Does your c-card have an expiration date? Not really. However, this doesn’t mean you can let it sit idle and expect dive operators to welcome you with open arms.
What certification cards represent is often misunderstood. Let’s see if we can clarify things.
What your certification card isn’t
What your certification card is not is a “license” to dive. In the USA, no public or private entity has the authority to grant licenses to dive.
A better analogy is that your c-card is like your high school or college diploma. It is evidence that, at a single point in time, you demonstrated mastery of a specific body of knowledge and skill. After that, its value depends on what you do with it.
What can happen?
Let’s say you get an accounting degree. You then take your shiny new diploma, throw it in a drawer and take a ten-year sabbatical. At this point, disappointed in your lack of initiative, your father cuts off the payments from your trust fund. Suddenly, you need a job.
A friend mentions that a local firm is looking for an accountant. You call and arrange an interview. While sitting in the waiting room, you find yourself next to another job applicant who, like you, also has an accounting degree. The difference is that, besides his degree, the other guy has a resume listing ten years of solid work experience and several references.
Guess which one of you is getting the job?
It’s the same with certification cards
If you throw your shiny new c-card in a drawer and let it languish (along with that accounting degree), its value will diminish the longer you let it sit. Getting back in the water after a period of inactivity isn’t “just like riding a bike.” Critical knowledge and skills can easily be lost over time.
If you attempt to dive after too long a period of inactivity, the result can be severe personal injury…or worse. And dive operators know this.
What can you do?
Let’s say you’ve been out of the water for more than a year or two. What should you do before attempting to dive again? That will depend on several factors, including:
- How long since your last dive?
- Your current level of certification
- How many dives you logged before you stopped
- Your overall level of comfort as a diver
The best course of action will vary by individual. Here are some common recommendations.
- Less than a year since your last dive: You’re probably good to go.
- One to two years since your last dive: Consider taking a refresher course. At the very least, start with a relatively benign environment, such as Blue Grotto, before tackling a dive with wind, waves, current and saltwater.
- More than two years since your last dive: You really need to take a refresher course. Alternatively, sign up for a continuing education course but alert your instructor that you will need to take a basic skill review beforehand.
- More than five years since your last dive: Sign up for at least the classroom and pool portion of an Open Water Diver course.
- More than ten years since your last dive: Take the entire Open Water Diver course over again.
Of course, these are general guidelines. If you are a diver who:
- Was always comfortable in the water.
- Had previously logged several dozen dives.
- Has more than just an Open Water Diver certification.
It will take you less to get back in the water than it will a diver who has been out of the water for the same amount of time but has made little more than the four dives required for certification.
Don’t overlook your diving resume
If you sign up for a dive and show a c-card that is several years old, don’t be surprised if the dive operator quizzes you about the recency of your experience. Just as it’s the applicants with the most comprehensive resumes who usually get the job, It’s the divers with the most comprehensive logbooks who find they have the most diving opportunities available to them.
Admittedly, filling out paper logbooks can be a pain in the butt. This is why too many divers quit maintaining a logbook soon after certification. But paper logbooks are largely obsolete. Not only are they hard to maintain, but they are easily faked. All you need is a pen and a fertile imagination.
The better way to keep a logbook is to upload data from your dive computer to your phone. With wrist dive computers starting at a little over $200, there is no excuse for not having a computer. Bluetooth interfaces are available for even the cheapest of computer models.
Uploading dive data to an app on your phone can take less than a minute. Not only is it easy, but no one can question the legitimacy of dive data that comes directly from your computer. So, there is no excuse for *not keeping a digital dive log.
We can help
Refresher programs are among the many learning opportunities Blue Grotto offers. It involves self-study through eLearning and little more than a morning or afternoon in the water.
You invested considerable time, money and effort becoming a certified diver. Don’t let that investment go to waste. Do whatever it takes to re-enter the underwater world safely.