Updated requirements for scuba diving on the PG

[Leejnd4]

12 hours ago, ltdemptynest said:

Documents in hand!!! SO HAPPY!  BUT... My husbands Doctor is requiring him to come in for an appointment to get sign off.  (LOL)  This is the same Medical Practice, just different doctors.  To be continued... 

 

Yay! Keeping my fingers crossed for your husband! And it makes me SO happy to see how we help and support each other here in Cruise Critic. I have learned so many valuable lessons in here, and I'm thrilled I was able to give back a bit to help some other cruisers.

 

10 hours ago, minidonuts85 said:

Woo hoo! Congrats! I got a message from my Primary Care doc on Sunday night saying she could complete it and asked if I wanted to pick it up this week! Will feel better once I get the doc in hand. Fiancées doc hasn’t replied yet but like you, with the same medical group. 
 

Kept the 8/9 appointments with the dive doctor just in case. 

Let us know how it goes! I too will feel much better when I have documents in hand.

[minidonuts85]

@Leejnd4 Despite the challenges, this has been one of the best conversations I've been a part of here on CC. Like you said, helping and supporting one another. Im sure you are well connected with dive people in PV but I am happy to reach out to my friend Cesar at Scuba Banderas Republic to see if he know of a doc that routinely signs off of these releases. 

 

Yesterday afternoon, the fiancée and I both got messages from our PCPs saying to come in and pick up our completed forms at the reception desk! Woo hoo! We go in this morning, his is ready and mine is MIA. Nurse goes back to reprint it but the doc is with a patient and cant sign it at the moment. No biggie I told her, I can come back tomorrow. 20-mins after we left I get a message saying its ready LOL. Going back tomorrow but we are 50% there! 

 

[minidonuts85]

Got all of our forms approved by the doc! 

 

Regarding the dive log....we are bringing our dive computers (plus our own gear) and our dives our logged on the computer. Since we dont plan to do any advanced dives, I am hoping this will suffice just in case we are asked. Our last dive was on 7/22/23. Otherwise I'd need to manually recreate the dives onto paper. 

 

@ltdemptynest @sjkoen are you planning to bring a manual log? Just wondering. 

 

1. The need to provide a logbook:

If a guest wishes to embark on a dive at the “active advanced diver” level, he or she must have logged 100 or more dives and must have their logbooks with them.

[sjkoen]

7 hours ago, minidonuts85 said:

Got all of our forms approved by the doc! 

 

Regarding the dive log....we are bringing our dive computers (plus our own gear) and our dives our logged on the computer. Since we dont plan to do any advanced dives, I am hoping this will suffice just in case we are asked. Our last dive was on 7/22/23. Otherwise I'd need to manually recreate the dives onto paper. 

 

@ltdemptynest @sjkoen are you planning to bring a manual log? Just wondering. 

 

1. The need to provide a logbook:

If a guest wishes to embark on a dive at the “active advanced diver” level, he or she must have logged 100 or more dives and must have their logbooks with them.

Yeah for you! My dive log has a big hole of verified dives in it. And frankly the only reason I started getting them verified was a requirement for some volunteering. So, since I already have it, I'm taking my spreadsheet of unverified (70ish) dives and the actual pages from verified dives (30ish). Not really planning on advanced and I'm right onbthe cusp anyway - Huahine might be the only one that's advanced on my trip.

 

Hope you have so much fun. I'll be living vicariously through you for now. 🌸

[Leejnd4]

9 hours ago, minidonuts85 said:

Got all of our forms approved by the doc! 

 

Regarding the dive log....we are bringing our dive computers (plus our own gear) and our dives our logged on the computer. Since we dont plan to do any advanced dives, I am hoping this will suffice just in case we are asked. Our last dive was on 7/22/23. Otherwise I'd need to manually recreate the dives onto paper. 

 

@ltdemptynest @sjkoen are you planning to bring a manual log? Just wondering. 

 

1. The need to provide a logbook:

If a guest wishes to embark on a dive at the “active advanced diver” level, he or she must have logged 100 or more dives and must have their logbooks with them.

