open water

Question
last year i became a confined diver with padi here in england but recently in cuba i done my open water with acuc he filled in my padi forms and singed it as acuc saying its ok please could you tell if its ok as my local dive shop is of no help

Answer
Greetings Michael,

Based on what I understood from your question, you took an open water diver course in Cuba with an instructor from ACUC. Then, the ACUC instructor filled the PADI forms to certify you as a PADI diver.

There are different, valid scuba diving training organizations throughout the world but each is entitled only to certify under its own programs. In order for an instructor of one agency to be able to check out skills or certify somebody from another organization, the instructor must first complete a crossover program and, basically, become an instructor with the new organization as well. In other words, only a PADI instructor in teaching status is able to certify that you completed a PADI course.

Any PADI dive center is able to verify the teaching status of an instructor (or anybody who claims to be an instructor, for all that matters). Your local dive shop will be able to tell if the referring instructor is indeed in teaching status with PADI.

Now, if you already completed an open water diver course, your instructor must have made arrangements for you to receive your open water diver certification card through the organization through which he certified you. With that, then you should be able to carry out open water dives as a certified diver.

I hope this answers some, if not all, of your questions. If there is any other question(s), feel free to contact me again.

Sincerely,

Gustavo E. Flores