Which Certifying Agency?

[Skittl1321]

There is only one dive shop near me. I went with them. Agency didn't matter.

Since I chose to do the pool class twice (I passed, but wasn't ready for OW in my view) I worked with two different instructors. One was much better than the other. I really think it is instructor, not agency, that matters. If I had the second instructor first, I don't think I would have gone back for day 2 even.

 

[iluvtheocean]

when i did my initial OW - it was based on cost, the distance from my house and/or work - how long the course was, and how it fit with my schedule. after narrowing it down, then went to the shop & interviewed them -- i didn't know about the current shop i prefer now -- farther away from the house - but i like em better for the people, service, etc. and they offered a dive club to encourage you to keep diving. i have found that the better shops down here do that

 

[BigRedDiver1]

Personally I think that there are good and bad instructors/shops for every agency. That said after my experiences with "insta Buddies" I found myself thanking the good lord I got the training that I did. I went through NAUI as that's what agency my college offers, quite frankly I think I received the best possible training in my area!


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[wetb4igetinthewater]

Personally I think that there are good and bad instructors/shops for every agency.

I completely agree with this. I've dealt with one PADI school that I believe is so negligent that they should have their credentials yanked by PADI. When I share the specifics with other divers/instructors, they shake their heads at it.

I've also have very good experiences with another PADI LDS (Underwater Sports, Bellevue and Federal Way) locations where the instructors were professional and safety conscious. Another PADI LDS that went under recently in my area, had an instructor who really stressed safety.

I also take courses from a local SSI shop (Silent World) that are professional and safety conscious as well.

Your mileage will really vary. I would like to assume that the bad apples are the exception, not the rule.

 

[violamama]

For my OW I chose a PADI shop because it seemed to be the most prevalent option and I knew I could find PADI shops just about anywhere there was diving. For AOW I think I'll go with SSI because I like the shop and instructor offering it, and I've since learned that certs qualify you for diving with various shops and aren't necessarily limited by agency.

In my short (not yet existent?) diving life, I have come to believe that I'm responsible for fleshing out the ideas presented in a class anyway. The underlying requirements for the various agencies are strikingly similar, so in the end the ball is in my court in terms of what I make of any training. As long as my instructor isn't totally incompetent or misrepresenting crucial points, the agency I choose is unlikely to slow down my progress as a diver too much. If I were limited by price or location, I would go with the best I could do and not worry too much beyond that.

More experienced people on the boards seem to confirm this line of thinking and go heavy on the personal responsibility thing.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I got my cert through a PADI shop. Not that I even knew the difference between any of the agencies at the time it just so happened the shop was PADI.
Looking back though, it wouldn't have made a pimple on a rats ass what agency I got certed through, in my mind now they all suck to some degree about the same, at least when I hear from the old timers how training used to be.
I don't know about other people but I like stuff to be hard, I want to know I earned something.

As far as I'm concerned my training didn't really start until I got out on my own and started doing "real" dives with experienced divers off the Northern California Coast. This is a place that will weed out the weenies real quick. My OW through rescue certs were only trivial "brownie buttons" as I see it. There was some good stuff but fairly inadequate in my estimation for as much hoopla as is made about them.
I also took some tech courses later and we did some expedition dives to rem ote places that nobody had ever been.
Some of the stuff I learned was great and was just what I was looking for.
That was IMO what a sport diving course should have been from the get go.

So to conclude, I don't really think it makes any difference what agency you decide on, go with whatever is most convenient logistics wise. Most of your skills honing and comfort building will be done later with really good mentors. Hook up with a few veteran divers if they will take you under their wings and learn from them. Soak it up like a sponge. That's really the last hope for diving education these days I'm afraid.

 

[TSandM]

I got certified at the shop that was near our house. I think I sort of recognized the PADI emblem, but honestly, I suspect I thought they were the only agency teaching scuba. I didn't take anything terribly seriously. I thought diving was something I would do every once in a while, on a trip. I did no research at all, market or otherwise.

 

[Diving Dubai]

I went with PADI as I wanted to do it somewhere wharm on holiday. Some of my friends had done BSAC and did their open water in the cold - which didn't appeal. Now moving to BSAC as I'm at a BSAC club in the warm and most instructors here are BSAC (but they've promised faithfully I won't have to dive anywhere cold)

 

[Redshift]

I went with PADI as I wanted to do it somewhere wharm on holiday. Some of my friends had done BSAC and did their open water in the cold - which didn't appeal. Now moving to BSAC as I'm at a BSAC club in the warm and most instructors here are BSAC (but they've promised faithfully I won't have to dive anywhere cold)

You don't know what you're missing!