 

YAY! So glad you got it all done in time. As for the logbook, remember that I was told by the Marina Supervisor that this is only for new divers. As an experienced diver, you won't need it. 🙂 

 

1 hour ago, sjkoen said:

Yeah for you! My dive log has a big hole of verified dives in it. And frankly the only reason I started getting them verified was a requirement for some volunteering. So, since I already have it, I'm taking my spreadsheet of unverified (70ish) dives and the actual pages from verified dives (30ish). Not really planning on advanced and I'm right onbthe cusp anyway - Huahine might be the only one that's advanced on my trip.

 

Hope you have so much fun. I'll be living vicariously through you for now. 🌸

 

Back when I used to keep a log, I never got ANY of my dives "verified" as I was never diving with a DM! In SoCal we did mostly beach diving in Malibu, on our own. And since we moved aboard our sailboat four years ago, we stopped logging dives entirely. But again, don't even worry about it. Just having a logbook at all will be more than enough. 🙂 

[minidonuts85]

Ahhh yes thanks for the reminder @Leejnd4!
 

 

[ltdemptynest]

On 7/28/2023 at 9:49 AM, ltdemptynest said:

Woohoo!!! My primary will sign the doc no appointment needed.   Now just got to get hubby to get his signed!!  (OR I will be in need of a new dive buddy lol).  Disaster averted.  

 

Finally got hubbys diving forms completed!!!  

🤿

 

[Leejnd4]

2 hours ago, ltdemptynest said:

Finally got hubbys diving forms completed!!!  

🤿

 

YAAAY!

[helo driver]

Greeting and thanks for the head up on the medical forms, but now I am very confused, when I go to the PG website, the form for certified divers is still the one with "over 45 yes, go to box b" box b all no so should not need a doctors signature.  The other boxes all lead me down the same path, no doctor needed. We are cruising PG next April, my annual physical is in January so I assume I can get my PCM to sign the form, just not sure what to tell him for "why", as I fill out the form I end up with a no doc required, is he just verifying I filled it out correctly or is there another from I am missing? 

 

Cruised PG in 2016 and the dives were great and don't want to chance missing out this time. Is there a link to the second form (if the one I see on the website is not enough)? If someone going this fall can confirm with the dive shop what they desire, I would greatly appreciate it!

[ltdemptynest]

30 minutes ago, helo driver said:

Greeting and thanks for the head up on the medical forms, but now I am very confused, when I go to the PG website, the form for certified divers is still the one with "over 45 yes, go to box b" box b all no so should not need a doctors signature.  The other boxes all lead me down the same path, no doctor needed. We are cruising PG next April, my annual physical is in January so I assume I can get my PCM to sign the form, just not sure what to tell him for "why", as I fill out the form I end up with a no doc required, is he just verifying I filled it out correctly or is there another from I am missing? 

 

Cruised PG in 2016 and the dives were great and don't want to chance missing out this time. Is there a link to the second form (if the one I see on the website is not enough)? If someone going this fall can confirm with the dive shop what they desire, I would greatly appreciate it!

precisely what we all have been contemplating…. the final decision for me was based on what @Leejnd4 was told from direct communication with the PG dive desk. i will ask again on my Aug 26 sailing and will report back. 

[minidonuts85]

The link is the right form but agreed it’s a bit wonky which led to the confusion but later confirmation from Leejnd4 and another diver here who I think is onboard now. Page 3 of the form is what the doc signs off on irrespective of all of the responses being No, which was the case with us except the “are you over 45?”… Just told my PCP it was mandatory to dive, even though I have no physical or mental issues that would impair a dive, and she signed it. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Leejnd4]

2 hours ago, helo driver said:

Greeting and thanks for the head up on the medical forms, but now I am very confused, when I go to the PG website, the form for certified divers is still the one with "over 45 yes, go to box b" box b all no so should not need a doctors signature.  The other boxes all lead me down the same path, no doctor needed. We are cruising PG next April, my annual physical is in January so I assume I can get my PCM to sign the form, just not sure what to tell him for "why", as I fill out the form I end up with a no doc required, is he just verifying I filled it out correctly or is there another from I am missing? 

