Best value location for PADI Certification

[zich6]

Given your Ranger background, I'd echo ^^^^^ on gear. BP/W system is based around 2" webbing and a support plate. Mix, match, tie, tape whatever you need onto that for the mission, or your preference over time. Start with an initial cut at what you need, and adapt it to you.

Browse the BC sub forum for more. It opens a small can of worms of what components you want from whom. But the sewn-all-together option is committing now to someone else's idea of how exactly your complete load carrying gear should be sewn, not clipped/tapped, together.

Do you have a recommendation for a tech agency? Thanks.

 

[zich6]

Having taught SSI in the recent past, I will say their online training materials are really, really, really good. In terms of academics I stopped having to teach. Exams scores were very high.

Just a thought if you are looking at getting certified in general or specifically want PADI open water. I have no idea what your goals are.

My goals are to be technically proficient and rise to advanced open water, at a minimum. So, you'd recommend SSI over other agencies? How do they differ from PADI and others?

 

[MichaelMc]

Do you have a recommendation for a tech agency? Thanks.

Others are more expert on agency and instruction than I. I think common strong advice is to get taught by a cave instructor or at least cave trained. At OW level, agency is not so important, the instructor is. In the sense of how fully or extra they embrace what they should teach you.

Buoyancy/Trim/Propulsion are the life of how you move in the water. That is the bread and butter of some agencies, GUE, that carry it to a high bar, but their training may be hard to come by depending on location, and they may not often teach their OW class. Others, Padi, have integrated good requirements into their standards, but some report that many of their instructors have not come around to embracing the newer standards.

I'm looking at tech level sidemount and cavern instruction, looking at TDI, partially for an associated SDI solo cert. TDI/SDI might be a more often heard of tech agency. But I'm more looking at the instructors. This goes beyond your OW needs, but Under the Jungle in Mexico has been recommend. A modification to others Cozumel recommendation might be to go to the mainland part of that area, Tulum/Playa, where there are many Cenote instructors and do your OW under them, but that might run 200-250/day. Most seem to teach under other agencies as well, such as RAID, PDIC, IANTD. Often agency is just a way of finding a good instructor. At some level, what agency the card is from might matter, but not at OW level. But the actual instruction will matter to you. (ETA: You do want the person checking your card for the boat to know the agency is legit.)

 

[Jim Lapenta]

My goals are to be technically proficient and rise to advanced open water, at a minimum. So, you'd recommend SSI over other agencies? How do they differ from PADI and others?

Forget about agency. Every agency has great instructors and not so great. Some instructors are people I wouldn't get in the pool with and feel safe knowing what I do now.
Select your training based on the instructor and what additional materials they add to the course. A by the book, taught to standards course is often enough to get you to where you can survive.
Choosing an instructor is actually hiring an employee to work for you. Their job is to make you proficient, skilled, safe, knowledgeable, confident, and comfortable in the environment.
You should select them based on an interview you would conduct as if you were hiring any other person to do any other job.
I have a set of interview questions I suggest people use when selecting an instructor. The full version of them are in my books but for space considerations here they are without the answers I'd expect to get and why.
1. When did you become an instructor?
2. Have you had any large gaps in your teaching career? How recently? How many courses have you taught in the past year?
3. What agency do you certify through?
4. How much time is required for the course?
5. How large are the classes?
6. What equipment do you provide and what do I need to provide?
7. Is the schedule set or flexible?
8. Do you teach skin diving skills?
9. What methods do you use to teach proper weighting?
10. What methods do you use to address the panic cycle?
11. Do you teach students to perform skills in a horizontal position from the beginning of the class?
12. Will I have time to just swim and practice the skills we learn?
13. Can I sit in on a class or pool session?
14. What methods do you use to teach buoyancy and trim?
15. How much time will I get to practice these skills?
16. Do you dive with students after the class has ended?
17. Where do you do check out dives?
18. How many places have you been diving?
19. When was the last time you were diving?
20. How often do you dive for fun?
21. Do you have references - former students that I can talk to?

These are a start. In some instances you may want to find out if you'll have the same instructor for all phases of the training.

No good instructor or operation should have any trouble with you asking these things and any others you could come up with yourself before you sign anything or hand over a nickel for training.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Others are more expert on agency and instruction than I. I think common strong advice is to get taught by a cave instructor or at least cave trained. At OW level, agency is not so important, the instructor is. In the sense of how fully or extra they embrace what they should teach you.

Buoyancy/Trim/Propulsion are the life of how you move in the water. That is the bread and butter of some agencies, GUE, that carry it to a high bar, but their training may be hard to come by depending on location, and they may not often teach their OW class. Others, Padi, have integrated good requirements into their standards, but some report that many of their instructors have not come around to embracing the newer standards.

I'm looking at tech level sidemount and cavern instruction, looking TDI partially for an associated SDI solo cert. TDI/SDI might be a more often heard of tech agency. But I'm more looking at the instructors. This goes beyond your OW needs, but Under the Jungle in Mexico has been recommend. A modification to others Cozumel recommendation might be to go to the mainland part of that area, Tulum/Playa, where there are many Cenote instructors and do your OW under them, but that might run 200-250/day. Most seem to teach under other agencies as well, such as RAID, PDIC, IANTD. Often agency is just a way of finding a good instructor. At some level, what agency the card is from might matter, but not at OW level. But the actual instruction will matter to you. (ETA: You do want the person checking your card for the boat to know the agency is legit.)

