Get Basic Open Water Certification. Just like in the pursuit of a University degree, you will have to be educated on the fundamentals of scuba diving. The Basic Open Water Course (also called the Basic Scuba Diving Course) will provide beginners with theoretical and practical training. If you do a lot of diving and/or travelling, it may be in your best interest to have an extra C-Card in advance for just such emergencies. This could help you avoid the anxiety, lost dive days and additional costs for replacing a card quickly. But if you must replace it “on the fly”, have this information available.