PADI vs NAUI

[DiveGolfSki]

I think this best sums up the differences.

Three instructors and their students are on board a dive boat in the middle of the ocean. There is a NAUI instructor, a PADI instructor, and an SSI instructor. Everything is going fine until the boat springs a leak and starts to sink. The SSI instructor says to his students, "Okay, we're in the middle of the ocean, so we might as well do our deep dive." The NAUI instructor says to his students, "Okay, we might as well do our navigation dive, so let's get our compasses out and swim towards shore." The PADI instructor says to his students, "Okay, for $25 extra you guys get to do a wreck dive!"

 

[jviehe]

I have no idea and I have not lived in CA since 1999, but they run 1 advanced diver program a year. I don't know if there is cap on the number of students or not. At one time I understand they might ran maybe 100 students through each summer in several teams. The year I took the program it was maybe 45 or so, but I honestly don't recall the exact number.

Numbers are unimportant, it is quality, not quantity. Their program is quite intense 11 weeks includes a 3 hour lecture each week and diving on the weekend, mid term test and final.

Its important in the sense that someone may not be aware of them if they produce very few divers. Have you ever heard of PSAI?

 

[BIGG_BUDD]

I think this best sums up the differences.

Three instructors and their students are on board a dive boat in the middle of the ocean. There is a NAUI instructor, a PADI instructor, and an SSI instructor. Everything is going fine until the boat springs a leak and starts to sink. The SSI instructor says to his students, "Okay, we're in the middle of the ocean, so we might as well do our deep dive." The NAUI instructor says to his students, "Okay, we might as well do our navigation dive, so let's get our compasses out and swim towards shore." The PADI instructor says to his students, "Okay, for $25 extra you guys get to do a wreck dive!"

 

[Puffer Fish]

I think this best sums up the differences.

Three instructors and their students are on board a dive boat in the middle of the ocean. There is a NAUI instructor, a PADI instructor, and an SSI instructor. Everything is going fine until the boat springs a leak and starts to sink. The SSI instructor says to his students, "Okay, we're in the middle of the ocean, so we might as well do our deep dive." The NAUI instructor says to his students, "Okay, we might as well do our navigation dive, so let's get our compasses out and swim towards shore." The PADI instructor says to his students, "Okay, for $25 extra you guys get to do a wreck dive!"

I have had the joy of having a resort in the Philippines refuse to accept a NAUI card, because it did not have my picture on it. And lucky for me, they happen to have an agency that did have a picture ID. Unlucky for them, I happen to have another card.

 

[Indyscotch]

I think this best sums up the differences.

Three instructors and their students are on board a dive boat in the middle of the ocean. There is a NAUI instructor, a PADI instructor, and an SSI instructor. Everything is going fine until the boat springs a leak and starts to sink. The SSI instructor says to his students, "Okay, we're in the middle of the ocean, so we might as well do our deep dive." The NAUI instructor says to his students, "Okay, we might as well do our navigation dive, so let's get our compasses out and swim towards shore." The PADI instructor says to his students, "Okay, for $25 extra you guys get to do a wreck dive!"

I just got back from Coz and the Padi guys there were just like that! After finishing my AOW the instructor says "for an additonal $100, I can qualify you on nitrox." Class with a capital K.

 

[jviehe]

I just got back from Coz and the Padi guys there were just like that! After finishing my AOW the instructor says "for an additonal $100, I can qualify you on nitrox." Class with a capital K.

Do you think there is something wrong with what they offered?

 

[PePaw]

I think this best sums up the differences.

Three instructors and their students are on board a dive boat in the middle of the ocean. There is a NAUI instructor, a PADI instructor, and an SSI instructor. Everything is going fine until the boat springs a leak and starts to sink. The SSI instructor says to his students, "Okay, we're in the middle of the ocean, so we might as well do our deep dive." The NAUI instructor says to his students, "Okay, we might as well do our navigation dive, so let's get our compasses out and swim towards shore." The PADI instructor says to his students, "Okay, for $25 extra you guys get to do a wreck dive!"

Even as a PADI diver...that there's funny. I don't care who you are.

 

[jviehe]

As a PADI instructor, that there IS funny. Unfortunately, no one ever recognizes the thousands of PADI pros who give away there own time and money to divers all the time. Ive lost a lot of money teaching so far. Always criticism, never praise.

But we are actually pretty off topic here.

 

[Indyscotch]

jviehe - no dissrespect intended. Actually quite the contrary. I have read through this forum to facilitate a discussion among some buddies on the topic of PADI vs everyone else. My personal experience with PADI has been the the training quality has been good. One buddy has a different opinion than I do, based upon his experience. My take on it is that as the student, it is my responsibility to get out of it as much as I can. Its my life on the line, not the instructors. If I have asked question and am not satisfied with the quality of the answer, it is my responisbility to continue to press for clarity. If the instructor cannot asnswer the question, then I have a decision to make. So far, so good with PADI.

 

[boulderjohn]

I disagree.

From a teaching perspective ... at the OW level ... PADI focuses more on the mechanics ... the "how", as it were ... while NAUI focuses more on the physics ... the "why".

As an example ... I once DM'ed for a PADI instructor who taught his entire presentation on buoyancy control without once even mentioning anything related to Boyle's Law. It all had to do with the mechanics of manipulating your BCD. While there is nothing wrong with that approach, it is very different from how a NAUI instructor approaches the same subject.

I think you are looking at the eccentrities of one instructor. I focus heavily on the physics of buoyancy, including Boyle's law, as does every other PADI instructor I know. In knowledge review 1, that is the primary focus. We spend most of our time on the effects of Boyle's law on every aspect of diving. My sense is that if they can fully understand that, they will have a firm foundation for everything else that follows.