Nitrox card required to dive, not just for fills?

[JahJahwarrior]

I had an interesting and somewhat annoying experience with a local dive shop- Scubaworks in Jupiter, Florida. It was honestly pretty weird to me, and I wondered if I'm crazy.

Back story: diving on a local boat, which has worked out a deal with the shop, so one day a week the shop "runs" the boat. The boat, Emerald Charters, caters to divers who have their stuff together and are ready to have fun. I love their boat, and enjoy diving it. The experience-being treated like a competent diver-is simply unparalleled in a world full of mediocre divers and nanny dive boats.

The diving in Jupiter tends to be 60 to 140 feet deep drift diving done 3+ miles offshore in federal waters. Fine for air, usually perfect for 32%, which is all I keep in most of my tanks as it's banked in north FL cave shops.

Here's the part where I decided I won't go back to the dive shop, and will only dive with Emerald on the days they don't partner with Scubaworks.

We called the day before the dive, to make sure our spots were booked and to make sure bringing our own doubles was not a problem. Scubaworks said no problem, confirmed our spots and said see ya tomorrow.

When we show up, they wanted our email addresses and phone numbers-data mining, in my opinion. We told them no thanks on the email list. Then they ask if we are diving nitrox. Figuring it was just idle chit chat, since we weren't getting fills, we told them yes. At that point, they refused to let us dive on a boat that wasn't theirs until we could each produce nitrox cards.

There's the rub. I don't carry my nitrox card. I have it handy when I need fills, but not otherwise. I keep my Divemaster and full cave cards, but have no need for a nitrox card if I'm not getting gas.

I pointed out that we had called the day before and specifically mentioned we were bringing our own tanks, the perfect chance to mention their card requirement. They said it had to do with insurance. I pointed out it wasn't their boat and that they still should mention it. Somehow I convinced them to let me dive between the DM and full cave cards, but I still find their demand ridiculous, and their lack of explaining their policy over the phone ludicrous.

I can't even re,e,bet the last time I had to show my nitrox card to get a fill.

I'm pretty decided that I'll not go back to that shop. Breathing gas is easy to get from shops that go out of their way to treat you well and not make up silly policies. I still had a great time on the Emerald and can't wait to go back.

Or maybe I'm crazy and they were right to ask me to drive 30 miles to get the card and 30 miles back. I had time, what with the, not calibrating their analyzer and having to fill my friend's tanks twice to get the o2 right...

 

[danvolker]

I think a Nitrox card is one of the lamest certs there is....a total BS course, purely for the money. All a diver needs to do is read and understand some incredibly simple material--stuff that easily could have been included in an OW1 course....
One cool thing, given how things are with this though....NASE is starting a new really inexpensive, E-Course for NItrox.... So for really cheap, you can have a card to win the game, against shops that think they have a money maker

 

[JamesK]

That's just crap IMO. OK, maybe having a card to show if you are purchasing Nitrox in their shop, but not to bring your own and dive it. Are they going to start making everyone analyze their tanks in front of them.

 

[sheeper]

Interesting. I'm surprised at scubaworks. I have never seen that kind of attitude from them. They are one of my favorite shops and I've always been happy with how they run things. That said....I have never, ever, ever, never been asked to show my (advanced) nitrox card. and no...I don't carry that either.

 

[Doubler]

I didn't even do any dives for my Nitrox course so having to produce a card after my tanks were filled somewhere else is BS. This is why I answer "no" to all medical questions.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

In our litigious society I can see the justification for asking to see the card. The biggest complaint I would have is that they didn't make it clear prior to showing up that you'd need to. I see that as more of a lack of communication than anything else.

I disagree about the "no need for training" or the "cover this in OW" argument. There is a need to make people aware of the limitations of nitrox ... just as there is a similar need for pretty much everything else in scuba diving. I wouldn't cover it in OW for two reasons. First, because most OW divers have such a high consumption rate that nitrox use is a waste of money ... unless they're using big tanks, air is the limitation rather than NDL. Secondly, there's so much to cover in an OW class that is far more important than nitrox that I'd prefer to use that time covering those topics.

I can see integrating nitrox into AOW training, however.

Funny how we seem to have gone from the extreme of not allowing nitrox for recreational use to promoting it at the OW level in just 20 years ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[DivemasterDennis]

I don't get it. How inconvenient is it to carry something the size of a nitrox C-card ? And doesn't at least PADI now have an on-line "look up" to to confirm certification if you don't have a card? Ok, so you were put off by the experience, but hey, this is such a prevenatble thing, that the lesson learned for all thread readers is simply this: when engaging in any activity that requires or may require certain credentials, be sure you carry those credentials with you. That includes having your drivers license and proof of insurance when driving, appropriate C cards when diving, and so on. Sorry, JahJahwarrior, but on this issue, I think your anger and retaliation may not be appropriate. But then, I am not there in Florida and I do not know the people you were interacting with. Maybe they were being a little overcautious, but you should not be surprised that they wanted to see a nitrox card.
DivemasterDenis

 

[Searcaigh]

I keep scanned copies of my cards in my log book, never been questioned or asked to produce the originals.

 

[tplyons]

I don't get it. How inconvenient is it to carry something the size of a nitrox C-card ? And doesn't at least PADI now have an on-line "look up" to to confirm certification if you don't have a card?

At $35 apiece to replace from PADI, I don't carry any cards I don't need to either.

To the OP, did they at least offer to look it up for you?

 

[iluvtheocean]

times do change as tech gets better and more common place - take computers - 20 years ago we were the 1st people in our neighborhood to actually have a computer that wasn't tandy or a c64 - an actual ibm pc and now my cellphone has more computing power and we take it for granted now.
henry ford didn't invent or make a better car -- he made it affordable for the masses and now not owning a car is out of the ordinary.

rebreathers under a $1000 will be next!!!