OP
Which certification to bring on dive trip?
- Thread starter Cdncoldwater
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Probably should bring your AOW and EAN cards too. In my somewhat limited experience, that's been sufficient.
TostitoBandito
Contributor
Yeah I'll echo that. Cards are mainly for liability purposes. You have to at least show them an OW card to dive (and nitrox if you want to do that). Outside of that, it's rare to even be asked for or have an AOW card matter, let alone anything beyond that. I've never been asked to produce cards for anything other than OW and nitrox in 20+ years and a lot of traveling. If you have an AOW card by all means bring it, but don't expect to need it unless you've been told by the diving outfit in advance that it's required for some specific reason. I hear there's some very specific parts of the world where they want AOW cards, but most places could care less. Aside from those few areas that need AOW for legal/liability reasons, I feel like AOW has a very narrow window of benefit, like from 50-100 dives or so. Beyond that it's pretty pointless as a cert.
As for how the DM's treat you, that typically has to do with how you handle yourself on dives, not what cards you have or how many dives you've logged. If the DM sees you behaving badly, doing dangerous things, or otherwise not being in control, they're going to keep you on a very short leash. If the DM sees you can take care of yourself , you aren't touching or running into things, and you're responsive when they get your attention, you'll usually get a lot more latitude and less micromanagement.
We've all seen plenty of people who claim to be super experienced be absolute garbage divers, and likewise I've been occasionally surprised by relatively new divers handling themselves very well in challenging conditions. Everyone is different and a card or logbook means relatively little. Yes in general it's more often than not true that very experienced divers or those with multiple advanced certs typically do well, and new divers straight out of OW class are often pretty shaky, but you'll see exceptions on every single dive trip.
Too funny on the e-cards costing you. I agree that they should be free, free, free! You can also take a picture of all your c-cards. I have them stored on my phone. Now, all I have to do is show them those if they even ask. Some do, most don't even ask
ohh i did get mind for free with sdi. you could get your certification online also with padi and show it to the dive shop it s free also.
As I mentioned in a previous comment, on many trips I have been preassigned to the expert dive group or the expert dive boat before the DM even sees me, based on my certification.
I have never had a divemaster talk to me and ask me about my experience and the kind of diving I do before a dive. They are usually pretty busy getting ready for the dive.
I do my winter diving in South Florida. I don't know how many years it has been since a DM saw me during a dive. When I am diving, they are up on the boat. One DM that did happen to see me in the water came to me after the dive to say he saw that my knees were bent, with my feet up. He suggested ankle weights to get my feet down.
As for looking me and my equipment over and making appropriate judgments, here is what happened on a dive a couple weeks ago. According to their policy, I had to have a buddy. The DM looked at me and saw me with a well-used BP/W, a battered wetsuit, a tech computer on each wrist, my own steel tanks (not AL 80 rentals), and my long hose/bungeed alternate regulator. He then turned to the instructor and young teen student next to him to ask if they would take me on as a buddy. The next day I went to the shop with my Solo instructor card and signed a solo waiver. Now I get on the boat without needing the DM to use his or her expertise because the manifest has my certification level clearly listed.
broncobowsher
Contributor
I see comments about "show the minimum needed".
Wrong, show as much as possible, but not to the point they will expect you to work for them. Show that you have experience, know what you are doing.
Wrong, show as much as possible, but not to the point they will expect you to work for them. Show that you have experience, know what you are doing.
OP
Cdncoldwater
Contributor
I too dive with my knees bent and feet up, I’ll probably look at a DM who says I need ankle weights the way you likely did
. I mainly dive solo but am diving with a designated buddy (son) so not bring all my redundant gear. I’ll have my back up mask, computer, light, compass but no alt air or buoyancy other than dsmb.
The cards fiascos. Solo is the most useful by far. Always bring my highest recreational card, plus my deepest card and a nitrox card. Had an Advanced Recreational Trimix card declined as proof of nitrox certification once. That was good. In short, carry them all to cover as many bases as possible.
It doesn’t matter in the context of this thread, but that is the way now. Both of my wife’s certs, PADI, are digital cards and she would have to pay for the plastic. Started a few years ago. Issuing ecards for preexisting would mean that most people would then trash the plastic, and there in lies the problem. Yes, this should have happened way before it did, but it did happen.
Erik
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