Boat captain encouraging wreck penetration

[Marie13]

I've been doing some research into a Great Lakes wreck diving trip in the next year or so and my impression was that having a C-card on board with you during the charter was a Coast Guard requirement and a violation here would impact the boat operator more than the diver with the absent card. Just based on this, I'd think it's good practice for the captain to ask to see everyone's card on EVERY trip, regardless of whether you're a regular with them or a first timer or filled out all your paperwork at the office.

Yes, each diver having their c-card on them is a Coast Guard requirement. The usual charter op I go with spells this out on their website and captain requests to see my card on each trip, even though he knows me now.

 

[Marie13]

Whether this is a requirement for charter ops only on the Great Lakes or also elsewhere, I don't know.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

USCG requires commercial boat captains to be licensed for the type of boat they operate. There is no legal requirement by the U.S. Government nor any of its agencies that recreational divers be certified.

 

[Marie13]

http://www.doubleactiondivecharters...6/04/Double-Action-Checklist-Hammond-2016.pdf

Mention of "no card, no dive" being CG requirement.

 

[Lorenzoid]

The Coast Guard "requirement" sounds like myth to me. If you have your own compressor and your own boat, you can dive without anyone ever asking to see your C-card. That said, I did in fact find such an assertion on a dive op web site: "Bring your Certification Card on EVERY Divers Dream Dive Trip. No card, No dive. This is for the Coast Guard and we are strict on this rule!"

As has been pointed out in countless threads before, a C-card serves as the standard measure of assurance to those in the dive industry who undertake some potential liability for providing services to you, such as filling your tank or taking you to a dive site, that you have been trained, that's all. They and their insurance companies want that assurance.

Edit: the quote is indeed from the document Marie linked to

 

[boulderjohn]

USCG requires commercial boat captains to be licensed for the type of boat they operate. There is no legal requirement by the U.S. Government nor any of its agencies that recreational divers be certified.

In the local Colorado lakes that are state parks, certification cards are required for diving. A number of years ago my dive shop almost had a big problem when the rangers at Carter lake decided to be jerks and demanded to see the certification cards of the instructors/Divemasters teaching an OW class. It was a $100 fine for each one who didn't have one with them, and none of us did. Fortunately, they got wrapped up in an argument about something and forgot all about it. During that argument they did not see me swim to shore alone after adjusting the instructional platform. It would have been another $100 fine for diving solo.

 

[BDSC]

The Coast Guard "requirement" sounds like myth to me.

I would be shocked if having your c-card with you was any sort of requirement by the Coast Guard. I can tell you that I have been diving off the coast of NC for many years and no such requirement is in place for diving off our coast. Don't know why it would be different for the Great Lakes.

 

[boulderjohn]

"Bring your Certification Card on EVERY Divers Dream Dive Trip. No card, No dive. This is for the Coast Guard and we are strict on this rule!"

Is it a Coast Guard rule, or are they saying it is a Coast Guard rule? (Note that they do not specifically say it is a Coast Guard requirement.)

When I did a recent liveaboard trip in Australia, on two different occasions the crew member in charge of diving announced rules that restricted our diving, and in each case, he said they had no choice--they were PADI rules. Not wanting to cause a scene in either case, I confronted him on each one separately. I told him PADI had no such rules. He admitted that it was company policy, not PADI rules, that they were following. Blaming PADI for the rules was a way of deflecting the blame.

 

[Marie13]

@stretchthepenn

Instruction was to be back on boat with 500. As I didn't know instrabuddy's air consumption, I told her turn pressure was 1000.

I show my card on the boat, not at the shop.

Word of mouth can be a powerful thing. I've shared my experience from Saturday with local friends. They can make their own decision if they go with this op or not, but I've learned enough things about it that I would not feel comfortable diving off that boat again.

 

[Blue Quaker]

Interesting thread. I've been diving since 1978 and the only time I was asked for a c card was when I first arrived in Canada in 1982. It was the first time I tried to get our tanks filled. You can imagine the look on the store owners face as I replied "C card? What is a c card?" In the UK at that time I had trained with BSAC and had a blue qualifications log book and a red personal log book. The blue log book had a record of all training taken and qualifications earned = a c card of sorts accepted by the store owner. The only c cards I have are instructor and IT ratings earned in Canada with ACUC, IANTD, and TDI/SDI. I have never been asked by a captain for proof of qualifications, but I have been asked to leave my DAN card with proof of dive accident insurance with the captain in case bad things happened on some of the tech charters I've been on.
I am leery that production of a c card on a boat is a coastguard requirement. Shortly after 9/11 we were stopped by the US Auxillary Coastguard when mooring up near their station on a Canadian charter boat to dive the Jodrey on the US side of the St. Lawrence in the 1000 Islands. We had carbines waived in our faces and heard mumblings about "scuba terrorists" and were generally made to feel unwelcome, but we got our dive in, and no one was asked to produce a c card or passport at that time.