Which cert card to present

[rivers]

Normally my rec 3 or ART card if I'm asked for a card. I don't bother showing my DM card.

 

[Charles2]

I like to show my original certification card. The date on it is Aug. 1, 1966.

 

[tbone1004]

I show the lowest card that will get me in. I don't have many certifications
Nitrox Diver
Rescue Diver
Technical Cave-for O2/decompression but also have full cave from 2 other agencies
Cave DPV
Instructor

that's literally the certs that I have. I never got my rescue diver card because I didn't pay for it and it is useless *the course is useful, the card not so much*. If nitrox diver doesn't get me on the boat because they require AOW, then technical cave will usually suffice since I never got AOW. If that doesn't work because people are being obstinate, then instructor will obviously trump an AOW requirement. Only had one experience when my nitrox diver card didn't work though and the technical cave card got them to back off real quick.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I was once refused service in Maui when I provided a NAUI Instructor card ... the man told me they only accepted PADI cards. I walked across the street and got on a boat with his competitor. Apparently business is so good in Maui that you can be that specific ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Keith.M]

I think I heard that one from you before Bob.
I will be on Maui 10/12-10/24 and plan on doing some shore diving as well as boat.

What operator was that?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I think I heard that one from you before Bob.
I will be on Maui 10/12-10/24 and plan on doing some shore diving as well as boat.

What operator was that?

Honestly don't remember ... it was more than a decade ago. They were across the street from B&B, which is who I ended up going with.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[boulderjohn]

I show a pretty high level card always. I have never had a situation where I was asked to take care of a new diver, although I honestly did volunteer to do it recently completely on my own. It was a pretty basic dive, and doing it added to my fun. In general, dive operators want me to be happy so that I will come back and recommend them to others. By showing a high card, I get the following benefits:

• On a dive where a DM is required, they don't watch me like a hawk, and I get a lot of latitude in what I do. I can even get out of sight of the DM who knows I'll be OK.
• I get to have very nice and sometimes very informative collegial conversations with the professionals in the operation.
• When the dive operators break people into groups by ability, I get put with the highest ability groups doing the most advanced dives. One year in Cozumel I checked in with a dive operator who has multiple boats with groups divided by ability. I waited on the pier the next morning to be picked up. When the boat came, the people on it said "We're going to Maracaibo--you OK with that?" Of course I was OK with going to one of the most advanced sites on the island for my first dive. What group would I have been with and where would we have gone had I only shown my OW card?
• I generally get treated by the crews and the shop leadership like I am a professional, and I appreciate it.

A few years ago I was diving with Jack's Fish Locker in Kona, Hawai'i, and the boat had enough divers to break us into three groups, each with a DM. When our group got together, we were told we had an intern DM being broken in and getting to know the sites. We were told that we all had more dives than the intern DM, and we should just enjoy ourselves as we wished and stay reasonably close to him. We had a marvelous dive. The other two groups were pretty much all OW divers, and they were led by DMs on very basic dives befitting that certification level. I wonder if any of those divers were actually instructors smugly proud of having fooled the operator into thinking they were only OW divers.

 

[Oldbear]

I have also shown my highest. Only once was I called out as a DM to the rest of the boat, but no one really cared. If I see something that is a safety concern, I WILL say something to both the diver and the crew if necessary. I am a believer that the if an "incident" can be prevented that is much better than dealing with it after it occurs. Since I have never been asked to assist, I cannot say it bothers me if they ask. I do like the idea of if they ask to be compensated for my time...after all I do pay my annual fees and insurance to be an instructor. That is the business side of diving.

 

[boulderjohn]

Honestly don't remember ... it was more than a decade ago. They were across the street from B&B, which is who I ended up going with.

In relation to my post above, I dived with B&B when I was in Maui. Seeing I was an instructor, the owner chatted me up, and the two of us ended doing a great dive together.

As another example, a number of years ago in Florida I signed up for a dive the afternoon before it, and the shop owner is who signed me up. When I got to the dive boat as a single diver, the DM did not ask me about my experience, and I did not say anything. Buddies were required, and the DM asked a father and son gearing up next to me if I could join them. "I don't know," said the father. "Does he know what he's doing?" The DM turned to me and said, "Do you know what you're doing?" I said, "I have a clue." So I was grouped with them. I watched them screw up their equipment set up and then gently showed them what they were going wrong. Just about then the dive shop owner got on the boat and came over to chat with me. When he saw who I was grouped with, his eyes grew wide with horror, and he immediately set me up with some other people, with whom I had a great dive.

In my experience, if you are afraid of being paired with a beginner, it is most likely to happen if you let them think you are a beginner, too.

 

[DogDiver]

Dive shop in the Keys once asked to show them my highest level of certification card. So I handed them my NACD Full Cave card with Wakulla award sticker instead of my NAUI Instructor card.