BSAC OWI to PADI OWSI coversion?

[lord.harshil]

Hi guys, I'm in a bit of a spot (as usual)

Ok background : I'm a university student in the UK and am currently a PADI DM and I worked with a diving company in sunny singapore for the last 6 months.

Now, being a uni student, i am effing poor. So I need to do this the cheapest way possible. With the university diving club, everything operates at cost price so the BSAC instructor course seems to be really cheap (all in all roughly £300-400)

The PADI OWSI course (with exam and blah blah) appears to be somewhere in the region of £1000 (am i right here? correct me if my figures are totally off please)

So i was thinking, lets take the BSAC courses (For Dive Leaders the Instructor Foundation Course is an excellent introduction to teaching our sport, this is followed by the Open Water Instructor Course, Theory Instructor Exam and Practical Instructor Exam.) and then convert them to PADI OWSI and bingo! hello egypt! hey there gorgeous! hello sun! hello still-alive wallet!

now the problem is this :

1) did i get my figures right? or would it make more sense to go padi straight away.
2) how much does it cost to covert it to a padi owsi?
3) does the bsac instr have a yearly fee like padi does?
4) if i get my bsac inst, convert to padi, can i then choose to not stay a current bsac instr (dont pay the yearly fee) and just pay the padi yearly fee and teach and cert people with padi open water?
5) is there something else in the fineprint i missed out on?

thanks in adv dudes! :D

[Walter]

Assuming you like teaching a more complete course, you'll be happier with BSAC.

[Jim Lapenta]

Depending on where you are PADI may be more well known but BSAC will be more respected and at each level is a more complete course.

[lord.harshil]

does padi recognise bsac? can i be a padi owsi if i have a bsac instr rating?

[Jim Lapenta]

You would still have to shell out a couple to a few grand for an IDC and IE.

[lord.harshil]

so if i intend to be a padi owsi, i might as well do the idc and ie straight away from padi?

because bsac recognises padi owsis and from what i've been told, its a quick cheap conversion process.

not the same from bsac to padi?

[lord.harshil]

being brutally honest with you guys, i'm just trying to find the cheapest route since $$$ is the main factor for me right now.

if i intend to work as a padi owsi (since its the most employable open water instructor qualification) which would be the cheapest route?

[Walter]

If you don't care about the issues raised, just bite the bullet.

[Standingbear56]

BSAC = More intensive and complete courses. Very highly respected. Greater teaching satisfaction IMHO.
PADI = Larger chance of employment and a more (outside of Europe) recognized name.
Taking into account the general nature of most people, since they are both certifications recognized worldwide, most will take the easier way of doing things. ie PADI.
Yes, both BSAC & PADI recognize each other.
I would go with BSAC 1st, then get a PADI X-Over if finances allow. If not, and you are looking for a teaching career outside of Europe, then go PADI.
Take care,
George

[DevonDiver]

I was a BSAC instructor (via the military) before crossing over to PADI.

BSAC is not that wide-spread outside the UK, so employment opportunities are very scarce. Also, as a BSAC instructor alone, you would be in competition with other instructors who have ratings with both agencies.

BSAC can offer a more comprehensive course, but that depends entirely on who provides the training. If you were a BSAC instructor, then you need to be aware that there is no cross-over directly to PADI. You could skip the PADI AI course, that is all.

On a pure cost basis... it would be cheaper to go directly for the PADI IDC...if you end goal is definitely to get PADI status and seek employment as an instructor.

On a skills/experience basis...there are advantages to getting the BSAC instructor training, in addition to the PADI IDC. The same is true for any wider breadth of experience you gained.. i.e. tech.

When it comes to working as an instructor, I never regretted getting the PADI status. There are so many more opportunities with it. It isnt my favorite agency to teach for, but if you are serious about starting a career in diving (in UK and Red Sea especially) then you might struggle to find work without being able to teach fro PADI.

[DevonDiver]

so if i intend to be a padi owsi, i might as well do the idc and ie straight away from padi?

because bsac recognises padi owsis and from what i've been told, its a quick cheap conversion process.

not the same from bsac to padi?

Not the same.

You have to do the IDC and IE if you want to be a PADI OWSI. No exceptions.

If you are an instructor already, with any other agency, then you can skip the PADI AI course. That is all.

[lord.harshil]

Well that cleared up a lot of issues :D

I'm probably going to have to save up for a padi idc then, grumble mumble...

Experience wise, I'll just have to make up for it by hounding the more experienced instructors and learning from them since it is PADI after all. but lets not go there...

I'm only going to be in the UK for 4 years and lets face it, the UK isnt the best place to dive, especially when all i want in the winter is to run off to a hot boiling humid place and dive.

thanks for all the advice guys!

[SubMariner]

Not the same.

You have to do the IDC and IE if you want to be a PADI OWSI. No exceptions.

If you are an instructor already, with any other agency, then you can skip the PADI AI course. That is all.

Exactly! Most people don't realize that the IDC is broken down into the Assistant Instructor Course and the Open Water Scuba Instructor Course; they simply see it as a single entity.

As you mentioned, someone who is an Instructor with another agency would be able to skip the AI portion of the IDC, then having passed the OWSI part, go on to the IE.

[Dave1w]

Well that cleared up a lot of issues :D

I'm probably going to have to save up for a padi idc then, grumble mumble...

Experience wise, I'll just have to make up for it by hounding the more experienced instructors and learning from them since it is PADI after all. but lets not go there...

I'm only going to be in the UK for 4 years and lets face it, the UK isnt the best place to dive, especially when all i want in the winter is to run off to a hot boiling humid place and dive.

thanks for all the advice guys!

If you want to have both PADI OWSI and BSAC OWI, the actual cheapest way to get both is to do the full PADI instructor course, then BSAC will allow you to convert it to BSAC OWI by just attending the Instructor Foundation Course (£120?).

That way you do get both, which could be useful. You could teach for fun in the Uni club and teach for free at local school... PADI doesn't really recognise any instructors, so you end up doing (and paying) for just about the whole thing)

Worth keeping diving with the BSAC club, and even think about working on Advanced Diver. You 'll learn a hell of a lot more than you ever would with PADI

Another alternative is to do the OWI with BSAC then do a relatively cheap and easy crossover conversion to SSI, or SDI. Both of these give you more recognition for alreay being an instructor.

The UK is a much better place to dive than Singapore. Standards are usually higher and safer, there is hell of a lot more diving to do from the South Coast up to Scapa. A week on a liveaboard in Scotland costs about the same as a 2 day liveaboard in Singapore, and you have a whole lot more wrecks!

Dave