PADI OW certification

[TSW910]

Hi guys ..

i have a few questions that i am not too familiar with .. so here goes

so recently i found this new sport of DIVING .. and here is what i have done so far ..

2 tank Discovery boat dive with a few skills, reg release, half flood mask

2 tank OW boat dive with all required skills done

1 tank confined water dive with all required skills done as well ..

but these dives were done in different dive shops while i was on vacation, but now im back in the states and i want to get certified besides doing the exam test .. what else is required?

i have all my dives logged on my PADI log book and signed by the instructor .. does the discovery dive count? and does the 2 tank dives OW count as 1?

thanks in advance for any explanation ..

 

[MtnPlayVA]

Best bet is to call your local dive shop and ask them. I was told when I did a Discovery dive that it would count toward certification as long as I completed it within a year of the dive.

 

[T23]

From my own personal experience with PADI instructors that I know personally my guess would be that they would expect you to be able to demonstrate all skills to their satisfaction before they would put their signature on your c-card application. There might be some instructors who would take another less conservative approach but most instructors are genuinely concerned that you are properly trained before they will sign you off and turn you loose.

 

[TSW910]

Best bet is to call your local dive shop and ask them. I was told when I did a Discovery dive that it would count toward certification as long as I completed it within a year of the dive.

yeah, thats exactly what i was told as well ..

From my own personal experience with PADI instructors that I know personally my guess would be that they would expect you to be able to demonstrate all skills to their satisfaction before they would put their signature on your c-card application. There might be some instructors who would take another less conservative approach but most instructors are genuinely concerned that you are properly trained before they will sign you off and turn you loose.

i guess each dive shop would be different, i just dont want to get ripped off i guess ..

but thanks guys

 

[OldNSalty]

Maybe I am missing the point but I am not sure it matters in that if the LDS will require you to take the full course and do 4 or 5 more dives then great-You get to play with their equipment in the pool. You get to make some more open water dives and you might find that in taking the full course you missed something while on vacation.

If they just give you the test and hand you a card, well, I suppose that works as well. I really wouldn't mind having to re-do the course, more dives are more dives and regardless, they can't take away the exp you already have even if they don't want to count it-it's still in your log book.

 

[SteveAD]

By PADI standards Discover Scuba does count towards certification, but in practice the answer to your question is not likely. If you do a discover experience while on vacation and then immediately decide to take the full class it is pretty easy for the instructor who did your discover to to "start at square 3". But doing a discover on vacation and then coming home and signing up at a local shop I would much rather start at square 1 and repeat everything you should have done during the discover.

 

[TSW910]

Maybe I am missing the point but I am not sure it matters in that if the LDS will require you to take the full course and do 4 or 5 more dives then great-You get to play with their equipment in the pool. You get to make some more open water dives and you might find that in taking the full course you missed something while on vacation.

If they just give you the test and hand you a card, well, I suppose that works as well. I really wouldn't mind having to re-do the course, more dives are more dives and regardless, they can't take away the exp you already have even if they don't want to count it-it's still in your log book.

true, i guess i understand what you're saying .. thanks

By PADI standards Discover Scuba does count towards certification, but in practice the answer to your question is not likely. If you do a discover experience while on vacation and then immediately decide to take the full class it is pretty easy for the instructor who did your discover to to "start at square 3". But doing a discover on vacation and then coming home and signing up at a local shop I would much rather start at square 1 and repeat everything you should have done during the discover.

yeah, so far most of the LDS are telling me that they would rather have me re-do all of my 4 OW dives .. even thou i did do 2 discovery dives and 2 open water dives with skills done ..

 

[MtnPlayVA]

But doing a discover on vacation and then coming home and signing up at a local shop I would much rather start at square 1 and repeat everything you should have done during the discover.

Which is exactly what I did - I figured it would be better in the long run, however I only had 2 dives. It might save you a little bit of money if your dives do count because the certification training is expensive but it'll probably depend on how the dive shop prices out there classes. Best bet - call around to a few places. Go in and talk to a few of the instructors. Get a feel for the shop. It makes all the difference in the world if you have a great shop and instructors to work with.

 

[Don Wray]

It's not the dives that count anyway. It's the skills performed during the dives that we are looking for. Having taken the discover dives etc., add to your experience and may or may not raise your comfort level. How would you be ripped off? You must demonstrate the skills to the certifying instructor. Personally, I would not take any instructor I did not know word for anything. I'm not from Missouri, but show me. Even when someone who has been diving for decades without a cert comes in to get a cert under the experienced diver clause, they must repeat all the skills. About the only times I know of where the class may take your experience into consideration is when as previously pointed out, you do the discover dives and then decide on a full cert at the time with the same instructor. Personally, there are too many zero to hero Instructors in resorts that don't know how to dive themselves, so we'd just go over it again.

 

[TSW910]

i see your point Don Wray .. when i meant being ripped off, i meant that the LDS doesn't just want my $$ for the sake of taking my $$ and telling me that i have to re-do everything all over again. but i do see everyone's point as there is no such thing as to too much learning ...