Night diving, qualification required?

[ScubaInChicago]

Since getting my GUE-F card, I've never been asked to produce my night diver specialty certification. It might be something to look into.

 

[dmoore19]

Since getting my GUE-F card, I've never been asked to produce my night diver specialty certification. It might be something to look into.

I don't have a GUE card and I have never been asked to produce my nighdeiver specialty cert either. Imagine that.

 

[ScubaInChicago]

I don't have a GUE card and I have never been asked to produce my nighdeiver specialty cert either. Imagine that.

You're a statistic sir, I know many people who have been turned down the opportunity to dive at a local watering hole when the lights were out because they did not possess the proper credentials.

 

[Hawkwood]

I don't have a GUE card and I have never been asked to produce my nighdeiver specialty cert either. Imagine that.

Neither have I, go figure.

 

[TSandM]

In Seattle, if you want to dive after work between October and May, you will be night diving. If you dive deeper than about 30 feet in the summertime, you will be night diving. We learn to function in the dark fairly quickly after certification. Nobody expects AOW or a night diving cert, but if it's your first night dive, somebody might expect you'd have procured an experienced buddy to keep you company. And a good light . . .

The dive op can set the rules it wants, but this one seems pretty silly.

 

[ScubaInChicago]

Just be careful, you could die as a result of diving beyond your training.

 

[Bob DBF]

He became quite offhand and refused to lead a dive where participants were not suitably qualified as they would require their AOW to dive at night.

As if you have to do a night dive to recieve an AOW cert.

An operator can make any prerequisite for a dive they want, I don't mind too much when it makes sense.

I'd say go use for using the other operator in your area to make that dive. May be the DM wouldn't have a problem once your buddies have a few night dives under their belts.



Bob
-------------------
I may be old, but I'm not dead yet.

 

[Redshift]

Since getting my GUE-F card, I've never been asked to produce my night diver specialty certification. It might be something to look into.

You're a statistic sir, I know many people who have been turned down the opportunity to dive at a local watering hole when the lights were out because they did not possess the proper credentials.

Where did that come from? Why is GUE-F now something that shows competency in night diving? Why do you need to boast about GUE in several topics?

And I know of divers who had to produce their PADI card because when seeing GUE on a card the dive ops said "What the f@£$ is that?"

Now, back to topic, I guess that as it's usual, it depends.
TSandM gave an example of places where divers get accustomed to low visibility or darkness. For those, being on a night dive would be fine.
But what about those used to clear waters during the day? A night dive will be a limited viz. dive. How would those divers feel? How were they in the water? It will require better navigation (which is indeed talked about during AOW), different communication skills, better control of body position and buoyancy to react to the surroundings faster and to keep themselves in a place where the DM can easily see them, being comfortable if lights go out... Maybe the DMs just thought it was too much trouble or higher risk than what they wanted to take.

 

[ScubaInChicago]

And I know of divers who had to produce their PADI card because when seeing GUE on a card the dive ops said "What the f@£$ is that?"

PADI OW is the only card I've put down on any charter paperwork I've done in the last 15 years, tech charters included.

 

[Storker]

A flashlite & some say a backup ------just in case...

As you can see from the above responses grab a light or two and go have some fun!

I'd strongly recommend two. Lights die sometimes, and it's not very fun to suddenly find yourself in complete darkness. "Two is one, one is none" is a very sound principle for any kind of important equipment, and during the night the light is pretty important IMO.

It's also nice to know a little bit about proper light discipline, light signals and some of the small tricks which may be useful for diving in complete darkness. You don't need an AOW cert to do it, but if someone hasn't night dived before, it might be a good idea to do it with an experienced buddy/mentor the first couple of times.