 

Cruised PG in 2016 and the dives were great and don't want to chance missing out this time. Is there a link to the second form (if the one I see on the website is not enough)? If someone going this fall can confirm with the dive shop what they desire, I would greatly appreciate it!

 

DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP! Trust me on this. I too was confused, as the wording on their site, and the forms, is confusing and in some places it seems you don't need to get a doctor's signature. YOU DO! I emailed directly with the Marina Supervisor, and he confirmed that every single diver, regardless of age, health or experience, needs to have the medical form filled out and signed by a doctor...and according to him, the on-board doctor will not do it. (I suspect that you CAN get it done onboard, for a fee, as I expect they want to encourage diving...but I wouldn't chance it!)

[helo driver]

Thanks LeeJND4 for checking with the ship "every single diver, regardless of age, health or experience, needs to have the medical form filled out and signed by a doctor" is much clearer than the form or the website (never would have gotten to needing a doc with all "No's" without this thread)..... OK yes I am old, so yes for old, but no for the associated block than once again leads to no.... 

 

Thanks Minidonuts85 for feedback on what your doc said.... pretty sure I will have the same experience.  Have to see the doc for my annual checkup before the trip anyway 🙂 

 

It definitely was not this hard in 2016 with PG or with anyone else I have been diving with..... but if that is what it takes I'll jump through those hoops, they were great dives in 2016. 

[saltrip]

I'm on board now and they will not let you dive without the signed medical statement from your doctor. Some passengers didn't know this and were very angry at the dive center. Also they are very strict about having advanced certification diving below 60 feet. When we were certified back in the dark ages we were certified to 100 feet but they will not let us dive lower than 60. We have dive logs going back 26 years with many deep dives and just dove in March below 60 feet. But it doesn't matter, there county, there rules. So we're only doing one dive in Fakarava and one in the Marquesas. We're doing most of the dives in the  Society Islands. Also if you need a refresher dive on this 14 day cruise it wasn't offered until the second week. So you wouldn't be able to dive until then which was another issue that had people angry. 

[minidonuts85]

Thank you @saltrip for taking the time and  hope you’re enjoying the cruise! 
 

Have they asked for logs for the non-advanced dives? 

[saltrip]

3 minutes ago, minidonuts85 said:

Thank you @saltrip for taking the time and  hope you’re enjoying the cruise! 
 

Have they asked for logs for the non-advanced dives? 

He did look at our log book.

[minidonuts85]

1 minute ago, saltrip said:

He did look at our log book.

Thank you! 
We have our logs on our dive computers and contemplating entering in the dives into a printable format. 

[Leejnd4]

4 hours ago, saltrip said:

I'm on board now and they will not let you dive without the signed medical statement from your doctor. Some passengers didn't know this and were very angry at the dive center. Also they are very strict about having advanced certification diving below 60 feet. When we were certified back in the dark ages we were certified to 100 feet but they will not let us dive lower than 60. We have dive logs going back 26 years with many deep dives and just dove in March below 60 feet. But it doesn't matter, there county, there rules. So we're only doing one dive in Fakarava and one in the Marquesas. We're doing most of the dives in the  Society Islands. Also if you need a refresher dive on this 14 day cruise it wasn't offered until the second week. So you wouldn't be able to dive until then which was another issue that had people angry. 

Thanks for clarifying! 

 

Question: do you know if AOW will suffice for diving below 60 ft? I don't have a "deep diver" specialty - I have nearly 800 dives and we dive off our own boat weekly. Hoping AOW will suffice because there isn't any way for me to do a PADI course before our cruise.

 

***EDITING TO ADD***

 

Ignore my question! I just went back and looked at the email that the Marina Supervisor sent me, and it says this:

 

The log book is usually for the unexperienced divers, and it's a way for us to check the level of the divers. So if you don't have it, it will be ok.
If you are advance diver, you won't need the deep dive specialty, but something very important, it's the medical certificate from your doctor, it's mandatory

 

So I should be fine to do the deep dives in Fakarava, which I REALLY want to do. I've been diving all over FP before, but never in Fakarava. I'm so relieved!

