I am a scuba diver who has enjoyed more than 110 dives. I count myself lucky as I earned my PADI certification at the Great Barrier Reef while on a 6.5-month solo trip through the South Pacific when I was 25 years-old. The stories I can tell…!
Since then, I have dived in Paula, the Maldives, Belize, Bora Bora, Turks and Caicos, Thailand, Bonaire, Malta, Grand Cayman and many other wonderful spots on this gorgeous planet.
During the entire time, I protected my PADI dive card like it was gold. It was right up there with my passport.
Until February of this year when I must of dropped it in Mexico while getting my passport out of its trusty Ziploc bag.
I was sure I had paper copies in the house, but no luck.
Fortunately, the kind and competent people at PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors) helped me track down my certification number and eventually replace the card (for $56). They were awesome!
Lessons learned: 1) make copies and keep them in your house, and 2) write your certification number in your dive logbooks and/or travel journals.
My old travel journals pointed me to the right dive shop in Cairns, Australia and, believe it or not, it is still in existence. My dive logbooks mentioned the dive instructor who certified me and that helped, too. My certification number was nowhere to be found in my house.
Two great outcomes. I have a shiny new PADI card with a recent image of me. I also was lured into reading my old travel journals from my twenties when life was so fun and wildly carefree. I laughed so hard it was well worth replacing the card!
This post first appeared on LinkedIn on April 4, 2024. Please follow me there.
