Rec for Dive Operator with SSI Certification Course in Cozumel

[Racer_X]

It really doesn't matter if she does PADI or SSI. I did SSI, so I figured she would do the same. But either absolutely works. Is Dive House a trustworthy place? She's a little nervous, so I want to make sure her instructor is really good.

SSI is getting rarer and rarer these days. SDI seems to be taking market share. Cheaper than PADI, and pretty much equally recognized. I'm a NAUI OW, PADI AOW, and SDI nitrox that took the SSI course as a college class for an easy A.

I would not dive with Dive House after having seen some of their dive groups last week.

 

[Saxonjd]

I did my open water with Scuba Tony, who were PADI at the time. They now offer both SSI and PADI certifications. When I last talked to them, they said they were offering SSI as it's cheaper for the client (and you can see there is a price difference on the website). They are located at the Fonatur Marina, so might be a few taxi rides up there to do the certifications. Depending on how they'll do your dives, there may be an option to pick you up down south? Worth asking. Once certified they will pick up at resorts down south. Small six pack boats and we have really enjoyed the crew and divemasters.

I worked with Israel (did the e-learning at home and just the dives in Coz). He was awesome! Very patient and reassuring. I would highly recommend. Definitely worth an email to ask about options.

 

[ggunn]

Hello! My wife and I are also going to Cozumel the first week in April. I am SSI certified, but she isn't certified yet. We plan to have her take an SSI open water certification course while we are there. We are staying at Dreams Aventuras Riviera Maya. The resort said they would recommend dive operators that provide the three day SSI certification course, but they are having a bit of trouble. We could really use a recommendation for the best place for my wife to take the course. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

As (many) others have often asked in such situations, does your wife want to spend hours of vacation time studying OW cert materials and taking tests? She could do all that at home and just do her qualification dives on Cozumel.

 

[Sloeber]

SSI is getting rarer and rarer these days. SDI seems to be taking market share. Cheaper than PADI, and pretty much equally recognized. I'm a NAUI OW, PADI AOW, and SDI nitrox that took the SSI course as a college class for an easy A.

I would not dive with Dive House after having seen some of their dive groups last week.

Thats a really odd, really wrong take. SSI is by far the fastest growing training agency right now - and for good reason. SDI is basically NAUI v2.0

 

[Sloeber]

Hello! My wife and I are also going to Cozumel the first week in April. I am SSI certified, but she isn't certified yet. We plan to have her take an SSI open water certification course while we are there. We are staying at Dreams Aventuras Riviera Maya. The resort said they would recommend dive operators that provide the three day SSI certification course, but they are having a bit of trouble. We could really use a recommendation for the best place for my wife to take the course. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

The #1 SSI training center in Cozumel for the past 8 years running is Salty Endeavors. Give us a look and you won't be disappointed. Happy diving!

 

[Racer_X]

Thats a really odd, really wrong take. SSI is by far the fastest growing training agency right now - and for good reason. SDI is basically NAUI v2.0

Here's the data I could find: https://archive.ph/X7kot

Let me know if you can't open it, but functionally the key areas are the Popularity of Dive Agencies section, specifically:
SDI 45.2% / 23.3% USA/Western Europe (areas of survey)
SSI 11.9%/26.7%

and also the market share from 2023
SDI 11.9 / 3.3
SSI 7.1 / 13.3

So the market share is arguably a tossup w/o data on total number of centers US and Western Europe for 2023.

The 2024 data is here: https://www.businessofdiving.com/number-of-scuba-diving-certifications-europe-usa
that shows an increase in market share for SDI and a decrease for SSI:
SDI 32/16, SSI 4/14.

The NPS studies I could find were less reliable but indicated that the NPS for SDI was higher than SSI as well. However, I do have to discount those because they are a bit...odd.

If you have more recent or detailed study data, I could be wrong and would be interested in being so.

 

[ggunn]

Here's the data I could find: https://archive.ph/X7kot

Let me know if you can't open it, but functionally the key areas are the Popularity of Dive Agencies section, specifically:
SDI 45.2% / 23.3% USA/Western Europe (areas of survey)
SSI 11.9%/26.7%

and also the market share from 2023
SDI 11.9 / 3.3
SSI 7.1 / 13.3

So the market share is arguably a tossup w/o data on total number of centers US and Western Europe for 2023.

