Confessions of a Card Collector

[TONY CHANEY]

Card collectors are those that take a course, get the card and never dive to what they have gained.

 

[Efka76]

I think I'm grumpy enough. Does being over 50 qualify me to post here?

I have been diving for less than 3 years. I have accumulated a pile of cards now:

SDI Solo Diver - 11/2016
TDI Helitrox - 10/2016
TDI Decompression Procedures - 5/2016
TDI Advanced Nitrox - 5/2016
TDI Intro to Tech - 5/2016
SDI Master Scuba Diver - 9/2015
SDI Rescue Diver - 9/2015
SDI Advanced Scuba Diver - 7/2015
SDI Wreck Diver - 7/2015
SDI Deep Diver - 7/2015
DAN DEMP - 7/2015
NAS Intro and Part 1 - 5/2015
SDI Dry Suit Diver - 4/2015
TDI Nitrox - 4/2015
SDI Advanced Buoyancy Control - 12/2014
SDI Computer Nitrox - 11/2014
SDI Open Water - 11/2014

I'm just waiting on the paperwork to go through to have my SDI Divemaster card, but that's just a stepping stone as I continue on for a TDI Divemaster card. And I'm just starting on my TDI Trimix card, too. And I have the DAN DEMP Instructor online course waiting for me to start, so I guess I'll get another card for that.

I don't feel like a "card collector", though. Well, except for maybe the Master Scuba Diver card. I'll admit that one is just kind of a vanity card. But, it didn't cost me anything. I took classes I would have taken regardless. When I met all the requirements, I asked my LDS and they just gave me the card. Didn't even charge me a processing fee.

It's all part of my mission to build my training and experience so that I can eventually dive the USS Monitor. I am just fascinated by the idea of seeing something so old and with so much history that I have a connection to. I really want to see it with my own eyes. At 240' (roughly) to the sand, it's a hypoxic trimix dive. I'm hoping to be ready for it in 2019.

Wow, that's really nice. I just started diving and I have only 7 c-cards (OWD, AOWD, 5 PADI specialties), however, I already planning taking Rescue diver course in order to get Master Scuba Diver cert.

I have to admit that I have "collector spirit" as I want to get as many PADI specialties as possible and started to think about some TecRec or TDI courses in long-term future. My wife (who is also my diving buddy) completely do not understand my idea and says that we already have sufficient numbers of certifications and she just wants to dive and enjoy. In ideal case I would like to get all official PADI specialties (I admit that Ice diving seems for me too extreme... but still) plus TecRec 40, 45, 50. Then I would like to get Divemaster (just for the sake of certificate). Am I nuts or this is pretty normal when people get diving bug?

 

[stuartv]

.. I would like to get all official PADI specialties (I admit that Ice diving seems for me too extreme... but still) plus TecRec 40, 45, 50. Then I would like to get Divemaster (just for the sake of certificate). Am I nuts or this is pretty normal when people get diving bug?

That seems pretty normal, to me. In 2017, I got my SDI Divemaster and then OW Instructor certs.

But, I would not recommend a DM cert to anyone "just for the sake of the certificate."

If you get some tech training, then the stuff you would be learning for a DM cert is not really going to be about diving skills. It's a lot of money to spend to get a DM cert when you don't plan to work as a dive professional and you aren't going to learn much of anything in the way of dive skills.

The best course I have taken is TDI Advanced Nitrox and Deco Procedures (as one combined course). Getting the training to be able to do deco diving made a huge difference to me in my recreational non-deco diving. Before, my training meant that my NDL was my wall. I always made sure to never exceed it. That meant I was also always trying to maximize my dive time, right up to the edge of my NDL without exceeding it. Once I learned how to do decompression diving, it transformed my NDL from a wall to more of an advisory. It made my NDL diving much more relaxing. It enabled me mentally to quit worrying about my NDL (quit WORRYING - not quit paying any attention to it) and therefore to quit feeling like I had to always try and maximize every dive and use every bit of my NDL.

Get your Rescue. Do at least the first level of tech training (whether it's PADI, TDI, or some other). Then see if you still feel like you want to do Divemaster.

Just my $0.02.

 

[Bert van den Berg]

This coming October I will have been scuba diving for 50 years. I've accumulated a thick wallet of cards. All of the classes I had to take to get them were useful and made me a safer and better diver. One of the main reasons for taking these classes was to keep up my interest in scuba diving. You can get blase and bored doing the same kind of diving all the time. Besides the rescue class, the one that has given me the most pleasure is the self reliant/solo class.