Issue with PADI Divemaster Certification

[DiverDan1975]

I read your message yesterday and slept on it before I responded. I can appreciate the frustration. At the end of the day, if you want to join the ranks of dive professionals, press forward and redo the course. You will likely breeze through it. I am sure you will gain something from it. Just being exposed to several different instructors has taught me a lot with regard to style and various little technical pointers that can only be learned from experience. You will gain additional experience and grow as dive professional. It would be a shame to not press forward if this is something you want to do in the future (work as a DM). Good luck! Enjoy it!

 

[Zef]

Yeah I’ve accepted my fate but was hoping I was wrong lol. I am curious, where specifically did you get those timelines? Not arguing, just want to read more about it.

I think I have an email directly from PADI about this. I am currently traveling so I will see if I can dig it up if I have a spare moment later today.

-Z

 

[Zef]

Yeah I’ve accepted my fate but was hoping I was wrong lol. I am curious, where specifically did you get those timelines? Not arguing, just want to read more about it.

Here is a cut and past from email correspondence between me and one of PADI headquarters' regional training consultants from a discussion we had about me thinking about letting my DM cert lapse:

"A one to two year gap: no remediation required.

3-5 year gap:

To activate Teaching status, you will complete a three-step process:

Renew your membership
View the Member Update Webinar Introduction in your language.
View all relevant Training Bulletin LIVE Webinars for the time you were unrenewed. For example, if you were last renewed three years ago, you should watch the Training Bulletin LIVE Webinars for the last two years.
Once you completed the above requirements please submit the Member Update Webinar Completion Form to your local area office.

If you have any questions, please contact a Regional Training Consultant.

Five years and beyond, you’re looking at the following:

Step 1 – Renew

Complete and return the attached renewal form to membersvcs@padi.com.

Step 2 – Refresh

Refresh your knowledge and skills by completing an Unrenewed Divemaster Update with a PADI Instructor through your local PADI Dive Center. The Dive Shop Locator can assist you in finding a dive in your area. A fit-to-dive medical evaluation should be presented prior to any in-water sessions. During the update, you’ll take the latest Divemaster Exams and complete a confined water skills assessment and dive rescue evaluation. Upon completion, an Unrenewed Divemaster Update Form, attached, must be completed and signed by you and your PADI Instructor, then submitted to PADI for processing.
7

You will also need to submit proof of current EFR Primary Care (CPR) and Secondary Care (First Aid) training within the last 24 months and provide medical clearance for diving within the previous 12 months.

Step 3 – Insure

Purchase professional liability insurance (if required in your area) through one of PADI Americas’s Insurance brokers, Vicencia & Buckley HUB or DAN. Refer to this webpage - www.padi.com/Insurance. If you choose to purchase coverage from another company, make sure to send a copy of your policy to membersvcs.2@padi.com.

Step 4 – Active status!"

-Z

 

[NickTheDivemaster]

I read your message yesterday and slept on it before I responded. I can appreciate the frustration. At the end of the day, if you want to join the ranks of dive professionals, press forward and redo the course. You will likely breeze through it. I am sure you will gain something from it. Just being exposed to several different instructors has taught me a lot with regard to style and various little technical pointers that can only be learned from experience. You will gain additional experience and grow as dive professional. It would be a shame to not press forward if this is something you want to do in the future (work as a DM). Good luck! Enjoy it!

I’m not giving up. Sadly I was in a relationship that removed me from diving… but I’m divorced and back! lol I will redo it… I don’t want to PAY for it again, which is why I asking in the first place. But I’ve accepted my fate and will redo the course. Really when I made this post, I was just venting and hoping someone knew a miracle to tell me…. But that didn’t happen. Everyone just confirmed my assumptions.

 

[NickTheDivemaster]

Here is a cut and past from email correspondence between me and one of PADI headquarters' regional training consultants from I discussion we had about me thinking about letting my DM cert lapse:

"A one to two year gap: no remediation required.

3-5 year gap:

To activate Teaching status, you will complete a three-step process:

Renew your membership
View the Member Update Webinar Introduction in your language.
View all relevant Training Bulletin LIVE Webinars for the time you were unrenewed. For example, if you were last renewed three years ago, you should watch the Training Bulletin LIVE Webinars for the last two years.
Once you completed the above requirements please submit the Member Update Webinar Completion Form to your local area office.

If you have any questions, please contact a Regional Training Consultant.

Five years and beyond, you’re looking at the following:

Step 1 – Renew

Complete and return the attached renewal form to membersvcs@padi.com.

Step 2 – Refresh

Refresh your knowledge and skills by completing an Unrenewed Divemaster Update with a PADI Instructor through your local PADI Dive Center. The Dive Shop Locator can assist you in finding a dive in your area. A fit-to-dive medical evaluation should be presented prior to any in-water sessions. During the update, you’ll take the latest Divemaster Exams and complete a confined water skills assessment and dive rescue evaluation. Upon completion, an Unrenewed Divemaster Update Form, attached, must be completed and signed by you and your PADI Instructor, then submitted to PADI for processing.
7

You will also need to submit proof of current EFR Primary Care (CPR) and Secondary Care (First Aid) training within the last 24 months and provide medical clearance for diving within the previous 12 months.

Step 3 – Insure

Purchase professional liability insurance (if required in your area) through one of PADI Americas’s Insurance brokers, Vicencia & Buckley HUB or DAN. Refer to this webpage - www.padi.com/Insurance. If you choose to purchase coverage from another company, make sure to send a copy of your policy to membersvcs.2@padi.com.

Step 4 – Active status!"

-Z

Great info. Thank you!

 

[Zef]

Great info. Thank you!

Just another thing that might be helpful if it applies:

I earned my DM cert while living in Belgium. My instructor gave me a holographic sticker from the training package he purchased for me. He told me to safegaurd the sticker until we completed all training. When all requirements were met, he asked for the sticker back and I believe he attached it to the paperwork he sent to PADI. I am not sure if he physically sent the paperwork with attached sticker or if he scanned or photographed the paperwork and digitally sent the paperwork, but the sticker was an essential item to legitimize the certification somehow.

I belive the instructor is supposed to give it to the student for safekeeping in case an issue where training with the original instructor can't be completed and the student is referred to another instructor for continuation/completion of their training.

There are some differences in how PADI USA and PADI EU operate, so things might be different here in the US...but it would not hurt to inquire with your instructor about the sticker if you decide to pick up the torch again and redo the training.

-Z