OW Help

[AspenExtreme]

Hi All,

Two years ago, I took the OW course with Dolphin Dive in Cartagena. I passed the full written exam (perfect score), did the pool stuff, and completed three of the four OW dives. Unfortunately, we had bad weather blow in and my final dive was aborted. They refunded me part of my course fee, gave me the PADI "Scuba Diver" certification, and told me that I could upgrade by doing my final dive someplace else.

Trouble is...I'm going to Cabo with friends next month and am being told that I have to do the whole silly OW course over again. Is it possible to do a refresher or something so that I can join my pals for the AOW course? Retaking the OW course seems like a terrible way to blow my vacation when I'm only one dive short...

Thanks very much in advance for your help...

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

If you have a PADI Scuba Diver card in your name you do not necessarily have to do an entire OW course to achieve PADI OW certification.

Not sure in Cabo, but it's possible that just because you have a PADI Scuba Diver card, that does not obligate a PADI operator to necessarily give you just the second half of the OW course for PADI OW certification. It might be that they "can" but they don't have to.

How many operators at your intended destination have you contacted?

It is likely that if you dangle a carrot of "group business" in front of all of them, some will offer an abbreviated upgrade to PADI OW. Then even if your group is already booked with this operator that currently is not willing to credit you for your PADI Scuba Diver rating, you could still " threaten" to take the entire group to another operator and see if you get a better offer.

 

[TMHeimer]

Halemano is probably right. PADI is big on "you do this part of the course at one shop and go to another to finish". With my experiences this hasn't happened.

 

[Frosty]

my advice would be to contact a LDS and see if they can/will finish off your course for you. From memory though you will still have to do more than just the one dive

 

[Steve50]

do you have the paperwork from the original shop showing what you completed with instructor sign-offs? if no, is it obtainable?

 

[TSandM]

AspenExtreme, I know it is possible to upgrade a Scuba Diver cert to a full cert without retaking the entire class, because we have done it for a couple of Peter's students. However, there may be time constraints on it, and any individual instructor or shop is free to refuse to do anything if they don't want to. In our case, it worked, because our own students were coming back to us, and we knew them. I can see an instructor who was unfamiliar with you feeling that he would need to work with you in the pool, to see what you were like, before taking you to OW (that's just a basic safety decision). And if it's one of those classes where there's only one pool day, then there's little difference for the instructor between having you do the whole class, or just a pool session and two dives, and the former is easier to work into an already existing schedule.

You might want to call PADI headquarters, to ask what the agency rules are on timing for upgrading. If they say you are still "legal" to do it, call around and see if you can find a shop or instructor who is willing. (Hint: Independent instructors, whose schedules tend to be more flexible, may be more amenable.)

 

[AspenExtreme]

Thanks, all. My course was 23 months ago, so I think too much time has passed for a referral. I am trying the "dangling" tactic and, barring success with that, will probably just take the OW test online before my trip.

 

[scubadiveilat]

Since the limitation of a year exceeded your at a disadvantage!

Propose as said by others. Give me a break or I'll take my business elsewhere. Especially since if your an ok diver and recall everything. They can simply verify with some skills and take for a dive to confirm your current level.

If you where in South America I could have helped you some how. Next time ensure that you get all the details. Continuing your diving education elsewhere has limitations attached.

Enjoy your vacation and have. Dive at least for the fun of it!!!! Enjoy....

 

[Brian Sharpe]

My question would be....have you been diving in the 2 years since you took the course?

If you haven't it may be in your own best interests to take the whole course over, 2 years is a long surface interval.