IDEA to PADI Crossover

[greenhut]

I am a PADI OW diver, but looking to get my 10 year old daughter certified. We have a trip planned to Cozumel in a month and will be diving with a PADI facility. We have found a local instructer we like, but he certifies under IDEA. It turns out IDEA is not as liberal with young divers.

My understanding is a 10 year old that certifies OW with PADI may dive with restrictions, but automatically becomes full OW certified at 15 years of Age.

IDEA requires that the diver comes back for two additional training sessions between 10 and 15 to get full OW cert.

Because of this and the desire to have us all certified under the same agency, we would like her to be PADI certified.

If we certify her with IDEA and get a temp C card, what is the process for getting her a crossover PADI cert once we are in Cozumel?

thanks!

 

[Walter]

My understanding is a 10 year old that certifies OW with PADI may dive with restrictions, but automatically becomes full OW certified at 15 years of Age.

IDEA requires that the diver comes back for two additional training sessions between 10 and 15 to get full OW cert.

More training is not a bad thing. It can only serve to make your daughter safer.

the desire to have us all certified under the same agency

Why would you have such a desire?

 

[Damselfish]

Why do you want to be certified under the same agency? That by itself, I don't see any reason.

The idea of having a young diver take a couple extra sessions as they get older does not seem like a bad idea, really.

 

[AzAtty]

I won't disagree one bit with Walter on the value of additional training. Also, training your children is your call, but I personally don't certify divers as young as your daughter. Off my soapbox now...

The closest thing to a "cross-over" at the Open Water level is the PADI experienced diver program. If your daughter provides proof of certification from another agency, successfully completes the PADI Scuba Review, Open Water Diver Final Exam, and Open Water Dives 1-4 as outlined in the PADI Open Water Diver course, she will be certified as a PADI Open Water Diver.

Another alternative is to simply enroll her in an Adventure Diver or Advanced Open Water course once you reach Coz. The Adventure Diver certification requires proof of entry-level certification with PADI or another agency, completion of knowledge reviews for three different "adventure dives," and the execution of the three adventure dives. An "adventure dive" is a dive from any PADI specialty course. So in Coz, she could do the peak performance buoyancy dive, a boat dive, and an underwater navigation dive, and she'd have a PADI c-card. Note that 10 and 11 year olds cannot participate in all of the "adventure dive" categories offered, but the three identified above are dives she can perform.

The "Adventure Diver" certification gives her some additional training and experience, and once she turns 15 she can upgrade by submitting the appropriate paperwork and fee (don't ever forget the fee) to PADI.

 

[greenhut]

Thanks for the comments.

I supposed all being certified under the same agency is not of significant value - just seemed.. cleaner. The real desire is to obtain PADI certification because it does not require extra "basic" training in order to become a true OW certification. I have a very mature 10 yo, and she already knows the PADI materials well before taking the course. Sure, extra training doesnt hurt, but I would prefer the training she does beyond OW to be in areas where she can learn more while building on the basic skills she will already have learned and practiced.

I really like the Adventure diver idea. If she were to complete this, she would get a PADI card? Would this be all she would need to carry in the future as proof of cert, or would she need the IDEA cert+the PADI Adventure diver card?

On the age.. I understand. You'd have to know my daughter. She was snorkelling in the Caribbean at 3, and has better judgement and "maturity" than many adults. I do not expect my younger daughter to be ready at 10.

 

[AzAtty]

I really like the Adventure diver idea. If she were to complete this, she would get a PADI card? Would this be all she would need to carry in the future as proof of cert, or would she need the IDEA cert+the PADI Adventure diver card?

She will receive a PADI c-card (albeit a "Junior Adventure Diver" card) if she goes the Adventure Diver route. Any PADI dive center (and there are a lot) would recognize the Adventure Diver card alone and would not require additional proof of earlier certification. Non-PADI shops should recognize it as well, but it will depend on how well the shop understands PADI cards. An "Advanced Open Water" card would probably be recognized better than the Adventure Diver card by a non-PADI operator.

A telephone call to the operation where you'll dive will eliminate any questions about which cards the shop will accept.

 

[Walter]

The real desire is to obtain PADI certification because it does not require extra "basic" training in order to become a true OW certification.

Why would she need one? If you've found a good IDEA instructor that you like, why not have her take his advanced class when she turns 15? After she gets her advanced card, she'll never use her OW card anyway.

 

[greenhut]

Why would she need one? If you've found a good IDEA instructor that you like, why not have her take his advanced class when she turns 15? After she gets her advanced card, she'll never use her OW card anyway.

IDEA does not certify 10 year olds as scuba divers. The only program they can offer my daughter is basic physics/physiology - no dive tables, etc. This "IDEA Bear" program would be highly restrictive - I am OK with the depth limits, but she would always need to dive with a certified instructer. Not a bad thing, but it costs money. Then when she is 12, she would go back an learn/pay more to get "IDEA Junior Open Water", then again at 15 to learn/pay more for Full Open Water.

My daughter already has dive tables down pat, and can talk physics and physiology down to the molecular level. She knows the full OW content. She also has done several resort dives, is comfortable in the water, can do mask clearings, reg recoveries, etc.

She will fly through her OW course.

Why would I want to get her less training now when she already understands the advanced concepts IDEA is unwilling to teach her?

On top of that, We would have to bring her back and pay two more times to learn the things she already knows or is prepared to finish learning.

Furthermore, on our upcoming vacation, we would have to pay for an instructer on every dive.

Bottom line is IDEA does not meet our needs (advanced 10 year old diver). PADI, NAUI, SSI, SDI all handle young divers similarly. IDEA just has a very conservative approach to young divers that does not meet my needs.

 

[Walter]

IDEA does not certify 10 year olds as scuba divers.

Good for them.

The only program they can offer my daughter is basic physics/physiology - no dive tables, etc. This "IDEA Bear" program would be highly restrictive - I am OK with the depth limits, but she would always need to dive with a certified instructer.

Sounds like they've caved in to pressure, at least partially.

 

[Damselfish]

well according to what you want, no matter how much you like the IDEA instructor, it doesn't sound like there's much point in her getting the IDEA cert at 10?

If this IDEA Bear thing doesn't teach dive tables and isn't considered a certification, I wonder if it is even accepted by PADI as the basic OW qualification needed for Junior Adventure Diver? (She couldn't do Junior AOW right now, that starts at age 12, probably because it requires a deeper dive.)