The 2024 data is here: Number of Dive Certifications by Dive Centers & Instructors in Europe & USA by Category - Business of Diving Institute
that shows an increase in market share for SDI and a decrease for SSI:
SDI 32/16, SSI 4/14.

The NPS studies I could find were less reliable but indicated that the NPS for SDI was higher than SSI as well. However, I do have to discount those because they are a bit...odd.

If you have more recent or detailed study data, I could be wrong and would be interested in being so.

Does it really make any difference which agency certs you? OW training teaches you how to not kill yourself diving, but you really learn how to dive by doing it.

 

[Racer_X]

Does it really make any difference which agency certs you? OW training teaches you how to not kill yourself diving, but you really learn how to dive by doing it.

To review:
1. I posted that SSI is getting harder to find, and that SDI seems to be taking market share.
2. Someone told me I was wrong.
3. Curious to learn, I sought data to resolve the conflict, I posted what I found and asked for other data that contradicts my original viewpoint and the posted data, so I can learn and improve.

No idea why you're asking what you are asking. I made no assertions on which is better for any class, OW or otherwise.

 

[ggunn]

To review:
1. I posted that SSI is getting harder to find, and that SDI seems to be taking market share.
2. Someone told me I was wrong.
3. Curious to learn, I sought data to resolve the conflict, I posted what I found and asked for other data that contradicts my original viewpoint and the posted data, so I can learn and improve.

No idea why you're asking what you are asking. I made no assertions on which is better for any class, OW or otherwise.

I wasn't asking you in particular, just in general what difference does it make which agency has more (or less) market share? They all teach the same stuff.

 

[Sloeber]

Here's the data I could find: https://archive.ph/X7kot

Let me know if you can't open it, but functionally the key areas are the Popularity of Dive Agencies section, specifically:
SDI 45.2% / 23.3% USA/Western Europe (areas of survey)
SSI 11.9%/26.7%

and also the market share from 2023
SDI 11.9 / 3.3
SSI 7.1 / 13.3

So the market share is arguably a tossup w/o data on total number of centers US and Western Europe for 2023.

The 2024 data is here: Number of Dive Certifications by Dive Centers & Instructors in Europe & USA by Category - Business of Diving Institute
that shows an increase in market share for SDI and a decrease for SSI:
SDI 32/16, SSI 4/14.

The NPS studies I could find were less reliable but indicated that the NPS for SDI was higher than SSI as well. However, I do have to discount those because they are a bit...odd.

If you have more recent or detailed study data, I could be wrong and would be interested in being so.

A simple search shows PADI with 6600 dive centers in 180 countries, SSI with 3500 centers in 150 countries, and SDI with 1500 centers in 60 counties.

If we look at USA only, pulling from my own excel file current as of Fall 2024 (we update our dive center lists yearly, lists generated from their respective "Find a Dive Center" page), I show the following:

PADI 568
SSI 341
SDI 236
NAUI 204

For SDI, less than 80 of those centers are SDI only - most are dual with PADI or SSI.

SDI is also extremely regional and are clustered around cave dive areas. Including dual agency, Florida is more than 25% of the SDI shops in the USA (and also 52 of the 80 single agency training centers). Same correlation can be made in Mexico. In Cozumel, where we have over 100 dive centers, only 2 are SDI (whereas 22 are SSI). If we ferry over to Playa del Carmen / Tulum area, we find 25 of the 34 total Mexico SDI dive centers. Very regional / niche.

All growth measures I've seen have shown SSI is currently, for the past couple years, easily the fastest growing agency. Who knows if they will ever catch PADI, but obviously if anyone will in the near future, it will be SSI. They've added over 1000 centers in just the past couple years and are not showing signs of slowing down. I mean, they've literaly added more since Covid than SDI has in totallity.

I'm sure SDI is a great agency, this is not a knock on them in the least. I'm simply commenting on the idea that SSI is "rarer and rarer" with SDI taking the market share.