What training is "required"?

[Father]

Some countries do and some countries don't require you be be certified to dive at all.
Some dive resorts require some sort of proof that you've had some sort of formal/standardized training from a recognized agency. The few shops I've gone through asked for the agency and level of certification. As far as liability goes, I get it.

I'm certified through PADI. I've done OW, AOW, and EANx.

From what I can gather on PADI's site, you are certified at OW. AOW thru MD is skills improvement.

Then there's specialties. This, to me, is the gray area. Which ones are required to do that type of diving and hich ones are more "comfort" classes for people that don't dive regularly?
I did enriched air. I don't know of a place that doesn't require proof that you're certified in this specialty.
I have owned two different DPVs. I didn't do the PADI DPV Specialty. Does that mean I'm technically not allowed to use a DPV? I'm pretty sure no company asks for proof of having done this specialty course to sell you a scooter.
I own a [crappy] camera. Didn't do that specialty.
I can buy a sidemount and learn how to use it from reading and watching Youtube videos. If I go to a resort are they going to say I can't without a card showing I've done this specialty?

I see a legitimate need for rebreather and cavern and wreck if you're penetrating to the point of not being able to see daylight or your point of entry/exit.

Deep diver, not so much. This one I find particularly frustrating. Why doesn't AOW certify you to the max rec limit? So PADI can milk another hundred or so dollars out of you?
Are there any dive resorts that actually ask if you've done this before allowing you to dive to 130'.
Are you going to get nailed by the PADI police if your logs show you've gone deeper than 130' without having the card?
Did the guy that broke the Guinness Book of World records have the "max depth of any human" specialty course?

 

[tbone1004]

from what I have seen at the recreational level, certs beyond AOW are only required for renting certain gear. I.e. if you want to rent a DPV or a Drysuit, they may require you to have a cert.

Regarding deep diver, you are correct, another way for them to make more money.

Depending on what type of diving you will do, different mix certs will be required, so you already have Nitrox, and any trimix or pure O2 fills you want will be required by the dive op before they will fill your tanks. If you own your own compressor and are diving off of your own boat or shore diving, then no one really cares.

 

[seeker242]

Did the guy that broke the Guinness Book of World records have the "max depth of any human" specialty course?

No, but then again, the last guy that tried for it, ended up dead...So maybe he should have!

 

[RandomGuy1]

I see a legitimate need for rebreather and cavern and wreck if you're penetrating to the point of not being able to see daylight or your point of entry/exit.

This is the only thing I would disagree with, and take my opinion with a grain of salt as I don't currently do any penetration diving. You should change this to if you are going to do any penetration. I have read many stories of how someone was within sight of their exit until they realized the silt they stirred up obfuscated the exit.

 

[Littlerayray]

I dive with a camera not certified I also dive dry I am not certificate but I have been trained by an instructor I am an advanced ow diver as well that's my highest level mind you acuc does not provide courses for these to the best of my knowledge the extensive training ladder devised by padi is to make money by providing a course for everything one diver got their advanced cert through padi and their check out dive was diving to 80' then counting to five then surfacing my checkout dives for aow was eight consecutive dives going from 80' then 90' then 100' 105' 110' and 3 dives to a max depth of 115' I had to shoe my instructor I was calm and could still perform simple tasks and do a full dive on each dive padi frustrates me with all their various certifications it's a money grab I've dove with padi certified divers and they are all surprised at my experience as they think I've been diving for over a decade

 

[abscuba]

Specialties are a grey area and it really does depend. A camera no you don't need extra training, a DPV depends on the DPV and your comfort in the water that could go either way. Side mount that also depends I would be careful as you can get into bad habits that won't become apparent till you are farther along the diving path and will be much harder to change. Deep really depends on how deep you are talking 130ft is doesn't require much, but working with some one who has been significantly deeper can be a very good learning experience. Penetration and Rebreather you nuts if you don't get training and can easily hurt your self. I do a great deal of wreck penetration and on more than one occasion I have come out with more divers than I went in with because they thought there is no way they could get lost in a wreck and strolled on in no reel or idea of what they are doing. Rebreathers are a whole other can of worms, a great tool, but will kill you in a heart beat if you let it. There is no scuba police that will write a ticket its more having the experience and comfort to deal with issues that arise and problems during more complex diving with out hurting your self or someone else.

 

[Neilwood]

I think a lot comes down to the individual and their circumstances as to what certs are "required".

If you are only ever diving with a bunch of mates who are all divers, can teach you to dive safely, have their own tanks & compressor and access to a dive site, then you don't need any certificate at all (just ask a lot of old school divers how long they dove before getting a card).

If you want to dive with organised groups, get equipment or fills then you probably need OW.
Diving deeper with a dive op - probably AOW to give the dive operator comfort that you have been deep before. Deeper without it - up to you if you think you want it or need it.
Cave/wreck/tech/CCR etc - probably a damn good idea as there is so much to know within these specialities that could easily kill you if you don't have the knowledge

 

[Littlerayray]

Just so we are clear I am not shunning all the extra certifications from padi just the silly ones

 

[KenGordon]

Try to think of a course as being a thing you do to learn something new rather than as a way to get some requirement ticked off.

Why doesn't AOW teach enough to be safe at 40m? Because most starting out divers (likely AOW candidates) are not experienced enough in the water at all to deal with 40m. There is a world of difference between 30 and 40m. Working up gradually is usually better. A couple of days on a course doesn't equip a diver for depth, many dives over a good period of time is needed too.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I take the serious specialties seriously and ignore the others entirely.

For example, I didn't take a dry suit course. A little home work, a little mentoring and I was good to go. Plus, at the time I started dry suit diving, there weren't dry suit diving courses, at least in our area, but there were loads of divers in the local area who dove dry suits - and it was not uncommon for an OW student to take OW class in a dry suit, so it wasn't regarded as something that required a card.

The only hitch that ever resulted was when I walked into a dive shop to buy a new dry suit and the shop owner wanted to see a dry suit specialty card, or sell me a dry suit course as a condition of the sale. My old, and leaky dry suit was in the car so I brought it in, explained I'd been diving it for years and he could either sell me a dry suit or watch me go buy one somewhere else. Turns out he was fine with selling me a suit without a card.

Same with night diving, deep diving (within the NDLs), spearfishing, under water photography, back mounted doubles, cold water diving, search and recovery, under water navigation, DPV (open water), etc. I never bothered taking a course as it wasn't available in the area, but experienced and respected local divers in the area who could impart the necessary knowledge were available.

When I finally had to take an AOW course for the card, it was just a couple check dives, doing the things and using the equipment I'd always been using. In light of the dry suit issue mentioned above I opted to include "dry suit" as one of the five listed specialties listed when I eventually got my AOW card.

Where the formal certifications and courses came into play was in the over head environments - Advanced Nitrox, Deco Procedures, Normoxic Trimix, Advanced Wreck, Cavern, Intro to Cave, and Cave, Cave DPV, etc.

I also took classes targeting professional services, such as nitrox blending, trimix blending, tank inspection, O2 service, as well as numerous reg repair clinics for various brands.

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However, for the non life threatening/non overhead courses, whether a course is regarded as silly or not, really depends on the diver, the resources they have available and any transferrable skills they bring to the table.

For example, since I was an avid and published above water photographer the cross over to under water photography was not huge, and given the era and my geographic location a class wasn't really an option. And, the biggest risk posed by not taking a formal class was badly exposed images and wasted film. But since I bulk loaded film and had my own darkroom, wasted film wasn't all that big an expense.