What is the real difference in certification levels

[NC Air Hog]

I know only a handful of things for sure in life. Here they are to date:

(1) I have always, and will always love Chocolate Rice Krispies

(2) HOG regs have never once let me down

(3) Becoming a Dive Instructor was one of the best things I have done, but now I am worried about getting sued every day of my life

(4) PADI's Underwater Pumpkin Carving Specialty is one of the most life changing events you could ever take on

(5) I pay too many taxes

 

[Bob DBF]

Any c-card is nothing more than a learner's permit. But an AOW card does open up some "advanced" dives that someone with so little experience has no business doing.

Ken

The PADI Scuba Diver is a "learners permit", since you have to dive with an instructor or DM. The OW diver has a "licence" and should need no supervision unless he has not been trained to standards.

RSTC OW Diver
Open water certification qualifies a certified diver to procure air, equipment, and other services and engage in recreational open water diving without supervision. It is the intent of this
standard that certified open water divers shall have received training in the fundamentals of recreational diving from an instructor (see definition). A certified open water diver is qualified
to apply the knowledge and skills outlined in this standard to plan, conduct, and log open-water, no-required decompression dives when properly equipped, and accompanied by another certified
diver.

I have never had to show anything but my OW card yet, but hold higher certs in case I have to deal with a real Richard.



Bob
--------------------------------------------
I think that advocating unsafe and dangerous practices is both stupid and foolish. That is why I don't tell people to do what I do. Dsix36

 

[KeithG]

The PADI Scuba Diver is a "learners permit", since you have to dive with an instructor or DM. The OW diver has a "licence" and should need no supervision unless he has not been trained to standards.

Please stop using the word "permit". It is too much like the word "license". most c cards are just attendance ribbons. Thanks for showing up!

I have a license to drive. I would need a permit to kill some wild thing lurking about in the woods or to put another sink in my kitchen.

For most of the world, our sport is not regulated or licensed. Thankfully.

P.S. When talking about diving to a francophone here in the great white north, they keep referring to my diving certification as my diving license. So there are some basic language barriers out there.

 

[RJP]

(2) HOG regs have never once let me down

In all of the many months you've been diving them?



---------- Post added January 17th, 2015 at 11:07 PM ----------

TNAUI doesn't require specialties though, that is all I was saying. PADI requires them as prereq's for certain levels and they have just gone overboard with it. These types of things aren't anything that instructors should be teaching, they should be taught by marine biologists. Not sure why you guys think I'm trying to make NAUI sound better, they aren't, they're all in the same boat together, PADI just has the bullhorn. They should never have made Project AWARE a certification, not that they shouldn't have done it, but they shouldn't have turned it into another way for shops to make money off of something that shouldn't be for profit

Give that a read tomorrow and see if you meant it to sound that silly.

:d

---------- Post added January 17th, 2015 at 11:09 PM ----------

What happens if there is an amazing instructor for one of the "lesser" agencies, such as PADI, and you only have an average instructor in something like SSI?

What happens?

Nothing.

 

[NC Air Hog]

In all of the many months you've been diving them?

At least two months now

 

[Redshift]

Of course there are people who are more natural than others, of course there are instructors who are better than others, but there are sometimes significant differences between diving teaching programs, so I think it's not unrealistic to say that with a large sample of trainees and instructors doing just what's required, then some agencies will provide more knowledge and training than others and on average produce better divers.

 

[scubadada]

One of the best diving classes I've taken to date was a PNW Marine ID class, which is a distinctive specialty developed by one of our shop's instructors. It's taught over about 12 hours, and includes over 1000 slides of PNW animals as juveniles, adults, in mating colors, on their preferred habitats . . . it's an amazing class which adds enormous value to the diving of anyone who takes it.

One of the best "specialty" classes I've taken did not offer a certification. It was "Dive with the Naturalist" with Jerry Lignon at Bonaire Dive & Adventure in Bonaire. It was a half day class, only my wife and me. It started with about 3 hours of slides and discussion regarding Bonaire's sea life, appearance, habitat, and behavior. That was followed by a 1 hour plus dive on Bari Reef to reinforce what we learned in the classroom. It was a fantastic experience, one that has served me well since taking it in 2008.

The course is also offered as the 1st half of either the PADI Aware Fish ID or Underwater Naturalist specialty. If I have the opportunity to return to Bonaire, I'll spend more time with Jerry, worth every penny and more.

 

[Kharon]

I would need a permit to kill some wild thing lurking about in the woods ...

Actually you would need a hunting, fishing, or trapping license in every state in the US. Killing animals is highly regulated. Killing people, not so much. Too bad you can't get a hunting license for lobbyists. lol

 

[wknight0691]

The BSAC AD will have been assessed on Dive Management, Rescue Management in addition to demonstrating diving in a variety of conditions and situations. Like leading the dive, dives to 30m plus, with and without deco stops; night, low vis, freshwater and salt, drift, wreck; hard boat, RIB and shore; organising transport, accommodation, boats, compressors; in other words anything to do with running a diving trip or expedition.

Can you tell me is the BSAC AD above BSAC Dive Leader?,,,
Only reason I ask is that over the years I have seen "more than one" BSAC Dive Leader who was no better than anyone else on the boat - in terms of ability or air consumption,,, but YES they really did believe that they were "Something Special" as they were BSAC .
All certifying bodies produce the good, the bad and the ugly divers and IMHO most of the comments on here point to one seriously important factor ,,,,,
THE Instructor,,, he or she can make a huge difference.

 

[drbill]

Today the instructor plays a major role given the similarity on training for OW certification. Back in the 1960s when I got certified by Los Angeles County, the "OW" cert was far more rigorous and allowed us to dive to 130 fsw. The course also included deep dives and rescue training.