Posted: 6/10/2004 10:34:05 AM EDT
|
I have two places in mind for my and my girlfriends certification. The 1st does PADI and will cost $279. They have their own lake and it will require no travel. The 2nd does SSI and will cost $325. For the check dive I will have to have a weekend with a four hour round trip and it will cost a couple hundred for the gas, motel food etc.. The 1st place gets GREAT deals to Cozumel. ($369 all inclusive) Is there really that much of a difference between SSI and PADI that you can't learn on your own? |
|
no. No real difference, and no where in the world does it matter. As a matter of fact, I think they are now actually owned by the same group. one bought the other out a few years ago. It could be Naui and Padi that I am thinking about. Where it hurts/counts is for their later certs, like dive master etc... One of them does it based on number of dives and a class, the other just wants your money for the class. None of the upper classes are required, just one of those things. so save your money pick the cheap one. Been padi certified since 99. |
|
What he said - no big difference. I think Naui sets the recreational limit at 150 ft, where PADI goes w. 130 ft - but I imagine the training from any of the major organizations is going to be similar. In the US and the Caribbean, PADI seems to be more prevalent, so it might be easier down the road - if you're planning to get more advanced and specialized certifications on top. Although you could probably still get PADI advanced courses even with an SSI original cert - so I really don't think it'll make a difference at all. |
| If you think you can do Cozumel for 369 all inclusive, you are sadly mistaken. There are all kinds of restaurants, shopping, and nightlife. I have been there about half a dozen times and have left mucho dinero down there. Cozumel is a blast. First time I went, I wasn't certified. Came back to the states and immediately took lessons. Have been back many times. While it may not be pristine anymore, it is still one of the best bangs for the buck as far as diving goes. |
|
I am no longer current, but I used to be a PADI Divemaster. At the open water certification level, there really is little or no difference in the curriculum tought by the various agencies. Go with the shop that is most friendly and convenient for you. Diving is ALOT of fun and you'll learn quite alot. Have a good time 
|
|
Oh, and on the same note as the regulators. Get your own wetsuit. There are 3 types of divers. People who pee in the wetsuit. People that will eventually. And people that do it and lie about it. Most people buy an enzyme wash called Sink The Stink to take care of the odor. But do yourself a favor. Get your own wetsuit. It will fit better, which is good for odd sized people. If you have your reg and wetsuit you can rent everything else until you can afford to buy it. |
|
I do agree see if you like your instructor. However, there are all types of people out there and it has nothing to do with where you learn. I have been diving in quite a few places, with divers from all over the world. No matter where they were trained, you always have a few people that really don't know what they are doing. Also I am lazy about looking up tables, so I bought a dive computer. Never have to worry about tables again, and you can stay down longer due to multilevel dives. |
| I first certified with an NASDS school in the early eighties. Every time I bought something in the NASDS shop I felt like I was ripped off. I then switched to a PADI school, I now have several PADI certifications, the PADI shop in is the same town, it isn’t the cheapest in town, but they have an excellent staff, service department is top notch, they have social events at the store, have an indoor pool, where you can try before you buy, have 90 days same as cash, and have a travel agency in house as well. Go with the shop that has the most value added services, and or the friendliest staff. I have taken several trips with groups from this shop, there is always a staff member along to make sure things go well, and I am off to Costa Rica with a group from this shop next weekend. Again the certifying agency doesn’t make much difference, go with the shop that has the most to offer. BTW the first time those fish swim up to you in the lake is way cool. |
|
Other than guns my main gig is wreck diving. I'm not a card collector by any means but might have 8 or so certs. At this level it's all about the instructor agency be damned. After open water the best agency bar none is GUE (Global Underwater Explorers). I'd go straight to GUE for training after I had some basics down like being comftorble and boyancy control. If you just want skills skipp all that other crap like Advanced Open Water,which doesn't really teach you shit but gives you the path to rescue diver which is a good class. Let me clarify the skipping of AOW a bit more. Advanced open water is just a fucking joke...problem is it is required on some boats to go to cool spots and required to do rescue with out having 200 loged dives. Run away from anyone bragging about AOW. Welcome to the Dark Side....Dive DIR |
|
My two cents. Look around for a YMCA class. The Y has maintained the highest standards in the sport for decades. When the RSTC was formed back in the mid 80's the YMCA was the only certifying agency that had to LOWER their standards to meet the uniformity. Later, the Y determined that the RSTC did not meet their needs and left the group. If you can't find a YMCA class go with SSI. I can honestly say that I'd avoid PADI if I wanted a quality class. If I were looking for an easy way to get a C-card than PADI is definately the way to go. I've seen guys that I'm positive had near death experiances later on get C-cards simply because the PADI instructors in out group wouldn't give up a refund. My background? Certified NAUI Open Water Oct 1981. Various PADI cerifications up to and including Dive Master and Master Diver. YMCA Open Water (Silver) Instructor for 17 years. CMAS Assistant Instructor and Master Instructor (I know its French, but if it was good enough for Cousteau...) DAN 02 Instuctor. Etc. I've been around a lot of diving for a lot of years and I've seen some pretty bad stuff...most of it from Put Another Dollar In. |
|
My experience from my diving days in PRK are that NAUI (what I have) are more interested in safety and confidence in the water. PADI seems more interested in getting you into the water and then coming back for more classes, thus you spend more money with them. When my NAUI-trained friends and I would socialize with PADI-trained divers and we'd ask them about their training, it seemed pretty superficial. When they'd ask about ours-4 people from 3 different dive centers-they couldn't believe the things WE had to go through for certification. The consensus between myself and my friends is that in a NAUI OW-1 class we got as much training as PADI divers on their 3rd class. I have not met anyone that went through SSI classes, but the company is prevalent here in Phoenix. If I were you, I'd go for the ocean certification. There is NOTHING like diving in the ocean, with all it's quirks, intracacies and unpredictability. You'll NEED THIS before you venture out into the ocean. And remember this: Once you're certified to OH-and get a dive log book ASAP. Log ALL your dives. It'll help when you deal with a divemaster and how he'll treat you. |
|
I guess that is the other thing. You pay about the same price whereever you get certified if you try to do it in the short time frame. We got certified in Kaui. Much better than lake diving. As for logs, I guess a lot of people make a big deal out of it. My wife kind of cares just so she can tell people where we have been, but honestly , I stopped logging, or caring if it got logged after about 30 dives, and haven't written anything in a dive log for over 3 years. I tried to keep up with the autologs that the dive computer keeps, but even got lazy with that. And no one has ever given me grief over it anywhere I have gone. Heck, no one has ever even asked to see it except while we were in training. |