 

Now I just need to find me a doctor in Puerto Vallarta who will sign my medical docs. 🙂 

Edited August 14, 2023 by Leejnd4

[ltdemptynest]

16 hours ago, minidonuts85 said:

Thank you! 
We have our logs on our dive computers and contemplating entering in the dives into a printable format. 

We haven’t logged a dive since our kids were certified in 2013… Now our daughter is an SSI Instructor with over 30 certifications.  

I have never needed to get any additional certs over our open water.  we have done deep dives, wreck, shark, drift, livaboard, etc etc… but we are vacation divers and always have a local dive master with us.  

We are fine being limited to 60 ft… but not fine with being limited to bottom time… hope we are allowed to dive our computer.  

Since we only have our open water, I hope we dont get stuck with beginners who need to come up too soon.  (We don’t mind new divers at all… and glad to help when we can.) If we are limited to 60 ft, then I expect to dive about an hour. 

Anyone know if buddy teams are allowed to dive computers OR Must everyone come up at same time ?

 

 

[Leejnd4]

3 hours ago, ltdemptynest said:

We haven’t logged a dive since our kids were certified in 2013… Now our daughter is an SSI Instructor with over 30 certifications.  

I have never needed to get any additional certs over our open water.  we have done deep dives, wreck, shark, drift, livaboard, etc etc… but we are vacation divers and always have a local dive master with us.  

We are fine being limited to 60 ft… but not fine with being limited to bottom time… hope we are allowed to dive our computer.  

Since we only have our open water, I hope we dont get stuck with beginners who need to come up too soon.  (We don’t mind new divers at all… and glad to help when we can.) If we are limited to 60 ft, then I expect to dive about an hour. 

Anyone know if buddy teams are allowed to dive computers OR Must everyone come up at same time ?

 

 

 

In FP everyone must stay with the DM. You will not be allowed to go off on your own with a buddy. Those are the rules of FP, not the PG. And as I recall, everyone generally ends at the same time...however, on one of my dives the DM sent a couple hoovers up to do their safety stops near the zodiac, and then stayed down with my husband and me for about ten more minutes. Most dives (other than the drift dives) have a mooring line, so this means the DMs can safely send up the hoovers to use the mooring line for their safety stop and ascent, and then stay down with those of us with better lung capacity. But I don't know if you can count on that.

 

By law, the DMs can only take five divers each. The ship has four DMs/Instructors onboard.

 

Whether you will be with newbies or experienced divers is completely dependent on which dives you choose. There are three different levels of dives - if you look at this list of available dives from another cruise (someone else posted this earlier this year) you'll see that there are dives for beginners, certified divers, and experienced divers. I'm not doing any of the beginner dives - Hey, we all were new once, but these are not cheap dives! I'm not interested in paying $129 to poke around for a half hour with newbies who have no buoyancy control and will silt up the bottom and kick my mask off. LOL! 😉 

 

But I'll do some certified and some advanced dives. On the certified dives you may end up with inexperienced divers, but it won't be beginners. And if you have more than five divers, they will try to group them by experience level. And on the advanced dives you should be with only experienced divers.

 

Oh, and I haven't logged a dive for many years either. And now that we live on a sailboat and dive off our boat nearly every week, it wouldn't even be practical to do so. I have no idea where my very old logbooks are -- probably in storage with most of our other worldly belongings, which we packed away when we moved aboard our boat four years ago. But again, according to the Marina Supervisor, we won't need our log books if we can convince them of our experience level. Which sounds like it won't be a problem for me, or you.

 

Hope this helps!

Edited August 14, 2023 by Leejnd4

[ltdemptynest]

53 minutes ago, Leejnd4 said:

 

In FP everyone must stay with the DM. You will not be allowed to go off on your own with a buddy. Those are the rules of FP, not the PG. And as I recall, everyone generally ends at the same time...however, on one of my dives the DM sent a couple hoovers up to do their safety stops near the zodiac, and then stayed down with my husband and me for about ten more minutes. Most dives (other than the drift dives) have a mooring line, so this means the DMs can safely send up the hoovers to use the mooring line for their safety stop and ascent, and then stay down with those of us with better lung capacity. But I don't know if you can count on that.

