PADI?

[Manatee Diver]

So, you had a really crappy instructor, who avoided the course standards. What's your point? Did you complain? Did you report him to PADI? Did you ever tell anybody his name and shame him? No? Then you are part of the problem.

I had exactly 10 dives and didn't know better, so save your indignation for someone that cares.

 

[living4experiences]

I recently completed my Open Water Certification and am super excited about scuba. In my college days, I used to scuba dive and was certified by IDEA. This time, I got my certification with PADI. It was only after signing up, I started sensing a general dislike for PADI from the scuba community. From what I pick up, PADI tends to push courses (other agencies may be guilty of this too), rush divers through programs and reward dive centers based on their revenue production with little regard to quality.

Is that the gist of it or is there more? Do PADI divers tend to be over confident or jerks? Having just gone through the course, I felt ok with it. However, I am extremely comfortable in water so I may not be a good judge. It may be more dependent on the instructor versus the agency and I'll say that our instruction did not let anyone take any shortcuts; everyone had to do everything.

Just interested to know what I've got myself into and if I should hide the fact that I got my certification via PADI.

Your fellow divers will not care who certified you. We all just want to dive. The dive shops really don't care either...they just want to see your proof of certification. My certification is from PADI, and I have come to learn that it is a well-recognized brand worldwide, so it's like your passport. You can use it anywhere in the world. As far as the quality of my training, it was poor. That's not PADI's fault, but the instructor. PADI provides them the coursework and it's up to the instructor to do his job well. What IS PADI's fault is not providing a more comprehensive course with longer instruction time and requiring, say, 25 dives to achieve OW. And I think the Nitrox training should be included in the OW course. PADI's core instruction model is really flawed.

Retrospectively, to think that I could competently perform the tasks of SCUBA after just 5 dives and some classroom time was insane. I never felt pressured to take classes, but they did offer to teach me the OW and AOW in a combo-style class, which I declined. It was several years between getting my OW & AOW, and by the time I took the AOW, I already had comfort in the AOW skills doing regular, diving so the course was easy. And, as a side note, my AOW was done in Hawaii, and given the high cost of diving in Hawaii, the cost of the AOW course was only about $50 more than if I had paid for those dives. I did all the book work at home, then did the classroom review and diving in Hawaii. It worked out great!

In summary, my opinion is that all you really need to pay for in courses would be OW, AOW, & Nitrox, since these are the most basic and necessary skills to be on your way to becoming an experienced recreational diver. I have learned so much from other, more experienced divers over the years, so I would rather spend the money I would have paid for the "fluff" specialties on actual diving. Just my opinion.

 

[tursiops]

I had exactly 10 dives and didn't know better, so save your indignation for someone that cares.

I'm sorry you don't care about the poor quality of instruction you received. I hope your diving is better than your instruction.

 

[Manatee Diver]

I'm sorry you don't care about the poor quality of instruction you received. I hope your diving is better than your instruction.

A single useless dive that was part of my AOW is a fraction of the instruction that I received.

And I would say that my diving is fine too.

 

[tursiops]

A single useless dive that was part of my AOW is a fraction of the instruction that I received.

And I would say that my diving is fine too.

So how do you know that the other dives in your AOW were up to standards?

 

[Manatee Diver]

So how do you know that the other dives in your AOW were up to standards?

How would I know? PADI doesn't publish the standards. One of the reasons that I went to TDI and NSS-CDS for tech instead of PADI.

 

[lexvil]

Can you give any real examples?

That would be rhetorical sarcasm, a joke if you will... there are 10 pages of specialties and who knows how many “special” specialties.

 

[lexvil]

You can do 100 dives on a 7-day liveaboard?

How long does a dive have to be to count as a dive?

 

[TMHeimer]

How long does a dive have to be to count as a dive?

Maybe 15' for 20 minutes, or something like that. This question has often been asked and it was hard to agree on an exact scenario. Then there is do you have to average 15 feet exactly or more, or can you be down 16' at one point but average 13. Who really knows? What proof is there other the honesty of what you log in your book? Do enough dives that well exceed both of these limits and you don't have to worry, and can count any dive if you want.

 

[lexvil]

Maybe 15' for 20 minutes, or something like that. This question has often been asked and it was hard to agree on an exact scenario. Then there is do you have to average 15 feet exactly or more, or can you be down 16' at one point but average 13. Who really knows? What proof is there other the honesty of what you log in your book? Do enough dives that well exceed both of these limits and you don't have to worry, and can count any dive if you want.

The question is “can” you do 100 dives in 7 days, yes technically.