Thoughts on the PADI Scuba Diver Cert

I'm not sure I have ever seen this discussed here. I admit I didn't look either. This is about the Scuba Diver cert. Not the BOW.


http://www.cdnn.info/editorial/padi-scuba-diver/padi-scuba-diver.html

Yes, this could be construed as a troll.

TwoBit

Is this a C-card for being something like "Resort Certified"? I think it is bad news. They say it is for folks that only do a couple dives a year. GOOD....they can't forget what they Haven't been taught.

I did one of these 10 years ago on the Great Barrier Reef. After a couple days training we went for a dip to 50 feet on the reef. One of the people sucked their air dry without checking their gage. The person panicked but performed a pretty good CESA. This person made it to the surface and was quickly rescued by the boat. All was OK, but now I look back and realize how silly we were to do what we did with such little training.....hmmmm

He recommends a sport as dangerous as snowboarding. You know how many people have been killed snowboarding. The gall of this guy. <LOL>

Sounds like PADI has found a way to cash in on resort courses. A resort course was never a course that resulted in certification and therefore the agencies didn't get paid. I think issuing a card for this level of training is a bad idea. In fact, I think resort courses, in general are a bad idea. My agency also allows them, but I will not teach one, I don't believe them to be safe.

As a PADI instructor I have a bad taste in my mouth about PADI. This and teaching kids under the age of 12 to scuba dive are programs I won't run. I also won't sell dry suit courses.
Another cash grab that's all.

Please note : We teach dry suit courses, but you get that training when you buy one of our drysuits.

A non- open water certification ?, what the "H" is that?


My 2 cents worth!

Mike D

This isn't exactly a resort course. the class consists of the first three of five confined water training sessions and the first two of four OW dives. The "certification" requires that the divers dive under supervision of a DM or above to a depth no greater than 40 ft.

I didn't like the idea at first and didn't market the class. However, my OW class is getting to be more expensive than others and I won't issue an OW cert to someone who I feel needs to be suprevised. The Scuba Diver cert gives me a way to let someone dive on vacation under supervision for the price they are looking for. If someone is going to head off to the Caribbean needing supervision lets call it what it is and require the supervision. This class is exactly what many really want and it's, IMO, more appropriate for them to have. They see the fishies and let the DM worry about the diving and just breath. Lets face it this is what the dive industry has become. It is what the public has demanded. Cheap equipment, fast cheap training and no responsibility or investment in time and effort.

No doubt that many resort dive supervisors don't respect recommended limits or even training standards. I know NEW divers who have been led through the interior of wrecks at 100 ft and through coral caves. I'm afraid I can't say in public what I would like to see done with these supervisors but I'll give a hint it involves aA big tall tree and a short piece of rope.

You have a point - all most divers want is to spend a half hour here and there underwater on vacation staring at the pretty colors. They don't want tons of classes, certification dives...work!

They just want to pick it up and go, like bicycling along the coast. They see it in much the same light. They don't see scuba diving the way a lot of us do....you can't fault 'em for it.

I would not compromise my principles. I'd quit teaching first.

Can I play devils advocate ? Ah, go on please.

Alright then. Currently the OW course if taught specifically to the standards doesn't appear to totally meet the requirements of an independant diver, but it is thought by the vacation divers to be a big chunk of their week long holiday. Could this be a good thing if it means the the SD course did teach enough to go solely on guided dives and the OW could then be raised to be more suitable to people aiming to dive independantly ? Just a thought.

Then again more centres are offering 3day OW courses now, which may be just as bad if not worse.

For the record, most of the dive centres I have dived with have made it clear that they stick religuously to the reccomended maximum depth.