Which certification to bring on dive trip?

[DanBMW]

Just use the correct tool for the job. Normally Nitrox and advanced is sufficient. Always keep a few copies because of lost gear or delayed baggage. Check accuracy too. My Nitrox has a really bad date, but the PADI web site has the corrected info.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

One benefit of SDI/TDI is free digital cards!! I have digital versions of solo, adv nitrox & trimix on my phone. That covers pretty much anything I’d be doing these days. I also carry physical versions of those 3 cards plus my PADI Divemaster card. I keep them in my save-a-dive box to make sure I always have them with me.

As to the OP’s question about rescue, no, I do not believe you are under any obligation to tell them you are rescue certified.

 

[DiveFlag = Target]

I do like the digital cards but then my phone tends to fail me at the time I need it. I usually carry my highest but I should probably just take a screenshot of the digital one.

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

For me, the nitrox, deep and self-reliant/solo cards. Sometimes asked as to the highest rating and I'll give seff-reliant/solo. Maybe throw in AOW in the case if they don't know what self-reliant/solo means. I usually have sent them ahead of time so never been asked (but most of mine are excursions, not drive up and board type of operations).

 

[Jafo19D]

I’m doing a dive trip shortly and don’t want to bring a stack of cards. I have cards from PADI and SDI, AOW, Rescue, “Master Diver” and Solo plus other specialties. The dive op offers EAN so I’m bringing that specialty card but which main cert is my best option? Do I have an obligation to tell them I have rescue? I have a dive buddy so insta buddies shouldn’t be an issue.


Thanks

Definitely take the mermaid cert

 

[Badger7]

I've never had an issue showing an image of the front and back of c-cards on my phone. Digital cards are becoming the norm, but I don't want to depend on an app and internet access, so I only bother with stored images. They all have a student number on them in case someone wants to verify authenticity. Never had that happen in-person, but I bet a few operators double check before debarking.

I sync the album to google photos. Even if I lost my phone, I could always log into my google account in a hotel lobby or coffee shop and print out paper copies. I haven't brought physical cards with me in quite a while.

Unless you're doing something interesting or deep, AOW + EAN is the golden ticket for any rec dive boat.

 

[Cdncoldwater]

Definitely take the mermaid cert

 

[boulderjohn]

No "need," but you can sometimes get a better seat (and treatment) on the dive boat if you are experienced/trained above the minimums.

Show too much and you can find yourself a member of the crew, but paying instead of paid.
Hold back on the master and rescue.

People are often advised to show the lowest necessary card for fear that they will be asked to do things, like take on a beginning diver. I have never seen or even heard authoritatively of that happening. Dive operators generally want their customers to be happy, especially the ones most likely to return or recommend them.

In my experience, it is quite the opposite--I show an instructor card, and I get treated better, including not being treated like a beginner. My problems along those lines have been because I got on the boat with a crew who does not know me or my training level because I signed up for the dive without them being around, and I end up getting assigned to beginning dive buddies because they didn't bother to check.

In one memorable dive in Hawai'i, I signed in the day before, showing an instructor card. I got on the boat the next day and found that the 24 divers had been pre-arranged into 3 groups. When our group was briefed, we were told that we all had more dives than the apprentice DM who would be leading us, and we could all pretty much do our own thing while he learned the sites. We splashed first, and we finished our excellent dives long after the other two groups had gotten on the boat. I wonder how many highly experienced divers had smugly gotten into the beginner groups by hiding their true certification level.

 

[boulderjohn]

On a different note, people often fear potential liability for something randomly happening on a dive trip on which they have shown a rescue diver card or a professional card. We just had an exhausting and frustrating thread in which someone was arguing that could happen with a dive buddy, but a search of legal cases showed it doesn't happen with dive buddies, let alone with some other random diver on the boat.

 

[Badger7]

I wonder how many highly experienced divers had smugly gotten into the beginner groups by hiding their true certification level.

Thats a really good point. If we're going to overthink which cert to show to maximize the chances of getting slotted with seasoned divers and minimize getting paired up with a beginner, maybe even better to share a technical cert versus an instructor cert?