PADI?

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Ah! He has answered. So he objects to having more divers collect debris, and he is OK with destroying a reef to kill a lionfish, and he hates whale sharks. OK, fine. He seems to have missed the point that it may not matter to newer divers what HE likes or dislikes, or that what he is good at may not be what others are goos at, but they would like to learn about.

I am simply against cynical nickel and diming -- that's all -- in an already expensive pursuit; have nothing against whale sharks; trash collecting; and have never harmed a reef, while pronging tasty lionfish . . .
 
Sooooooo, no more Fish ID courses from Kosta? Oh well.....
Why not? It is a great course if taught by someone knowing the fish, especially if coupled with the REEF.org materials.
 
I am simply against cynical nickel and diming -- that's all -- in an already expensive pursuit; have nothing against whale sharks; trash collecting; and have never harmed a reef, while pronging tasty lionfish . . .
What makes it "nickel and diming"? If you want to go out and learn those things by yourself, go out and learn by yourself. If you want a qualified instructor to teach you, why not take a class? If you do take a class from a professional instructor, why shouldn't that instructor be paid?

I try to play golf. I just went to the driving range this afternoon to work on some stuff on my own. It only cost me the price of the balls I hit. But I am having trouble with my driver in particular, so I am going to have a lesson with a professional golf instructor. I will have to pay him for that, but I will not accuse him of nickel and diming me because he won't do it for free.
 
I am simply against cynical nickel and diming, in an already expensive pursuit; have nothing against whale sharks; trash collecting; and have never harmed a reef, while pronging tasty lionfish . . .
That's a fair criticism of all mainstream agencies, not just PADI. Who doesn't offer boat diver, drift diver, and similar?

Though on boat diver, I will throw in this class for free to customers who dive off my boat a number of days, and I will make it a darn good one. I'll bug people like Frank to have appropriate information. If God forbid there's a medical emergency, I want my customers to be helpful at a minimum by getting out of the way.

But let's remember the market. That's what PADI is leading at. The other agencies provide similar offerings, PADI has marketing that should be studied in B-schools.

People want quick and easy. And guaranteed. They don't care about good, as one certification is equal to the next. They want it to be fun. Too much work is not fun to most. (my fundies course was hard work, wasn't fun, but I did enjoy it tremendously).

This is a business, and PADI and every competing mainstream agency, is looking to maximize profits. There is slimy behavior, looking the other way by everyone.

My gripe with PADI is the inflexibility in their courses. I couldn't start a course with skin diving skills like I can with any other agency. That's a super useful tool for me when teaching open water, as it eases students into scuba. Moving surface skills around should also be a non issue, same with free flowing regulator. Plus, I cannot add performance requirements for certifications.

But guess what? Most people don't want that. And that's fine, I serve a niche market.

PADI serves the largest segment of the market. Same as other agencies.
 
I started going through the websites of other agencies to post some of their information on specialty classes, but I decided it was a waste of time and will just supply the first two I checked.

From the NAUI website:
NAUI training continues far beyond the basics! NAUI Instructors teach a wide range of specialized types of diving. Courses include underwater archaeology, rescue training, night diving, deep diving, digital imaging, search & recovery, public safety diving, and much more. Just about any area of underwater interest is taught in a NAUI Specialty course. Join the fun and continue diving today!
From the SDI website:
One of the many benefits of getting involved in scuba diving is that the options for specializing your interests are enormous. Do you like mountain climbing? Have a thing for archaeology and history? Are you fascinated with marine biology? Or do you just aspire to be the best photographer out there so you can capture unique moments and share them with your friends, family, and social media following?

Once you are Open Water certified you can proceed to explore a wide array of activities that may only be a few steps away.​
 
@Bigbella. Are you upset that these classes exist, or that people choose to spend their money to take them?

I saw a new F-150 a couple of days ago, the window sticker had MSRP of $67,000.Does it bother you that someone would choose to put $35,000 worth of options on a truck? Are you so cynical that you would think that having seat warmers is not worth $1100? Or a $300 bed light?

My point, you may not see any value added to these classes, but the people that choose to shell out their money might. They may have a lot of fun catching loinfish and gently coaxing them to commit hari-kari. They get a little patch, who cares.

You are missing a great opportunity to come up with your own specialty, like octopus arm wrestling, shark dentistry, orca proctology, hagfish de slimeing, puffer fish dribbling...the options are limitless.
 
My gripe with PADI is the inflexibility in their courses. I couldn't start a course with skin diving skills like I can with any other agency. That's a super useful tool for me when teaching open water, as it eases students into scuba. Moving surface skills around should also be a non issue, same with free flowing regulator. Plus, I cannot add performance requirements for certifications.
You can do the skin diving anytime after Confined Water #1. Confined Water #1 is first because you can get credit for it from DSD.
You may have good reasons to want to change around the order of things, but PADI also has good reasons to NOT change them around, and one of the best reasons is letting a student move around between instructors and shops and get credit for what ever he/she has already done. Plus, PADI has put a lot of thought into the sequencing, based on many years, educational theory, and feedback.
In my experience, new students are nervous...and getting them right in the water with a reg in their mouth gets them over that....no time to fret and worry. I don't think they remember much of CW1, so it ought to be repeated later, but it DOES get them more relaxed.
By the way, more stuff has been moved into the dive-flexible skills (do pretty much anytime) than when you were actively teaching PADI.
 
Hartattack:
Moreover, the student never learned correct buoyancy techniques with their Open Water Course because they were on their knees most of the time with seven other students.
When I read comments like this, that start with someone criticizing PADI for the 'knees' approach, I have to chuckle, because I am always reminded of one of my favorite ads in a scuba magazine (from 2013):

upload_2020-8-10_18-13-23.png

People, get real. Virtually every agency has good instructors, and virtually every agency has some instructors that can't get out of their own way, on shore or under water. I am not a PADI Instructor, and have no particular / vested interest in 'PADI hate', or 'NAUI hate', or 'Joe's Garage Basement SCUBA Training Agency hate', for that matter. I get the sense that PADI is big, so it is probably an easy target for envy. I get the sense that some PADI instructors are frustrated that THEIR agency doesn't do exactly what THEY want it to do. That is probably true for NAUI, NASE, CMAS, whatever. So, I am curious. Does whatever alphabet agency you are affiliated with tell you that you CANNOT do something that you think is critical to training a safe, competent, diver? Competence doesn't come from open water training. Or, Advanced Open Water training, or from whatever the name of the course the student takes might be, from whatever alphabet agency they might take it. Competence comes from the diver working, continuously and with commitment, to become better.
 
You are missing a great opportunity to come you with your own specialty, like octopus arm wrestling, shark dentistry, orca proctology, hagfish de slimeing, puffer fish dribbling...the options are limitless.

Hahahahahahahaha!!!!!
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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