Switching Certification Agencies

[markmud]

They will used by your survivors if you ever perish while diving.

There are no Scuba police checking your depth or anything else. Usually the courts only get involved when a professional is being sued or violates a standard resulting in an injury or death. My point was that the courts see them as being important, so maybe we should as well.

PADI and other agencies will often lobby various governments in order to benefit divers, dive ops as well as themselves.

Ok,

Yeah we both agree. I do see them as important. I truly believe in institutional knowledge. A lot of people have been injured or died in order for these rules to evolve. I am also glad that an NGO sets the rules and not a legislature.


m

 

[NothingClever]

The epitome, for me, of that attitude, was a dude at DEMA, years ago, in Vegas, with an enormous PADI tattoo on his arm.

So, wait a second....does this mean a big, full color tattoo of Achim on my chest is not cool?

 

[Bigbella]

No, no, no, that's really cool . . .

 

[Manatee Diver]

There have been any number of diving clubs started to mock the agencies. UDIE, DIMY and more all try and minimize the impact the agencies have on us.

I need a UDIE card, I should ask Bird next time I see him.

 

[The Chairman]

I wouldn't have mentioned the guy's considerable girth, rotundity, gravitational pull, mass homeothermy, capsizing threat,

The technical term is bioprene. As a diver you should know this.

 

[Bigbella]

Wow, judging from this thread, I lit the scheiß on someone's porch.

Largely unintentional, I assure you. When I think of clubs -- any clubs, say NAUI or PADI -- I have a difficult time not picturing guys sporting the fez, while riding enormous tricycles; or Groucho Marx famously saying, the he "would never be part of a club that would have him as a member . . ."

 

[Efka76]

Hadn't seen post #14 until just now; threads here can go on interminably . . .

So they're the exceptions that prove the rule; and I was referring to the lion's share of sports agencies, which was the original question posed -- each of whom claim some spurious superiority over the other "model train" enthusiasts. "Like changing from Chevy to Ford," mentioned an earlier respondent, in terms of switching agencies -- my point exactly. Band-Aid® or adhesive strip? What's the f**king difference?

How many people outside the UK have even heard of the BSAC? Doubt that anyone sports an NAS or BSAC tattoo next year, at DEMA . . .

At least BSAC is quite known organisation. Also, never heard that BSAC certification would not be recognised anywhere where I dived.

 

[Efka76]

It seems that many posts became a bit off-topic.

Yes, you can switch agencies, that's not an issue. If you do not think of pursuing carrier as a pro, then there is no need to specifically stick to some agency. In principle all agencies offer similar sylabus for Open Water divers. In my opinion, there are 3 certifications which are must: Open Water diver, Advanced diver (PADI or equivalnent) and Nitrox as they open you all dive sites up to 30 m depth and you can get nitrox fills. The most important is your experience in different sites and conditions. Diver with OW certification and 1000 dives (in various conditions) will be million times more experienced than fresh diver with 10 different certifications and 100 dives.

In my subjective opinion quality of instruction depends on instructor (experience, enthusiasm, willingnes to share his/her knowledge), number of people that train together with you and time spent on instructing. I was very lucky that I got a very good open water instructor. He was young, enthusiastic, real fan of diving. Also, OW course was given to me and my wife - there were no more students. Accordingly, he was able to devote time only to us. We had to repeat various skills many times in order to show that we can easily do them not 1 time but many times. Also, our OW course lasted 5 days. We had sufficient time to read all materials, watch all videos, go through everything with instructor, spent suficient time in doing skills and open water dives. We did everything by the book, nothing was skipped or overlooked. When I did my PADI AOWD course in Koh Tao, experience was different. There were 8 students in total and instructor could not spend sufficient time with each of us. It was just diving in various conditions. No so much learning. I did Rescue diver and few other skills with instructor only (there were no other students). It was amazing experience as instructor spent 100% time with me and really wanted me to master all required skills.

My conclusion is the following: 1) Select a really good and enthusiastic instructor (agency is not important at all) 2) If you can, go for personalised instruction... I was lucky that I got practically all training (except for AOWD) as personal training for ordinary price. Try to absorb as much knowledge as possible. Do not go for certification after certification.... dive more and more, get experience and then take more advance course. You will know what questions to ask and wll get maximum value from such courses.

 

[TMHeimer]

I think it has been touched on, but--- I believe you can take any non-pro course with any agency if the prerequisite was with a different agency. Ie.-- You have NAUI AOW and CPR, you can now take PADI Rescue. If anyone knows of exceptions to this please let us know. Once at the pro level that isn't allowed. A PADI instructor must do this or that course work to become a NAUI instructor, etc.
One exception to the non-pro "switch" is Master Scuba Diver. I believe all the requirements to wind up with this cert. must be done withing the same agency. But no MSD comparison discussions need follow....

 

[Bob DBF]

Unless you are a dive proffessional, you do not belong to any agency, you just buy training from them.

And as a point of intrest, when did NAUI stop being a nonprofit?


Bob