Is certification necessary??

[timz]

A dive certification cost u 1% of the boat I guess... why all the troubles and risks??

 

[knotsmart]

Boat? Is it ocean worthy? I did an ocean dive a few weeks back. The visability was 1 ft, 3 ft at best. On a wreck. Dives like that require training.

I exceeded my training. It was not smart...get some training (i.e. certification) and we can see about some local dives. Our check out dives are in a nice calm shallow area.

Yes, very. She's a 35.5 ft Beanatu sailboat. Her picture is on my profile page

 

[jcaplins]

A dive certification cost u 1% of the boat I guess... why all the troubles and risks??

Yes, very. She's a 35.5 ft Beanatu sailboat. Her picture is on my profile page

For a Beneteau, I would guess it to be more like .01%

 

[AJ]

In all seriousness you can learn a lot here and elsewhere but formal training goes a long way. Not to mention a long lasting relationship that can develop between you and a good instructor.

Get the training it is worth the few dollars it costs.

Good training is worth it's money, bad training does not help you in any way but being able to show a c-card. Some of my c-cards are not worth squat and have no value to me. Others do mean a lot to me and show what kind of diver I am and prove my capabilities. However, I have been asked just once in more than 130 dives to show my cards (at a dive resort). I can get fills, dive where I want with whom I want, without ever being asked to show a card. So do you need them? NO! My advice is: find a good instructor, he or she will teach you solid skills. That's what counts, c-cards only have meaning if you really learned something during the course and maintain and expand skills learned (and maybe for insurance sake).

 

[KDAD]

Stand corrected - bad training can be worse than no training. Competent training from a qualified instructor who actually dives the dives in which you will be diving is what you are looking for. There are several locally we can recommend if you need

get some training (i.e. certification )

 

[agilis]

It may depend on your age. My basic C card is more than four decades old, with a great picture of me when I was in my 20s. I love to spring it on DMs when I'm on vacation.

 

[Akimbo]

Good training is worth it's money, bad training does not help you in any way but being able to show a c-card...

I could not agree more. I might be go so far as saying bad training can be dangerous.

Given that Jason has a decent size boat, he could probably cultivate a friendship with an instructor or two who could become his hypothetical friend. A friend is more likely to train you well, especially if you take advantage of your private time and ask questions — which tend to come to you over time. That would be the best of all worlds. You would not only get trained well, get a card, but also have a good dive buddy to help handle the boat.

 

[BRT]

I wonder how many of us older folks read about diving and learned what we could and tried it long before we were certified. This sport is pretty new.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Sign up for the basic Open Water course and get it over with, as it will make your life easier than if you were try to blaze your own path. It takes little more than a weekend of your time and costs nothing compared with what you put into that boat. If you don't take the course, you will likely encounter hurdles now and then that take you just as long to work your way around as the time you could have invested up front in the course.

 

[ScubaMarc]

If your "hypothetically" friend is an instructor, why could he not sign the paperwork?