Padi or naui for divemaster/instructor?

[Littlerayray]

What about ACUC they are well fairly well known and have great material as well I was certified through them mind you their website does need upgrading

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Can't stand padi. Put another dollar in, pay a lot dive immediately.... All accurate. I feel like they are a money hungry scam. I'd like to be able to certify friends or whoever, but if what I've read is correct padi is the only way id be able to just take someone out and certify them without being with a shop. Is that correct?

It's not correct. I've spent the past 12 years as a NAUI instructor, and 10 of those years as an independent teaching out of my home. There are several agencies out there that allow independent instruction. NAUI has pros and cons ... just as all the agencies do. FWIW - there are plenty of excellent PADI instructors out there too. Your agency really doesn't dictate the quality of your instruction ... you do. There are pros and cons with all of them, but the amount of work you put into being an instructor determines how good you are at it. The agency merely gives you a framework to work with.

Even if I don't go on to instructor can anyone offer some advice on which way to go with dive master? I'm padi now. One dive shop said naui is more professionally accepted.

It really depends on what you want to do with it. As with a few things, PADI and NAUI use the same word to mean different things. PADI's Divemaster is more like NAUI's Assistant Instructor ... and vice-versa. In other words, a NAUI DM has more ability, within NAUI's training framework, than a PADI DM does within theirs. The reverse is true for Assistant Instructors. But if your goal is to go off to some tropical hotspot and DM, PADI would probably be the better choice, as they have a lot more coverage in tropical locales than NAUI does.

NAUI has more coverage in areas like college programs than PADI, and I think their DM program is generally more demanding than PADI's ... but the value of the DM certification is really going to depend on what you plan to do once you have qualified for it.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[oly5050user]

All NAUI instructors are able to teach independently. NAUI is the oldest of all the certification agencies, and is a member association unlike PADI and SSI which are corporate entities ( SSI is owned by Head Sporting Goods and last I heard PADI is owned by an investment bank ?). NAUI has recently signed agreements with both DAN and Performance Freediving, and NAUI instructors will be able to teach use and issue DAN materials in NAUI courses. Details re Freediving will be announced soon. Check out agency web sites, and call appropriate HQ for additional info. I work with a shop that is a NAUI, SSI, and PADI dive center. As a NAUI instructor, I'm the only one who can teach independently, acquire my own students and teach outside the shop.

So can the PADI instructors.

 

[decompression]

UTD........

 

[RJP]

if what I've read is correct padi is the only way id be able to just take someone out and certify them without being with a shop. Is that correct?

No, it is not.

There are any number of agencies that don't require you to teach through a shop.

 

[TMHeimer]

PADI was my only real choice here and it and the shop have been fine, for what it's worth. Logic says go with whatever agency gets you work in the place you want to work.

 

[sheeper]

I'd give a very strong recommendation for SDI (scuba diving international). I went the SDI direction because i found that agency to be a leader. Their materials and training concept is a more modern approach.The senior leadership at SDI actually dive regularly and actually teach regularly.

If anyone tells you that any agency is more accepted than any other, that is just a plain lie. Any of the major agencies are globally accepted. Now a specific shop may not hire you unless you are with agency XXX. It is worth noting that a person who tells you otherwise is actually violating their agencies standards and procedure and/or code of conduct. If anyone tells you agency XXX is no good....run...

 

[Sevenrider860]

Can't stand padi...

I would think that feeling makes your decision pretty easy. It's like asking which car should I buy, a Ford or Chevy? But you hate Fords. Did you not just answer your own question? Why would you even consider investing more time and money in an organization you feel is just a scam?

 

[geoff w]

My decision was simple. After being certified for well over 15 years, I went with the best scuba instructor I ever encountered, who happened to be my OW / AOW instructor, and have no doubts I got the best DM instruction possible. If I ever decided to go on to be an instructor (about zero likelihood), I would pick the same instructor. He happens to be PADI, but that was an irrelevant part of my decision. And yes, I have been a part of many classes with many shops and have seen many instructors in action. If you are trying to decide between PADI, NAUI, SSI, SDI, GUE, UTD and XYZ, you should probably be looking for a different instructor. For the DM class, besides the instructor it's the experience and exposure you get to so many different situations that determines what you get out of the program (besides what you put into it), not the logo on the plastic card you get

For the record, I did my DM as a private student, but worked with many other instructors at a local shop during the program. My instructor put the local dive shop name on the card, but he could have just as easily put no shop affiliation or any of another half dozen shops in the area. For the dive shops, it's about their certification numbers, which I suspect applies to any training organization

 

[boulderjohn]

While all agency certifications are acceptable for diving world wide, working as an instructor for different agencies might prove problematic. In the Instructor to Instructor forum on ScubaBoard, we recently had a thread started by someone who had recently gotten his instructor certification through a pretty obscure agency, and he wondered why none of the local shops would hire him. Well, duh, if you are certified to teach for an agency that is not offered in any of the shops, you had better be in a position to act independently.

On another point, you wrote, "Can't stand padi. Put another dollar in, pay a lot dive immediately.... All accurate. I feel like they are a money hungry scam. I'd like to be able to certify friends or whoever,...." On that basis, I think you need to get certified by one of the agencies that does not charge for their materials or services. I will provide a list of all the ones I know who do that at the end of this post for your benefit. When you become an instructor, I assume you will do the same, providing all the materials to your students free of charge, and of course, you will not charge for instruction, will you?

By the way, what you pay for instruction depends almost exclusively on the shop or instructor. I just finished teaching the PADI Wreck Diving certification to two old friends today. Because they are two old friends, I did not charge them a dime for it. We were going to do the dives together anyway, and so all it meant for me was doing the academic work during cocktail hour and spending some time teaching them how to lay line in the yard. It will cost me a few bucks to submit the certifications online and for PADI to mail the certification to them. That's it--a few bucks. You may consider that a money hungry scam, but I am having trouble seeing that.

List of Agencies I know that do not charge for class material or instruction: