Is certification necessary for shallow water diving?

[Cthippo]

Alternatively phrased, "Can you get training w/o a C-card?"

But to your point of getting a C-card without training, in a 1+1/2 day pool-to-cool cert course, 4 "dives" cumulative total of 40 minutes underwater for the open water portion, I'd argue "yes". Ask me how I know.

The origin of this thread was getting training from a buddy who is not an instructor and diving with their gear.

 

[Scott G. Bonser]

I

You can have lousy instructors skipping requirements anywhere and any time. According to the History of NAUI written chiefly by found Al Tillman, they knew that some instructors were giving out cards before students had completed the course from the very beginning (1960), and they knew there were cases where students got certification cards without doing any of the course at all. As a career educator, I can assure you that things like that go on in schools and colleges all over the world.

I taught both the table version of the OW course and the table version. Students who took the table version of the course learned to use tables with only the briefest of mentions of computers, and they then went out and dived using computers. The computer version tells the students what a generic computer does. The PADI version has an online simulator showing how things change on a generic computer as the diver ascends and descends during a dive. I can't guarantee that all instructors use that simulation in class, but it is part of the student materials.

I am certainly pleased to see that the fundamentals are still a priority for SCUBA courses today, even with computers. I am an inactive PADI DM. I would have progressed to Instructor, however ‘Life’ ( responsibility ) took the place of my progress long time ago. Thank You for being a conscientious and thorough SCUBA educator in a world generated by ‘turning a buck ’. It makes me feel much better, now.

 

[BoltSnap]

Well, when shops and charter boats stated asking for a card a group of us who had been diving together for years paid $35.00 to a NAUI instructor who gave us all cards…

Did you have to do a theory test plus confined water evaluation with openwater dives?

 

[rx7diver]

Well, when shops and charter boats stated asking for a card a group of us who had been diving together for years paid $35.00 to a NAUI instructor who gave us all cards…

Not so hard to believe. I understand that when "tech diving" certifications began becoming a "thing" in the early 1990's, the first instructors knew the people who already had been doing these dives. They had frequently all dived together, been on the same by-invitation-only dives/expeditions! So, a lot of those first tech cards were "grandfathered in."

rx7diver

 

[boulderjohn]

The same thing happened with recreational diving in the 1960s. PADI even had a formal system called the Experienced Diver certification, or something like that. I don't know how it worked, but you essentially submitted some sort of evidence that you had been diving for a while. I am pretty sure that is how Jean-Michele Cousteau got his PADI certification, as described in a conference I attended.

 

[tarponchik]

The origin of this thread was getting training from a buddy who is not an instructor and diving with their gear.

I believe this can be done, especially when diving in shallow waters.

 

[adurso]

Did you have to do a theory test plus confined water evaluation with openwater dives?

LOL

The “instructor” used to dive with our group.

 

[Scott G. Bonser]

Did you have to do a theory test plus confined water evaluation with openwater dives?

Yes, quite a bit of study and written classwork as well as emergency rescue evaluation exercises to complete the course in addition to assisting instructor(s) on student checkouts. The 1st 2 PADI Instructors were a ‘team’. Both died in a tragic speedboat accident before they could submit all of my training info to PADI along w/3 other candidates. I was only one to seek out another PADI instructor as I was determined to achieve my goal. The exact details I can’t recall but it took time as well as one-on-one personal critique and evaluation to earn my certification. That was back In 1982, ‘83, & ‘84.

 

[tursiops]

Alternatively phrased, "Can you get training w/o a C-card?"

But to your point of getting a C-card without training, in a 1+1/2 day pool-to-cool cert course, 4 "dives" cumulative total of 40 minutes underwater for the open water portion, I'd argue "yes". Ask me how I know.

Your class did not meet standards. Are you holding it up as an example of a good class or a bad class?

 

[tarponchik]

Your class did not meet standards. Are you holding it up as an example of a good class or a bad class?

You need to define good and bad classes before asking this question.