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pupdiver:
Oh, brother...
SSI vs. PADI
- Thread starter gdwtvb
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Oh, brother...
Oh, come on Stephen, that was a fun law suit.
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Walter:
... in the end... maybe!
Sorry you had to deal with that.
HUH What Lawsuit? Dealing with a posting of differences between agencies??????????????
Hollywoodivers
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Good question. Looks like you've been doing your homework. As far as the heavy promotion of gear sales you have to remember that all of your scubadiving equipment is life support. This is not the time to bargain shop - if you are. Your equipment should fit well and feel comfortable. If the staff at SSI can assist you in getting the "right" gear then your diving experience will be greatly enhanced. I have a dive shop in Southern CA called Hollywoodivers. We cannot stress the importance of getting the right stuff - whether you get it from us or not. As far as the training goes find out who will be teaching the class that you're interested in and try to find out how long they have been teaching, what they're diving interests are, etc.
Everyone that has posted is correct in stating that it boils down to the instructor not the agency. We teach PADI, NAUI, SDI/TDI and DAN and I think that instructors owe it to their students to guide them in the right direction when making dive gear purchases. Have a great time with scuba.
Everyone that has posted is correct in stating that it boils down to the instructor not the agency. We teach PADI, NAUI, SDI/TDI and DAN and I think that instructors owe it to their students to guide them in the right direction when making dive gear purchases. Have a great time with scuba.
Al Mialkovsky:
As usual I enjoy Al's insight. I'm taking the IDC...PADI
...in January, so I'm at the point where I am put in charge of working with students who are struggling. Just as Al does, my instructor charges not one cent extra for the extra time. But to see a student who has struggled to get the skills down and keeps at it, there is no better feeling to see the looks on their faces when they get their card. And I might add that most of the time they become very good divers...Well worth the effort of hanging in there with them....pir8:
Here is a link to what appears to be what's left of the discussion on the Diverlink v Padi lawsuit.
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=57616
Carribeandiver
Guest
I am recently certified. I started with a local Dive Shop with the SSI program. I felt the classroom work was mundane but the pool work was intense. The instructors were good and cut no one any slack. Either you did it correctly or they worked with you until you could do it correctly on a consistent basis.
After my class and pool work, I did two ocean dives with the SSI group. The next day we went to a natural spring where the water was, let us say,,,umm, freezing. I declined to do those last two dives and got a referral letter for the next weekend.
I then went back out to the ocean with a PADI shop for my last two check out dives. Now this PADI instructor, rightfully so, had no real idea of what I knew and what skills I had. So, he asked if he could spend some time going through the course. I felt that was a good idea and agreed without hesitation. And that is when I learned that the PADI course is not nearly as intense as the SSI course, at least not at this shop with this instructor. The demands were significantly less stringent in that I didnt have to know any of the safety skills SSI taught me. Things like emergency ascents, buddy assisted ascents, search and rescue, towing a disabled diver to shore (or the boat), buddy breathing and a couple other skills. At SSI, we had to swim 12 laps in an olympic pool and then immediately tread water for 15 minutes and then immediately float for 5 minutes. I remember that distinctly because I came within an iota of quitting the whole thing about 15 times that night. All without a wetsuit.
At Padi, they did the swim in the pool but didnt have to tread water until they were in the ocean and wearing wetsuits. I did the tread water/float test again for the PADI guy and being in the ocean and wearing a wetsuit, I darn near fell asleep waiting for the time to expire. With a wetsuit and in salt water, I could not sink if I tried. That seemed like a fruitless test, if you ask me but who's asking.
Just my opinion and all those who stated it may be the instructor moreso than the course itself could be 100% correct. All I know is, my personal experience has proven SSI to appear much more difficult. And now that I have passed it, I am glad I took the most intense of the two.
Perhaps I should mention that the SSI training shop also certified me with NAUI so maybe that made a difference but I dont think so. Anyway, I am SSI and NAUI OW certified.
