How many CMAS certified out there in US ?

[CMAS One]

Guess you did'nt do well in geography in school. If you open any geography text book and look at a list there is North America, South America and Central America. North America is made up of the US and Canada. Also if you say America in almost any part of the world it is immediately identified as the United States thus the term Americans. People in Canada and South America do not call themselves Americans. Justr try calling a Canadian an American and see what happens. Ha Ha!

Cheers,
Frank

 

[CMAS One]

The YMCA is no longer invoilved in Scuba Training and in issuing CMAS certification "equivalencies" (they never really taught CMAS), If you go to our webpage Welcome to CMAS AMERICAS OFFICIAL WEBPAGE you can see the list of Instructors and our coverage area. We are growing slowly but we are growing. We have a program that stresses quality training and does require more time and effort than a US based course so we recruit only the cream of the crop Instructors. They are dedicated to education not speed and money. Many of our Instructors are originally from other countries but we also have alot of home grown Instructors. It is great because it gives us a sort of miniture version of CMAS itself by having a true International organization. Come visit our website.

Cheers,
CMAS One

 

[elan]

Frank, If the comment was addressed to me then I can say that no, I did not do well geography in an american school as I have never attended the one. in my school (Russian) I was taught there are 2 continents of America (North and South). Central America is NOT a continent. It's a region - part of North American continent. Some definitions include Mexico into Central America region fully or partially, some do not. I have not got the comment about trying to call a Canadian an American. How is that related to the continents ?

 

[bjjman]

Guess you did'nt do well in geography in school. If you open any geography text book and look at a list there is North America, South America and Central America. North America is made up of the US and Canada. Also if you say America in almost any part of the world it is immediately identified as the United States thus the term Americans. People in Canada and South America do not call themselves Americans. Justr try calling a Canadian an American and see what happens. Ha Ha!

Cheers,
Frank

I was exciting about CMAS after reading a little about it, but is that the kind of dive training we can expect Frank? Central America is certainly not a continent.

 

[CMAS One]

I was not referring to Central America as a Continent just that it is a geographical barrier that defines North and South America. The point was just that AMERICA is generally considered the Political Enitity known as the USA. Nothing more was intended. If you google the Continents it says there are 5-7 depending on how you count them then gives this list.
Africa
Asia
Eurasia
Eurafrasia
Antarctica
Europe
Oceania
Australia
America
North America
South America

The Canadian reference was an attempt at a joke which since you have never been over here you did not have a way of understanding. Maybe it would mean something if I said never call some one from the Ukraine a Russian ( my experience in doing so has resulted in some very upset Ukrainians) Canadians generally do not like being called Americans. No big deal.

To answer the CMAS question it is still the highest quality training available and inferring it is not is just being in denile.

 

[Pullmyfinger]

It was my understanding that YMCA instruction was very much the equal to CMAS training. Obviously CMAS agreed based on the fact they issued a card.

I'm certain that SEI is now equal to CMAS Americas as well.

I'm am a YMCA trained diver, with the usual CMAS card that goes with it.

I'm in Guam for the next couple of years. There is neither CMAS, CMAS Americas, or SEI instruction available here. (Too bad.)

Once I leave here I'll seek out either CMAS Americas, or SEI instruction. Depending on which is available wherever I end up.

In my view CMAS Americas and SEI are equivalent. I hope to be able to find an instructor from one of those agencies. They are the only two agencies I am interested in.

 

[bjjman]

I'm in your boat, Pullmyfinger, with only really being interested in SEI and CMAS. I would like to know if anyone actually has knowledge as to the differences between the two, rather than someone's "view" of them being equivalent. Frank, any chance you can send me a list of requirements for the different CMAS certifications? There is nothing on the CMAS Americas website, and the standards on the cmas2000.org site are very general and don't get specific enough.

 

[tlessard]

My wife and I got our CMAS Cave II/Cave Diver certifications through the Mexico office with German Yanez. CMAS Cave I/Cavern Diver is equivalent to most organizations' Cavern classes but is uniqe in having a 50m/165ft penetration+depth limit (most organizations are either 40m/130ft or 60m/200ft) with all dives occurring above 20m/66ft of depth. We essentially passed out of this course with a previous PADI Cavern certification and a breif skills evaluation dive.

Cave II/Cave Diver takes you a step further than a standard Intro class and teaches progressive penetration and navigational decisions - basically puts you at the Apprentice level for most organizations with a max depth of 30m/100ft. Similar to NAUI Cave I, but without published navigational decision limits other than progressivity in order to build skills and abilities.

Cave III/Full Cave Diver finishes up the CMAS cave offerings with a regiment that dumps you out well above the qualifications of a standard Full Cave certification from other agencies: A minimum of eight cave dives are performed in a minimum of four different cave systems. Participants will perform and participate in line gaps/jumps, circuits, traverses, "Y’s and T’s", decompression procedures, restrictions, and low visibility situations, sump- and post-sump diving and the use of stage tanks (up to 2). These dives are intended to bring together all aspects and facets of preceding training and experience. All limitations of the previous levels of training are withdrawn. Upon successful completion, the candidate will be qualified as a CMAS Cave Diver III (Full Cave Diver).

The CMAS Cave Diving program is an excellent tool, second to none in the hands of a capable overhead instructor. Training material selection is left up to the instructor as CMAS does not have any required literature other than the defined training and skills standards.

Trey

 

[OceanEd]

I am a 3* CMAS Instructor who was certified in France. I am also a PADI Course Director so I might see both sides of this thing.

It does not seem like CMAS does much in the USA. In fact, I can't remember the last time I saw a CMAS certification being offered by a dive store. Because the vast majority of training takes place through the stores, CMAS would have to work with them to grow in the USA and it is not doing that.

The nice thing is that now CMAS has equivalency ratings with PADI so it is easy for a diver to cross back and forth in their training. I think this is important to give the divers freedom of choice.

 

[uncleavi]

I did a CMAS 1 and 2 star course when I learned to dive in Israel.