Not certified and still diving? How???

[ScubaDocER]

Ridiculous moderation. Yet again stifles debate.

I applaud the moderator for stepping in with the reminder. While free speech is encouraged, yelling fire in a crowded room is not acceptable either. Free speech comes with responsibility. The thread was not terminated, just guided away from moving into a dangerous direction. There are people who were and are diving before agencies were even thought of. I imagine that there were several reasons that brought about the creation of such a thing as a "scuba diving agency". Money is always a motivating factor. I imagine safety was one as well. Cave diving, a sport I love dearly, was almost outlawed in Florida because of increasing deaths, and a lack of an organized training program. Without such moderation scuba diving in general may suffer a similar fate. There are several practical reason for being formally trained. This is not an issue of whether or not one can dive without training, but SHOULD one be diving without certification, especially those that are new to the sport. I am glad that someone is moderating the threads to make sure that free speech is tempered with responsibility.

 

[divinginn]

Did I miss something?

 

[Jim Baldwin]

As I read threads I always look at the avitars of the posters. I continue to see a lot of posters with the "Logged dives: None, not certified" under their avitar, yet they post that they have completed 500, 1,000, or more dives. I understand that being certified in SCUBA has drastically changed a lot over the years, but by today's standards how is this still possible? Don't you have to present your C card when you dive at certain places and with charters??

I think you will find fewer and fewer people here in the states that are not certified. I certified a man last year that had been diving for nearly 20 years. He spearfished on a freshwater lake nearby. He had even shown his family the ropes but had never taken the course.

When he stopped in at a small marina to get some air tanks filled they asked for a card and refused to fill his tanks.

He had been getting his buddy to fill his tanks for years. The guy brought his whole family in and put everyone through the course. More than once during the course he admitted to things that he did not know and after it was all said and done he said enjoyed the course and learned a lot.

 

[String]

Nope SB has rules telling us all not to advocate stupid practisis.
So when someone says go dive and don't bother with a cert. We delete it and you'll get a nasty

So again instead of allowing debate into pros and cons someone somewhere makes an arbitrary decision and decides to censor all the others?

Its a big reason why this board lately has become less and less useful.

 

[Rhone Man]

Diving without being certified is not the same thing as diving without proper training. Whatever PADI might tell you.

 

[Aquabear]

Wow, every post on here gives good food for thought. One can say to not advocate bad behaviors; but lets also not censure reality as a small minority are not certified.

Is there no waiver of training for someone who has been diving for years ie: the ones who have been diving before certs were invented?

I am a believer in structured training and standards. Someone said this earlier and I agree maybe a small percentage of people can train thenselves but the majority need the class training. I have and will continue to get my certs until the rules change.

One thing to remember in all this, we all choose the path we take. Generally speaking, unless I knew the diver personally I would choose not to buddy up with a non-cert diver- but hell there are cert guys I have refused to dive with cause they were idiots!

For everyone readin this- take any info you find on the web and discover the truth for yourself before blindly beliving.

 

[CycloneFever]

The modern certification programs are merely a consumerist engine for deriving cash flow. The courses themselves are largely without merit.

This is baloney.

What would you have a beginning diver do? You think it would be OK for them to get a book from the library, buy some gear, and get in the water? How many killing themselves is acceptable to keep the consumerist engine from running?

The certification process provides a very valuable service (whichever agency you use). It provides a means for structured learning on the fundamentals of SCUBA. One can be assured that they are going to be taught and drilled on the skills necessary to dive at a basic level.

 

[Gary D.]

Lets look at this from another angle. Just about everyone is saying they won't dive with an un-certified diver. Does it matter if it's not a recreational certification but another type of certification?

We went down this road a long time ago and I'd like to see of anything changed.

Gary D.

 

[Seaduced]

One thing to consider, each incident or mishap, especially by uncertified divers, probably brings us closer to government regulation, licensing, and scuba police.

I am fairly new to scuba diving, so I don't know, but in the past, have there been efforts to further regulate the industry?

 

[captain]

I know of no past efforts by the government to regulate scuba. Some local governments may have some form of regulation most likely as a form of self protection from law suits.
Unless dead divers and innocent bystanders start filling the morgues I doubt the government much cares.
Although a whole different topic I believe diver training should be done by organizations with no direct or indirect connection to the retail dive business. Ideally by independent instructors with no dive shop affiliation.