Which Certifying Agency?
- Thread starter 9supratt4
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Maybe if you were in an absolutely diving driven market.... I honestly think that 99% of those heading into OW had little to no clue as to various certifying agencies... And if they did, it was likely through marketing BS.... You walk in the door, and you get what they have on the menu...
runsongas
Contributor
honestly, I picked the LDS i did OW with based on a good Google review and a groupon on their website. I had no clue about the different certification agencies.
tplyons
Contributor
All my local shops certify through one of the bigger agencies, either PADI or SSI.
The only time where agency would influence my decision is if it's an agency that's not recognized world-wide.
The only time where agency would influence my decision is if it's an agency that's not recognized world-wide.
I chose CMAS p1 over PADI owd. This also meant that I chose one of the two local dive shops. Later I did PADI AOWD (unfortunately) but took an 'equivalent' CMAS p2 shortly thereafter.
I have driven 170km/direction once a week to attend a NAUI class although there was PADI classes available next door. It was worth it.
I actually chose an organization, a system, and the dive shop was only means to an end.
I have driven 170km/direction once a week to attend a NAUI class although there was PADI classes available next door. It was worth it.
I actually chose an organization, a system, and the dive shop was only means to an end.
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I didn't know what a PADI was. Walked in the door by chance. There's only one other small shop that I know of for probably 100s of miles, so it didn't matter. Like many I suspect, I had no idea what a dive agency was. Never thought to look on the internet. I thought the DM ranked above our instructor at first-- DM sounded better....I'm sure many will say check out the shop, talk to the instructor(s), because they make the difference, not the agency. I imagine location, travel time/cost, prices, etc. make the decision for a lot of people.
BEFORE I ever actually started training, I did some reading (I hesitate to call it 'research'), and came to the conclusion that I wanted to go with NAUI, rather than PADI (this was back in the mid-90s) - the buzz on the web, at least what I came across, seemed to suggest that the training was more 'rigorous'. But, for various reasons, I didn't pursue training until 2001. Then, I did so because a friend / work colleague told me he and his son just got certified. He did his certification through a particular shop because it happened to be near his home. I then did my certification through that same shop, because he said he had a good experience. It happened to be a PADI shop - our decision really had nothing to do with the agency affiliation. Because I did OW through that shop, I later did AOW through that shop, then various other courses with them. I liked the staff. When I decided to do DM, I saw no reason to change. Later, since I was a PADI DM, why would I do my IDC with another agency? Only after I became an instructor did I begin to appreciate differences, and similarities, among certifying agencies.
Personal / word-of-mouth recommendations, familiarity, convenience, even inertia all play a role. For me, agency affiliation really did not. If the shop we started with had been NAUI, or SDI, whatever, I would have probably pursued training and become an instructor through another agency.
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My initial criteria was cost, since I didn't know if I would be able to complete the swim/float part of the class I didn't want to be out too much $$$
I actually spent a year looking for a dive buddy to do a class with me because one shop was offering a 2 for the price of one class.
Once I found someone the offer was no longer valid
Then I did a discover scuba class because the same buddy wasn't too sure about taking the class and paying full price. So after doing the DSD class he told me he wasn't interested.
The moral of the story, don't be cheap! I ended up spending more and wasting close to two years to finally get certified.
I actually spent a year looking for a dive buddy to do a class with me because one shop was offering a 2 for the price of one class.
Once I found someone the offer was no longer valid
Then I did a discover scuba class because the same buddy wasn't too sure about taking the class and paying full price. So after doing the DSD class he told me he wasn't interested.
The moral of the story, don't be cheap! I ended up spending more and wasting close to two years to finally get certified.
It may be a question if a potential diver has more than one dive centre nearby, offering training from different agencies. Besides the whole aspect of the facilities and maybe friendliness of staff, they will look at prices and try to figure out if there are differences in the organisations.
And despite the advices here always going towards the choice of instructor, if you do an online search, or even if you talk to the potential instructors, they will praise the agency, agencies praise themselves, how large they are, the materials they offer, etc, but rarely you see instructors talking about themselves (I've even seen websites of dive centres without any info about the staff) and don't see agencies talking about their requirements for instructors, instructor standards, their instructor training, how they keep quality up, etc (GUE does have some).
And despite the advices here always going towards the choice of instructor, if you do an online search, or even if you talk to the potential instructors, they will praise the agency, agencies praise themselves, how large they are, the materials they offer, etc, but rarely you see instructors talking about themselves (I've even seen websites of dive centres without any info about the staff) and don't see agencies talking about their requirements for instructors, instructor standards, their instructor training, how they keep quality up, etc (GUE does have some).
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