Best and worst PADI distinctive specialties

[Rhone Man]

What are the "best" and "worst" distinctive specialty courses that you have ever heard of? My personal list was as follows:

Best
- Twin-set diver
- Advanced wreck diver
- Underwater model (sheer genius!)

Worst
- Zen diver
- Golf ball diver
- Underwater wedding (how many times do you plan to marry?)

One of my friends had thought that there was a PADI distinctive specialty somewhere equivalent to NAUI's Helitrox, but my recollection is that PADI is pretty dead set against this for some reason.

What other weird, wonderful and inspired specialty courses have others come across?

 

[shoredivr]

Dunno, Rhone, Zen diving seems to be just what some people need. You know, those anxious people who suck back their gas supply.

Plus it's also Zendiving - The Way Scuba Diving Should Be Done /

 

[TMHeimer]

Geez, I honestly thought that 4 of those listed were jokes. We have a yearly treasure hunt up here where you pick up golf balls. What skills would you learn?

 

[Rhone Man]

Dunno, Rhone, Zen diving seems to be just what some people need. You know, those anxious people who suck back their gas supply.

Plus it's also Zendiving - The Way Scuba Diving Should Be Done /

Maybe I'm being unfair - natural suspicion of new age hippy stuff.

There is an interesting list of weird and wondeful specialty courses here:-

Distinctive Specialties | PADI Instructor News

I was also rather amazed by "Frogfish specialist" and "Indo-Pacific Nudibranch Specialty".

But I didn't want to turn this into a PADI-bash. I like the fact that there are really good distinctive specialties that ought to more mainstream.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Geez, I honestly thought that 4 of those listed were jokes. We have a yearly treasure hunt up here where you pick up golf balls. What skills would you learn?

One of the "games" I used to play with my OW students to teach them buoyancy control was to spread golf balls around the bottom of the pool and suspend two buckets at different heights in the pool. The objective was to pick up a golf ball without touching the bottom, then to place it in one of the buckets without hitting the surface. It's a neat game I learned from another instructor who used to be active here on ScubaBoard. At some point I or one of the assistants would swim up to a student and toss in a mask clear or OOA drill ... the objective was to do it without having to touch anything.

I found it to be a very effective and fun way to get them practicing buoyancy control skills ... didn't realize you could turn it into a specialty.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[BrotherBear]

Geez, I honestly thought that 4 of those listed were jokes. We have a yearly treasure hunt up here where you pick up golf balls. What skills would you learn?

I hope that's not in a golf course pond!
I've got a friend who was a golf course greenskeeper for years, according to him the chemical runoff from all the stuff they treat the courses with would melt your skin :shocked2:

 

[Twistedarts]

i will add one that I have... "Aquarium Diver" the only upshot was the back end fish ID and education that came along with it.

 

[knotical]

AndyNZ has a specialty titled something like "Self-Reliant Diver" that I think would be great.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Hydrooptix mask. If you have good eyes it taught you how to ruin them with contacts so you could use the mask.- Bad idea

Manatee specialty- good idea but offered only by an op with a rep for harrassing the animals

 

[Rhone Man]

What about really good ones? I thought twin-set diver was a brilliant idea. Can't believe PADI haven't copied that generally.