The lone complaint I have is that neither spent the necessary time to properly teach me buoyancy control. I think that should be a must; but then again, I think sign should be incorporated also. (sign = speaking by forming letters and words with your hands as deaf people do to communicate)
After my class and pool work, I did two ocean dives with the SSI group. The next day we went to a natural spring where the water was, let us say,,,umm, freezing. I declined to do those last two dives and got a referral letter for the next weekend.
I then went back out to the ocean with a PADI shop for my last two check out dives. Now this PADI instructor, rightfully so, had no real idea of what I knew and what skills I had. So, he asked if he could spend some time going through the course. I felt that was a good idea and agreed without hesitation. And that is when I learned that the PADI course is not nearly as intense as the SSI course, at least not at this shop with this instructor. The demands were significantly less stringent in that I didnt have to know any of the safety skills SSI taught me. Things like emergency ascents, buddy assisted ascents, search and rescue, towing a disabled diver to shore (or the boat), buddy breathing and a couple other skills. At SSI, we had to swim 12 laps in an olympic pool and then immediately tread water for 15 minutes and then immediately float for 5 minutes. I remember that distinctly because I came within an iota of quitting the whole thing about 15 times that night. All without a wetsuit.
At Padi, they did the swim in the pool but didnt have to tread water until they were in the ocean and wearing wetsuits. I did the tread water/float test again for the PADI guy and being in the ocean and wearing a wetsuit, I darn near fell asleep waiting for the time to expire. With a wetsuit and in salt water, I could not sink if I tried. That seemed like a fruitless test, if you ask me but who's asking.
Just my opinion and all those who stated it may be the instructor moreso than the course itself could be 100% correct. All I know is, my personal experience has proven SSI to appear much more difficult. And now that I have passed it, I am glad I took the most intense of the two.
Perhaps I should mention that the SSI training shop also certified me with NAUI so maybe that made a difference but I dont think so. Anyway, I am SSI and NAUI OW certified.
The lone complaint I have is that neither spent the necessary time to properly teach me buoyancy control. I think that should be a must; but then again, I think sign should be incorporated also. (sign = speaking by forming letters and words with your hands as deaf people do to communicate)
plot
Contributor
Carribeandiver,
Bouyancy control is something that takes alot of practice and will only come with diving. I don't think they could properly teach it to you in a 4 dive OW course.
Also, in my SSI class I only had to swim 1 lap in the pool, with my 3/2wetsuit on. Most people even used their fins. The massive amounts of swimming you did sounds more like a NAUI thing.
Alot of it has to do with the instructor. Be thankfull you got a good one at the SSI/NAUI shop.
Bouyancy control is something that takes alot of practice and will only come with diving. I don't think they could properly teach it to you in a 4 dive OW course.
Also, in my SSI class I only had to swim 1 lap in the pool, with my 3/2wetsuit on. Most people even used their fins. The massive amounts of swimming you did sounds more like a NAUI thing.
Alot of it has to do with the instructor. Be thankfull you got a good one at the SSI/NAUI shop.
Carribeandiver -
The things you mentioned as missing with PADI instructor are actually part of the PADI instruction offered around here. Is it possible the PADI instructor was only checking a few basic things and not the entire skill set? It's kind of like a refresher class, they don't re-check absolutely everything from the OW course, just the basic skills.
And I would also agree that bouyancy control isn't really "taught" in any OW class. But I feel your frustration, it took me a fair amount of diving to really get it nailed. They give you the techniques, but you have to spend the time to refine it.
The things you mentioned as missing with PADI instructor are actually part of the PADI instruction offered around here. Is it possible the PADI instructor was only checking a few basic things and not the entire skill set? It's kind of like a refresher class, they don't re-check absolutely everything from the OW course, just the basic skills.
And I would also agree that bouyancy control isn't really "taught" in any OW class. But I feel your frustration, it took me a fair amount of diving to really get it nailed. They give you the techniques, but you have to spend the time to refine it.
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