Again, let me thank those of you who responded to my question with helpful information. But to the rest of you, let me just say I am appalled at the lack of professionalism that you display. Just because you may or may not be experienced divers does not preclude you from the responsibility to your fellow divers to be courteous and sincere in your responses. It is no one's business why it has been three years since I did the Advanced Diver certification and am now asking questions about the cert card. It might just possibly be that I had other much more pressing issues to deal with. Moreover, Happy Divers is owned by a man who is a very decent fellow and I found them to be very personable as well as good dive instructors. Your comments about the building itself and regarding why it has been three years show you to be the quintessential "ugly Americans" - wherein you fit very well with the description of that term as arrogant, demeaning, thoughtless and ethnocentric.
Below the comments from "keithdiver", one of the worst of you:
"WHY WOULD YOU RATE 3YEARS TO INQUIRE ABOUT THIS? WHY DIDN;T YOU DO IT WITHIN 2MONTHS AGTER YOU GOT HOME FROM THAT DUMP?
GROW UP, TAKE YOUR CRITISM LIKE A MAN, LIKE WE ALL DO, it is not my fault that you wait 3 years to inquire about a cert card."
And then there were the others with snide and sarcastic remarks about the length of time it had taken and the condition of the dive shack..
For some reason I thought divers would be a generally more enlightened group of people. Needless to say, I have changed my mind...