 

By law, the DMs can only take five divers each. The ship has four DMs/Instructors onboard.

 

Whether you will be with newbies or experienced divers is completely dependent on which dives you choose. There are three different levels of dives - if you look at this list of available dives from another cruise (someone else posted this earlier this year) you'll see that there are dives for beginners, certified divers, and experienced divers. I'm not doing any of the beginner dives - Hey, we all were new once, but these are not cheap dives! I'm not interested in paying $129 to poke around for a half hour with newbies who have no buoyancy control and will silt up the bottom and kick my mask off. LOL! 😉 

 

But I'll do some certified and some advanced dives. On the certified dives you may end up with inexperienced divers, but it won't be beginners. And if you have more than five divers, they will try to group them by experience level. And on the advanced dives you should be with only experienced divers.

 

Oh, and I haven't logged a dive for many years either. And now that we live on a sailboat and dive off our boat nearly every week, it wouldn't even be practical to do so. I have no idea where my very old logbooks are -- probably in storage with most of our other worldly belongings, which we packed away when we moved aboard our boat four years ago. But again, according to the Marina Supervisor, we won't need our log books if we can convince them of our experience level. Which sounds like it won't be a problem for me, or you.

 

Hope this helps!

@Leejnd4 Thank you so much for this info... it was just what I was looking for.  You have been invaluable... too bad you are not on our sailing!!!  

[Leejnd4]

1 hour ago, ltdemptynest said:

@Leejnd4 Thank you so much for this info... it was just what I was looking for.  You have been invaluable... too bad you are not on our sailing!!!  

Happy to help! This is exactly what Cruise Critic is for. 🙂 

[shrkdive1]

I'm confused once again now that I go back to the PG website.  Is there only 1 form that is required to be signed by a doctor now for experienced divers.   When I went to the website before there were 2 forms (very similar) for experienced divers plus 1 form for newbies.

[Leejnd4]

13 minutes ago, shrkdive1 said:

I'm confused once again now that I go back to the PG website.  Is there only 1 form that is required to be signed by a doctor now for experienced divers.   When I went to the website before there were 2 forms (very similar) for experienced divers plus 1 form for newbies.

I'm looking at the forms page right now, and here's what I see: two links for forms - one for beginners, and one for certified divers. You only need to click one of those links. If you are not certified and plan on getting certified on the ship, then click the beginners link. If you are already certified, click the certified link.

 

Are you certified? I'm assuming you are. So, once you click the certified link, there are THREE forms, totaling six pages:

 

1. Certified Divers Questionnaire (1 page)

2. Diver Medical (3 pages)

3. Boat Diving and Scuba Diving Release (2 pages)

 

The only one that needs to be signed is the Diver Medical Release.

 

Note that I was told by the Marina Supervisor that they were in the process of updating the forms and verbiage on the website, so it looks like they have done some updating. I still find the verbiage confusing, but I'm going to go by what the Marina Supervisor told me: print and fill out ALL THREE forms before I board, and have the medical form already signed by a doc.

Edited August 16, 2023 by Leejnd4

[sjkoen]

They have removed one document from the web page.  I know because I took snag-its when my friend and I were working through the forms.

There were three total documents:

1) non-certified diver,

 

2) certified diver (PG diver questionnaire, PADI medical form - Form footer - PRODUCT NO. 10063 (Rev. 06/07) Ver. 2.01 -, boat release), and

 

3) certified and non-certified - multi-agency medical form (Diver Medical footer - DMSC 2020 10346 EN) 

 

The PADI-specific form within the combined PG document was replaced with the multi-agency Diver Medical.  

 

As the medical questions were redundant nothing substantive has changed, they have streamlined it into a single document.

 

To me, the web text is clear "print the forms, review and complete them, have your doctor sign the Physician section then bring these aboard the cruise. The doctor on board will not be able to issue the medical certificate." and hasn't changed.

 

For those of us who already have our forms signed, we just bring them all - we aren't missing anything. For those downloading now, it got a little simpler.

 

I know the whole having a doctor review has been frustrating, but safety is everything in scuba diving and I'm pleased they require it.