SDI Open Water Certification

[David Horak]

HI. I'm planning to take an open water certification course. One of the local dive shops offers the SDI program. I'm familiar with PADI but SDI is new to me. Can anyone help me out with some info on SDI? Your experience with the program? How widely is their certification accepted? Could I start with one certification and take additional training with another? I've hear that if I wanted to get the PADI master Diver rating, all my training would have to be in PADI courses. Thanks for your help.

 

[fgray1]

SDI is TDIs open water part. They are known world wide. The training is basicly the same with either agancy. Padi will accept SDI trainng certifications for any of their acvanced courses. The only PADI cert that I have is open water. All my others are with Other agancies and I've had no problem with cross overs.

 

[Walter]

It's a recognized agency. They don't teach dive tables, which in my opinion is a short coming of their program. OTOH, other programs also have short comings, some of them much more serious, IMHO, than not teaching tables. You can switch between agencies.

 

[dyarab]

It's a recognized agency. They don't teach dive tables, which in my opinion is a short coming of their program. OTOH, other programs also have short comings, some of them much more serious, IMHO, than not teaching tables. You can switch between agencies.

That is not entirely true. SDI does teach dive tables, but they do strees the computer over the tables. My SDI instructor taught us tables. Which just leads into the statement that the instructor is more important that the 3 or 4 letters you get certified with.

That being said I am very happy with SDI and the instructor. I have never had a problem diving on my SDI C-Card. And I'm presently "enrolled" in their advanced diver program which requires more dives (I will need at least 6 OW "check-off" dives in 3 specialties... deep, wreck, and nav are what I chose. My 4th is equipment which requires no dives), and at least 25 total dives, to get your AOW.

I believe, someone correct me if I'm wrong, that you can get PADI AOW and have under 10 dives.

Like you'll read on this board ad nauseum... it's the instructor that counts.

 

[Walter]

Actually, it is entirely true. Your instructor added that to the class, it is not part of the SDI program.

I believe, someone correct me if I'm wrong, that you can get PADI AOW and have under 10 dives.

You can do it with 9 dives. A joke, IMHO. Which goes to show that while:

it's the instructor that counts.

can be true, don't count on it. The agency does play a very big part in the quality of your course.

 

[dyarab]

Actually, it is entirely true. Your instructor added that to the class, it is not part of the SDI program.



You can do it with 9 dives. A joke, IMHO. Which goes to show that while:



can be true, don't count on it. The agency does play a very big part in the quality of your course.

Couldn't it be the other way around? That some instructors leave it out ?? The tables, and instructions on how to use them, are in the SDI OW manual. Not being argumetative... just pointing it out.

 

[Lead_carrier]

Couldn't it be the other way around? That some instructors leave it out ?? The tables, and instructions on how to use them, are in the SDI OW manual. Not being argumetative... just pointing it out.

I'm not a SDI instructor but I agree with Walter, any SDI instructors correct us if we're mistaken. Tables are not REQUIRED by SDI.. They can be added by the istructor. If they are required and they are left out then that would be a gross negligence on the part of the instructor that would get them nailed if it ever came to light.

 

[Tanked Monkey]

When I got my SDI OW, I learned the tables. But we didn't focus on them for hours. The instructor just went over them, making sure we all knew the nuts and bolts behind them and plan our dives with them. It's important to have an understandind of how to use tables, and why they work. Because they're in the course book, I would think that they're part of the curriculum, but am not an instructor, so I can't say for sure.

I've never had any problems with using my SDI card. And now that I'm SDI AOW, never had problems with that too. I really like the fact that they require you to have 25 dives under your weightbelt before getting the AOW card. It kind-of forces you to get experience, rather than just having a paper cert with only 9 dives.

Mike

 

[StSomewhere]

I believe, someone correct me if I'm wrong, that you can get PADI AOW and have under 10 dives.

What's your point? The SDI AOW could easily consist of a total of 10 training dives in a row, plus 15 dives to 20 feet for 10 minutes each. I've heard this same crap from a bunch of SSI AOW divers on a recent boat dive who weren't exactly going to qualify for the scuba hall of fame anytime soon.

 

[Tanked Monkey]

What's your point? The SDI AOW could easily consist of a total of 10 training dives in a row, plus 15 dives to 20 feet for 10 minutes each. I've heard this same crap from a bunch of SSI AOW divers on a recent boat dive who weren't exactly going to qualify for the scuba hall of fame anytime soon.

No one said that AOW qualifies a diver into the scuba hall of fame.

But I would much rather dive with an OW with 25 dives, than AOW with 10. There's alot of learning in those first 25 dives. Maybe that's just me.

Mike