Newbie question: PADI or NAUI, does it matter?
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EireDiver606
Contributor
GUE Recreational Diver Level 1
I'm aware of the differences. I was simplifying.
Who said nobody likes DIR anymore? There's a whole subforum.
EireDiver606
Contributor
Some of the members in the DIR community gradually inflated their egos to the point of no return.
The DIR subforum has evolved into a discussion of GUE. GUE no longer uses the term DIR. UTD still uses the term, but descendents of the GUE usage do not accept that.
I just wasted some time and scrolled quickly through all the posts made in 2018. I may have missed some, but I found two references to the term "DIR," and here is one of them in its entirety: "RIP DIR." There have been a total of 6 threads started in that forum in 2018, and there were 11 total threads started in 2017. Go back 7-8 years and compare to see the difference.
Check out the thread "DIR Divers by Area," in which DIR divers identified themselves and gave contact information so that others could find them and meet up if in the area. There are 8 pages of people adding their names--and, yes, I am among those names. Since 2012, though, there have been a total of 5 names added to the list, with the last one added in 2015.
Man, I was just trying to refer the dude to a local instructor with a good mentality. You just try to simplify that by saying GUE/DIR so it's easier for the guy to google and understand, and it leads to this silliness.
The absolutely most important card is your credit card. If that is accepted, then your diving certification card from pretty much any of the 300 some agencies will be recognized.
As many people have said, it comes down to the instructor. There is more consistency with RAID and the 3 DIR agencies (GUE, UTD, and ISE) in terms of quality, but as John said, there are great instructors from all agencies, and poor ones as well. Hence interviewing instructors is so important. Finding the right instructor for you (I often say that I'm not the right instructor for everyone, and I don't want to be) is what is important. It is up to you to decide how stringent/easy of an open water course you want and what level of competence you want. Some people want to have cave diver like skills, others don't care if they thrash the coral and want to basically buy their c-card.
As many people have said, it comes down to the instructor. There is more consistency with RAID and the 3 DIR agencies (GUE, UTD, and ISE) in terms of quality, but as John said, there are great instructors from all agencies, and poor ones as well. Hence interviewing instructors is so important. Finding the right instructor for you (I often say that I'm not the right instructor for everyone, and I don't want to be) is what is important. It is up to you to decide how stringent/easy of an open water course you want and what level of competence you want. Some people want to have cave diver like skills, others don't care if they thrash the coral and want to basically buy their c-card.
+1 re Robert Lawrence at Depth Perceptions in Tampa. He taught me open water/Nitrox. Extremely thorough and experienced instructor and diver. His attitude is "a C card is not the goal; learning to dive safely and with situational awareness is". He spent a lot of time on trim and buoyancy. He will dive with you after the class is over and really wants to teach in a way that keeps people engaged after certification. Highly recommended!
Efka76
Contributor
I hear a lot of stories which say that instructor really matters and they are the driving force why new beginners are choosing some scuba organisations. For example, PADI is the biggest and the most recognizable scuba organization in the world, however, in Lithuania CMAS is more well known and there are more CMAS certified people comparing to PADI. This is due to the fact that toughest and most experienced instructors are CMAS instructors in Lithuania. When I asked my colleague why she choose CMAS and not PADI, she answered that she does not care about organization.... she was told to take training with very good instructor (who is CMAS instructor). Also, was I was discussing with instructors I asked why they choose to be CMAS and not PADI instructors, their answer was that CMAS is more flexible and not so money oriented as PADI.
My case was a bit different - I got my OWD in Boracay, Philippines. I choose the biggest diving scuba diving center who had excellent reviews I TripAdvisor. I really did not want my instructor to cut corners. My experience was very good: very experienced trainer was training me and my wife, there was a personal approach, everything was done by the book, instructor made sure that we can master all the required skills and was providing many additional practical advices which were not written in PADI OWD book. This OWD training took us 5 days (we could not study from early morning to late evening as we were having vacation with our small kid...). I am very happy that we had such a good and attentive instructor.
My case was a bit different - I got my OWD in Boracay, Philippines. I choose the biggest diving scuba diving center who had excellent reviews I TripAdvisor. I really did not want my instructor to cut corners. My experience was very good: very experienced trainer was training me and my wife, there was a personal approach, everything was done by the book, instructor made sure that we can master all the required skills and was providing many additional practical advices which were not written in PADI OWD book. This OWD training took us 5 days (we could not study from early morning to late evening as we were having vacation with our small kid...). I am very happy that we had such a good and attentive instructor.
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Hoag
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In my case, I didn't really have any choice. It was,IMHO, pure blind luck that I got a great instructor. I was in Panama City FL for a month for work. There was a dive shop across the street from the hotel that I was staying at that was running a course for which the timing worked out perfectly for me. I learned to dive there because the timing was right and the location was convenient. As I said, it was pure blind luck that I got a great instructor.
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