be the thought of diving anywhere without redundancy. Suppose one could just bolt for the surface and get some clean air if developing the signs of CO poisoning -- then demand they give you 100% to breathe on until you get back to port.

If we are going by that standard, I rarely have to present my tech cards. In fact I think I am at 5 times presenting my tech cards in the past year, and 4 times for my AOW/Nitrox. By the end of the year the tech number won't have increased much if at all (as most of those were because I didn't renew my Ginnie pass for a couple of months) but I will probably have an additional half a dozen that I had to pull out my AOW/Nitrox.

Nice that you get to dive in some different locations! Been a few years since I've dived "abroad" with cattle boats.

 

[scubadada]

@boulderjohn

This is rec diving. I always end up in the experienced group. I mostly dive by myself. I likely have about the same number of dives as you, but many more in the rec diving category. We could argue who's best prepared for these dives.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I wonder how many instructors were in those other groups, smug in their beliefs that they had conned the operation by only showing an OW card.

Maybe zero? I don't think we have any kind of data of what percentage of divers present a higher level of certification versus those who present the lowest possible one. If a dive pro doesn't present their pro credentials to avoid liability, then they haven't attended Concannon's talk at DEMA where if there is an accident, he takes the list of people on the boat and asks the larger agencies if any of those people have/had professional credentials with them. There's plenty of stories of boats trying to offload new divers on dive pros, some who are happy to do so, others who say refund my money and pay my guiding fee. Again, no idea on the percentages of who does what.

And given how some CDs/ITs dive, maybe it isn't such a con after all to just present an OW card.

 

[Wibble]

@boulderjohn

This is rec diving. I always end up in the experienced group. I mostly dive by myself. I likely have about the same number of dives as you, but many more in the rec diving category. We could argue who's best prepared for these dives.

Recreational diving, all the risks associated with diving but without the equipment nor skills mitigation.

If you’re trying to compare diving techniques for recreational and technical, even ignoring the kit differences, technical divers generally have far better core skills and experience than recreational divers — especially many of those recreational divers counting their dives in the thousands who’s basic skills are hardly demonstration quality.

 

[Cdncoldwater]

That's an insult to inexperienced staff.

@Peter Guy experienced the same thing. He asked for trimix without the helium. LOL. They still said no.

?

 

[MichaelMc]

And given how some CDs/ITs dive, maybe it isn't such a con after all to just present an OW card.

CD/ITs could also present tech cards instead of either OW or CD/IT cards. Thus getting viewed as likely not incompetent, but also not extra staff. (Assuming they have tech cards.)

 

[PBcatfish]

A while back, I had to email my certifications when booking NITROX dives in advance. I sent my trimix card and they wouldn't accept it.

I would have requested their credentials.