Lost Your PADI Card? How to Avoid the $37 Fee

Undercurrent subscriber Robert Ferrero (Warrensburg, MO) wrote us to ask what he should do about his lost PADI certification card that he's carried around for 23 years. "Is there a place I can go to get a new one issued?"

Well, you can go to PADI's website to request a replacement, and it will cost you $37 to get it shipped to you. Or if you want to upload your certification onto your cell phone via PADI' eCard app , it will also cost you $37 -- for each certification. NAUI charges $32 for a replacement card and $21 to replace a certificate. But there are ways to get around that.

If you do have your certification card, simply scan, Xerox or photograph the front and back of it, then keep that copy as a backup, as you would do with your passport. As long as a dive shop can read the information clearly, it's considered a legitimate way to identify yourself as properly certified.

Or just ask the dive shop to log online to PADI or NAUI's website and cross-check that you are who you say you are. If you're in the database, having the physical card isn't needed, although you can ask the dive shop to print out a copy for you to use on the next dive trip. (Ironically, the way they verify PADI divers is by going through the motions of ordering for a replacement card for you, but they stop before they submit the payment). PADI's verification website is here , and NAUI's is here

Even if it's not a PADI or NAUI shop, no matter. You can ask the shop person to call any dive agency to verify who you are, as long as you have a photo ID.

SSI wins hands down for card-replacement service. You can pull all of your certifications up on its website to print them out, and its free Android app lists all your certification info.