Question Checking the Level of Divers, so many new Agency's. All are legit ?

[Germie]

I always show 1 of my technical instructor certs when they ask (I have only once showed them in real, on registration form I fill in instructor in everything: trimix, cave oc and ccr, sidemount, and instructor trainer and then it is always fine, with 3200+ dives and last dives 2 days before arrival. But I have never been asked to babysit less experienced divers.

 

[boulderjohn]

But I have never been asked to babysit less experienced divers.

Nor have I. I have never seen anything like that happen anywhere. However, lots of people seem to think it happens all the time.

I was once checking in for a dive to a wreck at about 100 feet deep in South Florida. Another diver, new to the area, was having a problem. The dive required AOW, and he only had an OW card. He said he was really an instructor, but he only showed an OW card so he would not get stuck with beginner divers. The shop's internet was not working, so there was no way to confirm his actual certification level. The only way he could do the dive was to pay to dive with a DM.

It seems to me that the best way to be sure you only dive with beginners is to present yourself as a beginner.

 

[Pavao]

Seems like a big liability for the operator who takes on the responsibility of buddying up divers.
Imagine one diver experiences problems and that leads to injury or death to the buddy who attempted to aid the troubled diver, it’s an ambulance chasers dream come true.

 

[Wibble]

I present my Rescue Diver card.

It's pointless showing off with the technical cards as they simply don't understand them and are certainly not impressed by them.

If you’re an instructor and on a personal dive, then you are not working. The instructor qualifications are irrelevant to that dive. In fact it could be argued that you would have a responsibility for other divers as in the ridiculous Maltese government prosecution of a non working instructor when there was a fatality.

Identifying yourself as some beginner qualification such as OW is a little disingenuous; the shop has no other choice but to assume you know nothing and will put you with the beginners.

The Rescue Diver card should cut you some slack and, once the dive guides have seen you in the water, you should be left alone.

 

[Searcaigh]

Seems like a big liability for the operator who takes on the responsibility of buddying up divers.
Imagine one diver experiences problems and that leads to injury or death to the buddy who attempted to aid the troubled diver, it’s an ambulance chasers dream come true.

Only in America and maybe a couple of other countries.

Where I normally dive we usually don't have major issues and unless someone turns up not having dived for a while then they need to do some form of refresher before the dive ops here will take them out, although I've seen that ignored resulting in some very short dives for whoever is buddied with them.

Watching someone assemble their kit is a good initial indicator of their current knowledge. If they ask someone else to assemble their kit, then that's a BIG red flag in my eyes, especially when the first dive is a 30m square profile dive.

 

[CG43]

Hello

If you’re an instructor and on a personal dive, then you are not working. The instructor qualifications are irrelevant to that dive. In fact it could be argued that you would have a responsibility for other divers as in the ridiculous Maltese government prosecution of a non working instructor when there was a fatality.

Regardless of your certification, as an experienced diver you will not only be busy with yourself, but also observe your surroundings and your buddies. If you then notice things that are going badly, sooner or later you will help to avert dangers. If not, or too late, you will know that and have to live with it .

Identifying yourself as some beginner qualification such as OW is a little disingenuous; the shop has no other choice but to assume you know nothing and will put you with the beginners.

The Rescue Diver card should cut you some slack and, once the dive guides have seen you in the water, you should be left alone.

Disingenuous yes , if you equate certificat and diving skills ,but who does ?
If you remember an OW diver with " know nothing "and the shop is impressed to see how you behave in the water then certificates are not the only thing that counts .
What I was almost always asked was " how many dives " ? .and after that everything was ok.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Good day,
As owner of a dive club in Palawan, and we check as normal the divers qualifications for the fun dives.
Where I can found a exhaustive list of all legit agency ?
I feel not confortable as im doing today, I check only the Level. But problems is; as I see during last months, many diving licenses issued by new agency's, ...
Some idea, some online database .
Thank you
Patrick

Are you sure they are new or just ones you haven't seen. When the Soviet Union and the Iron Curtain fell, suddenly there were dozens of "new" agencies showing up. But they weren't new. They had been around for decades in some cases. But their members weren't able to travel to certain destinations.
There used to be a list floating around that identified something like 146 different agencies around the world.
And the ISO certification is somewhat of a red herring because most of the agencies that purport to follow the guidelines are the ones who wrote them. Not an independent body. And there is no penalty for any agency that decides to not follow the ISO standards.
So they are pretty meaningless. Top that off with I have never heard of an independent ISO auditor conducting a review of a dive training agency or other recreational dive entity. Unlike the ISO certification we have at my job where there are annual internal ISO audits that are then reviewed and verified by an independent auditor who comes in every year. And if the internals are not up to snuff and he finds issues they should have caught, we can lose our cert. Which means the loss of millions of dollars in business.
Any competent instructor can verify a persons knowledge in about 15 minutes of conversation. And a 20 minute session in the pool or shallow water can tell me just about everything I need to know skills wise.