Have you been asked for your AOW Card or Log Book?

[JustAddWater]

As part of the check-in procedure on the charter boats I have been on I was required to submit my certification number. In some cases I was asked to present my cert. card. I bring my dive log on every trip, but have never been asked to have it viewed.

 

[stieffel]

I'm really new to scuba but I have a question. With the posts i've been reading throughout the board, it seems most people think we should have some sort of universal certification with universal safety in mind. If this is the case, why would anyone support, especially with their money, any LDS or charter that would not help advance the idea of safety by requiring you to show your C-card? If we really want to help the sport we need to speak up. Remember, the people spending the money make the rules.

 

[chiara]

Excuse me, are you saying that a dive operator should have no right to check if someone who's boasting about having 200 dives in a year (just a stupid example) is telling the truth by checking their log-book?

I don't feel my privacy is invaded if the dive master (a colleague, by the way) who will show me around the local beauties asks while on the way out to the site to see how much experience I have and in what conditions.

I even feel happy to say I dive all year-round in dark murky quarries.

 

[DivePartner1]

Go to Little Cayman or Brac annually. They ask for C-card and nitrox but no logs. Local dive shops ask for a c-card the first time you dive with them. The boats don't. Never been carded in Florida or NC or Del. or Mich.

 

[Rockhound]

have I been asked for my C-card. I have been asked for my log book even less.

On my trips to the Flower Gardens, the boats (MV FLING and MV SPREE) always ask to see C-cards. They also request that a log book be available showing all of the dives taken within the last six months. (they require recent open water experience). However, I don't recall ever actually showing them my logs, but only that I had to sign an affidavit attesting to my recent experience.

I just got back from two weeks in Panama City, FL. I was not asked for my C-card on any occasion, although, oddly enough, I witnessed several other divers being asked for theirs (just lucky, I guess).

If I were the owner of a LDS or dive boat operation, I would REQUIRE that all divers present present a C-card and the ability to demonstrate minimal diving competency. This could be in the form of a logbook (admittedly forgeable), or perhaps, a shallow competency dive.

On most boat trips I've taken, outside of the Gardens, at least one or more divers on the boat exhibited such poor skills that I wondered if they were ever actually certifified.

 

[Texass]

The spring fed scuba parks around here all require an OW c-card when you pay your admission.

I've only done a few charters. I don't think the boats in Cozumel asked for a card, let alone an AOW. The Flower Gardens boat required a bare minimum of an AOW and questioned those who didn't have at least a rescue card - questioned, not interrogated. They're also the only ones who've ever asked for my DAN card. But then, you're 100 miles out from the coast diving in a pretty strong current with an average dive around 120'.

Nobody has ever asked for my log book and I've never been asked by an LDS for my c-card when getting an air fill.

 

[ChrisF]

Most dive charters I've been on have asked to see some type of C-card.

I've occasionally been asked to supply an AOW card, typically in locales that tend to attract novice divers. Of the times I've been asked, I'd say most were in the Keys when diving one of the deeper wrecks.

I think I've only had someone ask for a log book once. Again, this was in the Keys, the destination was a deep wreck. The dive op was one of the larger ones, so they get a lot of people traffic and I'm sure frequently encounter divers who want to do dives that they are not prepared to do.

Actually, I think looking at someones log book makes more sense than asking for a card if you really want to know what kind of experience they have.

 

[MerKiwi]

I've very rarely been asked to show a card when going on a charter, but when there's a DM accompanying us s/he has always queried me about my level of experience in conversation. Never been asked to show my log book. Maybe divers are generally pretty trusting people. Mind you, it'd be glaringly obvious how much diving you have done as soon as you gear up, and it'd be a fool to try and scam a dive without any quals.

This leads to another question: how much responsibilty are LDS and charters expected to take on your behalf? You're ultimately responsible for your own actions.

 

[Zept]

Originally posted by MerKiwi
This leads to another question: how much responsibilty are LDS and charters expected to take on your behalf? You're ultimately responsible for your own actions.

An diver who is in over their head doesn't just risk their own life; they also endanger the people they dive with. If I were a divemaster, I'd want to find out which divers might need rescuing before we hit the water.

Zept

 

[Aquacatfighter]

I never get ask for my C- card. Makes me wonder why I have one (lol)