Actually at the OW level agency can matter a great deal. Some have standards that are much higher and more stringent than others.
The content and length of the class can also be vastly different by standards. Some agencies teach rescue skills and emergency decompression procedures using tables at the Open Water level.
Basic OW training is highly important and it does matter with who and where. It's the foundation of every diver and can mean the difference between having a solid one built on bedrock or one that is built on sand and will end up costing the diver time and money to correct in future training.

 

[Marie13]

My goals are to be technically proficient and rise to advanced open water, at a minimum. So, you'd recommend SSI over other agencies? How do they differ from PADI and others?

I’d recommend SDI. That’s where all my classes have been. Instructors are allowed to gear things more individually to students. E-learning is pretty good. Something to note: you can go back and forth at the recreational level, not really at tech level. If you pick a tech path, it seems people tend to stay with it, as classes build upon each other. Each agency has its own sequence. You can’t go back and forth between TDI and PADI, for example. As far as I can tell, PADI jumped on the tech band wagon when they saw it was profitable to do so.

 

[dmaziuk]

My goals are to be technically proficient and rise to advanced open water, at a minimum.

So far nobody's asked me for AOW cert and (speaking of cans of worms) when they do I'll think about whether doing that particular dive is worth it to me. If you want to get AOW, it's probably better to do it right after OW and getting some sort of a deal on the OW + AOW package. I think I've seen that once or twice in the Caribbean.

 

[zich6]

Others are more expert on agency and instruction than I. I think common strong advice is to get taught by a cave instructor or at least cave trained. At OW level, agency is not so important, the instructor is. In the sense of how fully or extra they embrace what they should teach you.

Buoyancy/Trim/Propulsion are the life of how you move in the water. That is the bread and butter of some agencies, GUE, that carry it to a high bar, but their training may be hard to come by depending on location, and they may not often teach their OW class. Others, Padi, have integrated good requirements into their standards, but some report that many of their instructors have not come around to embracing the newer standards.

I'm looking at tech level sidemount and cavern instruction, looking TDI partially for an associated SDI solo cert. TDI/SDI might be a more often heard of tech agency. But I'm more looking at the instructors. This goes beyond your OW needs, but Under the Jungle in Mexico has been recommend. A modification to others Cozumel recommendation might be to go to the mainland part of that area, Tulum/Playa, where there are many Cenote instructors and do your OW under them, but that might run 200-250/day. Most seem to teach under other agencies as well, such as RAID, PDIC, IANTD. Often agency is just a way of finding a good instructor. At some level, what agency the card is from might matter, but not at OW level. But the actual instruction will matter to you. (ETA: You do want the person checking your card for the boat to know the agency is legit.)

Very insightful, thanks.

 

[zich6]

Actually at the OW level agency can matter a great deal. Some have standards that are much higher and more stringent than others.
The content and length of the class can also be vastly different by standards. Some agencies teach rescue skills and emergency decompression procedures using tables at the Open Water level.
Basic OW training is highly important and it does matter with who and where. It's the foundation of every diver and can mean the difference between having a solid one built on bedrock or one that is built on sand and will end up costing the diver time and money to correct in future training.

Great, thanks for that.

 

[zich6]

Forget about agency. Every agency has great instructors and not so great. Some instructors are people I wouldn't get in the pool with and feel safe knowing what I do now.
Select your training based on the instructor and what additional materials they add to the course. A by the book, taught to standards course is often enough to get you to where you can survive.
Choosing an instructor is actually hiring an employee to work for you. Their job is to make you proficient, skilled, safe, knowledgeable, confident, and comfortable in the environment.
You should select them based on an interview you would conduct as if you were hiring any other person to do any other job.
I have a set of interview questions I suggest people use when selecting an instructor. The full version of them are in my books but for space considerations here they are without the answers I'd expect to get and why.
1. When did you become an instructor?
2. Have you had any large gaps in your teaching career? How recently? How many courses have you taught in the past year?
3. What agency do you certify through?
4. How much time is required for the course?
5. How large are the classes?
6. What equipment do you provide and what do I need to provide?
7. Is the schedule set or flexible?
8. Do you teach skin diving skills?
9. What methods do you use to teach proper weighting?
10. What methods do you use to address the panic cycle?
11. Do you teach students to perform skills in a horizontal position from the beginning of the class?
12. Will I have time to just swim and practice the skills we learn?
13. Can I sit in on a class or pool session?
14. What methods do you use to teach buoyancy and trim?
15. How much time will I get to practice these skills?
16. Do you dive with students after the class has ended?
17. Where do you do check out dives?
18. How many places have you been diving?
19. When was the last time you were diving?
20. How often do you dive for fun?
21. Do you have references - former students that I can talk to?

These are a start. In some instances you may want to find out if you'll have the same instructor for all phases of the training.

No good instructor or operation should have any trouble with you asking these things and any others you could come up with yourself before you sign anything or hand over a nickel for training.

Very helpful, thanks.