Sidemount Certifications Requirements

[MXGratefulDiver]

C'mon guys, Nick's been pretty up-front about who he is. Scubamarketing's the name of his company ... it's all in the link in his sig line (Founder of New Scuba Marketing). I don't think he's got any vested interest here, other than trying to present a different perspective than the usual "PADI sucks". He's got a point that we don't really know why this policy exists ... and frankly, given we're talking about a resort that accepts certifications from any agency, I doubt PADI has anything to do with it ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Agreed. When it became clear that the info came from the person who was doing the booking it seems more likely that they are trying weasel some money out of the OP for a card that for him is essentially useless.

 

[Mark Michaud SELAUSAR]

C'mon guys, Nick's been pretty up-front about who he is. Scubamarketing's the name of his company ... it's all in the link in his sig line (Founder of New Scuba Marketing). I don't think he's got any vested interest here, other than trying to present a different perspective than the usual "PADI sucks". He's got a point that we don't really know why this policy exists ... and frankly, given we're talking about a resort that accepts certifications from any agency, I doubt PADI has anything to do with it ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Again, my twisted sense of humour is all I meant to note. Nothing else. As far as I am concerned the resort can do what they want and divers can choose to participate or not. Personally I have to wonder why no more info has come from the OP. If a person has a gripe, and airs it, questions arise that need to be clarified. The OP needs to fill in the new blanks. Mark

 

[Scott]

Personally I have to wonder why no more info has come from the OP. If a person has a gripe, and airs it, questions arise that need to be clarified. The OP needs to fill in the new blanks. Mark

I suspect they are enjoying the trip. Maybe later this week they will enthrall us with tales of SM diving on Roatan................or not.

 

[CamG]

Greetings all and I am a late comer to the party but this topic interests me very much.
I have met some divers lately who are physically unable to dive BM singles or doubles due to back injuries.
Two of these divers dive SM singles and independent doubles with little to no pain at all.
I told one of these to seek a medical form from the agency that was questioning his involvement in diving in general.
Then seek doctors signature to secure a waiver from the agency in question.

If your doctor signs off then would they make an exception due to physical limitations?
I do not know but this topic will be discussed very soon here I am sure.

I would contact Padi and get their thoughts and then decide the best coarse of action.
If it is physical limitations and you can dive in SM w/out issue then I would seek to prove my skills in a check out dive.
If that was not an option then at that point it would be time to call the trip and seek a refund.
If they refuse and seek legal advice with possible action if they were being discriminatory in any way.
Just my opinion and I have no dogs in this fight.

It is 2011 and if dive ops have not saw much SM in the REC world then you better get ready it is coming whether you like it or not!
Just the simple facts divers are getting older and wish to continue diving so it is a method with a purpose that is all.

CamG Keep Diving....Keep Training....Keep Learning!

 

[Odys]

The only SM PADI Cert would be a distinctive specialty until after DEMA. There will be an "official" rec and a tec course available at that time from what I've been told. I'm not sure of any other training orgs offering SM Cert cards (I'd be surprised if there wasn't.) I understand why a dive op would request proficiency in an unfamiliar rig to them (safety) but demanding a cert card that is only distinctive at this time seems silly. SM makes a lot of sense for a lot of reasons outside the caves. I too would like to read the OP's post trip comments.

 

[CaveMD]

While I agree that everyone should understand sidemount, it isn't practical, especially in places that don't have much in the way of tech diving. The issue is if they claim it's a PADI policy when in reality it's a business policy. While I personally think it's a little odd, again, we don't have any detailed information.

Please excuse my ignorance, but could you explain yourself? I'm not sure how you draw that conclusion. Going from backmount to sidemount I have to strongly argue the alternative, it's much easier and more practical.

 

[scubamarketing]

Please excuse my ignorance, but could you explain yourself? I'm not sure how you draw that conclusion. Going from backmount to sidemount I have to strongly argue the alternative, it's much easier and more practical.

I'll do my best to explain myself. The local dive center I worked for has been in business for 55 years and have a booming business. They will not stock sidemount gear because they can just special order it and have it within 3-5 days for anyone interested. They may have one of their staff instructors offer the specialty once it's official, but it will probably rarely, if ever, be on rotation at the shop or through any of their college programs. The reason being most of the dives in the area are well within recreational limits, so very few students progress into the technical world. This is simply due to proximity of dive sites. There are several technical divers on staff, but they haven't gone for tech instructor ratings because the costs due to travel don't pencil out. So in their situation, it isn't practical for every divemaster on up on staff to be aware of every version of sidemount options out there because it is, at this point in time, highly unlikely that they will run into it. I think they're smart enough to figure one out after looking at it for 5 minutes, at least from a "if I need to rescue you, here's what I'd do" standpoint.

Going back to my tank boot example, it would be like me like saying sidemount divers aren't allowed in the pool, regardless of having a tank boot. Tank boots aren't perfect and two tanks doubles the likelihood of breaking a tile. That could be the pool facility policy, it doesn't have to make sense to those of us who understand the gear, especially when maybe 1% of people going through that pool would want to use their sidemount gear.

 

[CaveMD]

They may have one of their staff instructors offer the specialty once it's official, but it will probably rarely, if ever, be on rotation at the shop or through any of their college programs. The reason being most of the dives in the area are well within recreational limits, so very few students progress into the technical world. This is simply due to proximity of dive sites. There are several technical divers on staff, but they haven't gone for tech instructor ratings because the costs due to travel don't pencil out. .

I think this has uncovered part of the misunderstanding, why do you believe that sidemount is only for technical divers? Sidemount IS official with multiple organizations. My sidemount/stage cave instructor is a sidemount instructor trainer for PSAI, he has even taught open water students in sidemount. My girlfriend's mom does zero technical diving and she has dove sidemount for at least 2 years.

 

[BKP]

I agree...

I have no desire to cave, and I'm not looking for a reason to go to tri-mix depths, however, sidemount represents (at least to me, and many others I've talked with), a means to:
- Extend my bottom time at recreational depths (an experienced ex-Navy diver friend dives doubles simply because his SAC isn't great)
- It represents even greater redundancy (for those of us sensitive to that)
- I believe it improves your diving, with required awareness for: PSI/switching regs, adjusting trim, improving finning efficiency (necessary for pushing doubles -- I even switched from splits to blades, and made frog-kicking my staple), multiple options for rigging, depending on your dive circumstance
- And, I, like the OP, just prefer not to have a tank on my back

Obviously, it's not a cheap focus for most recreational divers -- however, I can certainly see many recreational divers moving in that direction... we'll see --

My $.02 --