Certification and Specialties from Different Agencies

[sffrenchman]

I am currently PADI AOW certified and also have a couple of PADI specialties (dry suit and PPB). I am considering additional specialties such as Nitrox, Deep Diving etc... I was wondering if there is any downside in taking specialties from a different certification agency such as SSI. Would SSI allow me to take specialties with them even if I am not (A)OW certified with them? The reason I am asking is because an instructor that I like is with SSI and I have had bad experiences with PADI instructors lately.

Thanks for your feedback

 

[Sas]

SSI should recognise your PADI certs. My buddy did his OW and AOW with PADI but has done other specialties with SSI, with no problems.

If you go for something like "Master Diver" I think the specialties need to all be from the one agency.

 

[Walter]

Take the courses from the best instructor you can find.

 

[RJP]

Take the courses from the best instructor you can find.

Yup

(Sound's somewhat similar to "It’s the Instructor not the Agency" though, doesn't it?)

 

[Kingpatzer]

I don't want to presume to put words into Walter's mouth - but I always got the impression his distaste for particular agencies rested not so much on the content of their specialty courses, but on the failure to have extensive OW courses to start with.

So, it really doesn't sound like the same thing.

That said, I agree -- for specialty courses take from the best instructor you can find.

One of the best courses I ever took was PADI's "Underwater Fish Identification." That is not typically a course I'd take, but a fellow I know told me that a buddy of his who happened to be both a marine research biologist and a PADI instructor was coming to town. I learned more about my local lakes and quarries in one afternoon than I'd have learned in a lifetime without that class.

Granted, he went well beyond the PADI course requirements, but it was his passion for the topic that drove the experience. I've met guys who had the same level of passion for how equipment is put together, or the physics of gas mixing, or safety and rescue procedures, and so on. They're almost never the same instructor. Take some time to find the guy who really puts his whole heart into the course you want to take. The extra time searching will make it worth the effort.

 

[Walter]

(Sound's somewhat similar to "It’s the Instructor not the Agency" though, doesn't it?)

Perhaps, but with very few exceptions, it eliminates some agencies.

 

[sffrenchman]

Thanks to all. I agree that the instructor makes it all worthwhile.

I am also taking a class in marine biology at the local community college in the fall. The professor organizes field trips with the students (optional) to go diving at local sites. I am looking forward to that.