Certificate records

[lacrucecita]

I took a scuba course in Oceanside California in 1964. I no longer have a card nor do I rember what certification it was. And, I do not remember the name of the instructor or shop. Does anyone have any idea what certification I would have likely got? I am trying to get re-certified here in Mexico and wanted to see if I could get a bit better rate by proving I had been certified! I have checked SSI which has a searchable data base and the result was negative.

 

[SailNaked]

the computer was not in great use in 1964 so the record will not be available. I would guess Naui, as oceanside is outside a Marine base. I was cert in 1982 and there was no record of it, fortunately I still have the original card and I took a picture of it and sent it to Naui and they entered it in the computer.
Good luck and enjoy your retraining.

 

[SteveAD]

How much diving have you done since 64? Or since losing your card? If the answer is not much, don't worry about old records just redo the training. 64 was a long time ago, how much do you remember?

 

[Mike Boswell]

I have a similar story as I did NASDS a long time ago. I just went through re-certification with my wife two years ago. I highly recommend forgetting about the old cert and getting re-certified, because you have probably forgotten a lot, there is a lot of new stuff to learn, and doing it when you are older is more fun.

Did I remember how to use dive tables to figure out how many minutes you have on a second dive after a given surface interval? Did I know what a PFO is, or what bubble mechanics means, or what a deep stop is, or how a dive computer works, or very much at all about all the new dive gear nowadays? Well, in a word, no.

I think you will find that it's a whole new world.

 

[knotical]

In 1964, SSI didn't exist, but NASDS did, and they later merged into SSI.
Did SSI's searchable database go back to 1964, indicating they'd incorporated the data from NASDS? If not, you might want to contact them.

Other potential candidates in 1964:
LA County Underwater Instructors Association was 10 years old, but I don't know if they ran classes in San Diego County. L.A. Scuba
YMCA had been doing certs for 5 years, and although they don't certify divers any longer, they still re-issue cards. YMCA Scuba
NAUI had been around for about four years. NAUI Worldwide Dive Safety Through Education
PSA was fairly new at the time, but are another possibility. Professional Scuba Association International

And some longer shots:
BSAC http://www.bsac.com/
CMAS / WUF http://www.cmas.org/

Don't bother trying PADI; they didn't exist until 1966.

Good luck in your search.

 

[Walter]

In 1964, it was possible you had a hot card. A hot card was a card issued by an instructor who was not affiliated with an agency.