qualifications

[gabi]

hey i have a bsac sports diver qualification but i want to dive on the great barrier reef with a paddi organisation can i switch easily to the paddi qualification or do i need to retake all the exams?

[Bren Tierney]

hey i have a bsac sports diver qualification but i want to dive on the great barrier reef with a paddi organisation can i switch easily to the paddi qualification or do i need to retake all the exams?

Hi Gabi,

I am NOT a BSAC diver, (former PADI, now TDI), but I'd be amazed if ANY PADI school/dive centre would ask you to either retake or do from scratch any course just so that you could dive with them - unless you are a complete novice; and my understanding of BSAC Sport Diver allows you to dive in the sea with a competent buddy.

They may ask you to do a 'SCUBA Review' or a 'SCUBA Tune-up' in resort to see if your buoyancy, mask-clearing, buddy-breathing skills are all there, but other than that, you should be good to go - assuming you've got your BSAC QRB and/or cert-card with you as proof of having attained the stated BSAC level of qual.

No doubt the guys are here will correct me if I'm wrong there, but, just out of interest could you throw a little more light on whether they (the PADI centre) have asked you to take a course to dive with them?

Failing that, book yourself on the dive and enjoy.

Dive safe.

Bren.

[Mike Halligan]

No doubt the guys are here will correct me if I'm wrong there, but, just out of interest could you throw a little more light on whether they (the PADI centre) have asked you to take a course to dive with them?

In my experience, you're spot on Bren. You should be able just to show your QRB and logbook. The dive centre (PADI, BSAC, anyone else) wants to know what you're certified and what your recent experience has been. They have recognition charts (SD is above AOW and below RD if I recall correctly) and their own past experience will guide them.

Then they may be happier knowing that your current ability matches those indications, so might want to run a checkout dive. It is their trade/professional insurance, after all.

HTH

Mike

[TerryH]

"SD is above AOW and below RD if I recall correctly"

Not quite.
If they are a PADI outfit then will downgrade Sport to Open
Water in the same way we downgrade AOW to Ocean when they join
a BSAC club.

But this only really applies if you are doing a PADI course as
a prerec. Most dive outfits will look at the grade and log book
together and decide on merit.

TerryH

[Mike Halligan]

If they are a PADI outfit then will downgrade Sport to Open
Water in the same way we downgrade AOW to Ocean when they join
a BSAC club.

Thanks, Terry. Is this sufficiently certain to amend the crossover table in Diveinstruct? (SD+20 >>> RD course)

Mike

[TerryH]

This is one reason why (I think) PADI crosses over Sport to OW
and Sport + 20 to the equivilent (unlike BSAC you dont actually
get the grade) of AOW.

The logic is that in 20 dives you would have done your
progression and hence got upto 35m. That would put you in the
realm of the AOW deep compulsory dive. I know that can be
anything over 20m, but its deeper than anything a newly
qualified BSAC Sport has done so far.

Without this caveat you might have the scenario of BSAC Sport
divers doing PADI Rescue training, not being certified over 20m.
While there PADI mates on the same course are certified to 30m.

Quite a big difference.

TerryH

[Gordon Archer]

hey i have a bsac sports diver qualification but i want to dive on the great barrier reef with a paddi organisation can i switch easily to the paddi qualification or do i need to retake all the exams?


Hi Gabi

Having been to the Great Barrier Reef I can assure you that the BSAC sport diver qualification is accepted. There is no need to take up the PADI qualification to dive with a PADI dive operator anywhere.
Unless of course you have not dived for the past year where I would expect any dive operation to take you on a re-orientation dive first.
Be aware the larger trip organisers run,follow the leader dives, timed to perfection and no allowance is made for stragglers.
Look for the smaller operators if you want a more personal service or a liveaboard.
For more advise try www.mikeball.com/ they have answered questions of this sort readliy in the past.

[Dave]

Look for the smaller operators if you want a more personal service or a liveaboard.
For more advise try www.mikeball.com/ they have answered questions of this sort readliy in the past.

Mike Ball and smaller operator in the same sentence. Mike Ball is a pretty major operator and perhaps the premier operation out of GBR and PNG :)

Dave

[Annie Hanley]

Two years ago I had a Club Diver trainee who had done a few ( four / five) open water dives, but had not completed his CD training.

He went off to the Barrier Reef on holiday. As soon as they looked at his logbook, and saw that he had dived in water temperature 4?C, they decided he must be up to it, and put him in with the certified divers.

Just tell them you trained in the UK!

Annie

[Gordon Archer]

:=Look for the smaller operators if you want a more personal service or a liveaboard.
:=For more advise try www.mikeball.com/ they have answered questions of this sort readliy in the past.

Mike Ball and smaller operator in the same sentence. Mike Ball is a pretty major operator and perhaps the premier operation out of GBR and PNG <img src="/abicons/smile_rotate.gif" border="0">

Dave


Hi Dave

If you read what I said, "Mike Ball have proved cooperative in answering questions", I did not say they were small.

[John Bantin]

Avoiding both sematics and abbreviations:
I think Gabi was asking if they would accept her BSAC certification.

Rest assured Gabi that they see certifications from many different countries. If you want to dive, pay up and go diving. The worst might be that they ask you to demonstrate removing and refitting both mask and regulator while under water. Mike Ball will even let you dive solo if you can demonstrate you can use a pony cylinder proficiently.