PADI "Looking Good" Certification

[bobfmdc]

On a recent trip to the Caribbean, one of my friends took the second-level PADI course--"Advanced Open Water," or was it "Advance Scuba Diver." I was amazed listening to him and his instructor talk about all the many certifications you can get these days, 10s of them, for things we just did naturally back in the old days. I began diving back in the 1960s when the only certification choice was "none" or "scuba diver."

One of the courses the instructor mentioned to me was something like "Looking Good in Scuba." That may not be the exact name, but he said it was all about proper underwater outfits, hair styles and restraints that keep you from looking like a witch underwater, body positioning for photos (unexpected and posed), etc. He said the cost is $200. During the conversation, the instructor was polite but kept glancing suggestively at my somewhat out-of-date outfit.

So here is my question: has anyone heard of such a course, and if so, do all PADI shops offer it, or where can I take it. I have looked at the PADI and NAUI websites and cannot find anything like that. Of course, I may not have the exact name.

 

[Dogbowl]

you're kidding, right?

 

[diversteve]

wouldn't surprise me...

PADI Instructors who have special scuba diving interests and expertise can write their own specialty diver courses.

Distinctive Specialty Diver

 

[bobfmdc]

wouldn't surprise me...

Distinctive Specialty Diver

I didn't pay much attention to this one. So I could just come up with a topic, do some research, produce a syllabus, pay PADI some amount ($200?) and get a certification?

 

[Doc]

So here is my question: has anyone heard of such a course, and if so, do all PADI shops offer it, or where can I take it. I have looked at the PADI and NAUI websites and cannot find anything like that. Of course, I may not have the exact name.

You are not within the body type parameters specified. Wear your stinky 3/4" Neoprene wetsuit and Farmer Johns, Turbo fins and Pinnochio Mask.

Go away.

Join us hep-cats at Dork Divers. At this point, be what you is.

Mathematical proof that you were drugged in a mind control experiment:

The "Looking Good In SCUBA" shoulder patch chevrons alone will make you look un-cool. See the irrefutable conundrum?

 

[tursiops]

I didn't pay much attention to this one. So I could just come up with a topic, do some research, produce a syllabus, pay PADI some amount ($200?) and get a certification?

No.
The "Distinctive Specialty" course has to be written up as an instructor guide, then approved by PADI (they look at safety, standards, etc), then the instructor pays a fee and gets certified to teach the course. Then, you as a student diver, can take it from that instructor and get your card; what it will cost you depends on the instructor, not on PADI. PADI gets nothing but the fee to issue the card, less than $20-30 depending on who the instructor is and where. The card fee may or may not be included in the course fee.

If I, as instructor, wanted to teach that course (which I had not written), I could request a copy of the instructor guide from the original author, who may or may not choose to share it with me. If he/she does provide it, I can send it in to PADI, request approval, pay my fee, and also offer the class, at whatever price I choose. Often, the Distinctive Specialy instructor guides are NOT shared, because the person who wrote it originally wants to maintain a competitive advantage.

 

[claymore]

Is'nt How To Warm Up A Wetsuit a prerequisite for that class.

 

[bobfmdc]

Is'nt How To Warm Up A Wetsuit a prerequisite for that class.

Dang. There is a prerequisite? Could be kind of scary if it is a unisex course.

 

[Diver0001]

So here is my question: has anyone heard of such a course, and if so, do all PADI shops offer it, or where can I take it. I have looked at the PADI and NAUI websites and cannot find anything like that. Of course, I may not have the exact name.

PADI allows for instructors to write their own specialties. A specialty can be any underwater activity that has a market. Some of them are diving related, like the navigation specialty and some of them have nothing directly to do with diving but are diving related because it's an activity that you may do while diving. A good example of that is photography, which is also not a "diving skill".

I could imagine that an instructor somewhere has tapped into the instagram generation's need to put their lives online in photos and is offering a specialty with some tips and hints about how to look hot while posing underwater. I could well imagine a market for that, to be honest. Even though it would have no value to me or you, it doesn't mean that nobody would see value in it.

That's how markets work. Not everyone needs to want something for it to be a viable product. In many areas inside and outside diving, producers produce products that people want to buy (or that marketing people think people will want to buy). If it's successful, people will buy it. If not it will be dropped and the next product will come along.

All basic economics working the way it has been for 1000 years.

R..

 

[bobfmdc]

then the instructor pays a fee and gets certified to teach the course..

Do you have any idea what would be the fee the instructor wold have to pay to PADI?