Certification Agency Poll

What is your Certifying Agency (Check all that apply)

  • PADI

    Votes: 462 65.3%
  • NAUI

    Votes: 153 21.6%
  • SSI

    Votes: 150 21.2%
  • YMCA

    Votes: 32 4.5%
  • GUE

    Votes: 17 2.4%
  • TDI

    Votes: 79 11.2%
  • CMAS

    Votes: 21 3.0%
  • IANTD

    Votes: 69 9.7%
  • ANDI

    Votes: 11 1.6%
  • BSAC

    Votes: 19 2.7%
  • PDIC

    Votes: 7 1.0%
  • NASE

    Votes: 9 1.3%
  • IDEA

    Votes: 6 0.8%
  • NSS-CDS

    Votes: 14 2.0%
  • NACD

    Votes: 11 1.6%
  • SDI

    Votes: 21 3.0%
  • MDEA

    Votes: 3 0.4%
  • SAA

    Votes: 1 0.1%
  • ACUC

    Votes: 10 1.4%

  • Total voters
    708

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Originally posted by seahunter

Now that I know the identity of gadget, I will also avoid posts or replies on this board where he is involved in the discussion. To my knowledge he has been banned from at least 3 web sites for violations of their registration agreement. In each case, his posts were judged by an independent jury of moderators before the ban was imposed. I, in fact and unknown to him, argued in his favor to allow him to remain on a mutual board until my arguments no longer were acceptable in light of his comments. Read his posts and judge for yourself.


.:confused: Hmmm.... First off, You have me confused with someone else, which is rather funny.

I have never been on another scuba message board including the one at seahunters shop. In fact the only other forum I posted to was a rec.scuba news group nearly 4 years ago. This whole statement of yours is a red herring.

My reply - Facts only - no rambling diatribe....

- Please go ahead and read my posts on this board, they are easily accesed and I believe they have been well balanced and varied.

- My post here, while at times critical and definately passionate was not intended to slam PADI only. I was discussing the problems that concern me with weekend courses by any agency.

In fact I have worked with many good PADI instructors and they put on an excellent program. They are respected by the shop they work for and not merely talking heads.

- The problems I highlighted were directly related to my experiences and discussions with other instructors (PADI and NAUI). It was not my intention to specifically target any facility, but apparently I hit a nerve...

- I stand by the facts regarding the seahunters private message board not allowing contrary opinions of the owner.

- In discussions with many other instructors, we are all concerned with where scuba is going. Some people believe it is time for government approved standards while others favor self regulation. Now we have possible 3 day programs including OW to fire this debate?


Although, I could really get into this and bring my guns to bear including many other people who feel exactly as I do, I feel it would be a waste of time.

I invite the rest of the board members however to please offer their views on this as they are probably more impartial than either of us.
 
SSI for me. It was the nearest available. I liked the program and my instructor was very good. He is head of the dive rescue team.
A program is only as good as the instructor who gives you the hands on training.
 
Now it's me who must offer an apology to you and retract any statement made that was less than complimentary to gadget. I accept your word that you are not the person to whom I referred in my last post.
You're quite right that this is a passionate issue. For me because I have taught for all the main agencies and worked closely with instructors from them all. Currently, I firmly believe in my choice not so much because it's perfect but because the others are so clearly lagging.
Again perhaps my deep involvement in scuba training gives me the advantage. It's very common practice to completely certify a new diver in three days. The classroom, pool and open water sessions are intertwined. After the first day of class and pool the divers are able to do a couple of supervised divers with their instructor and then it's back to class and pool for training before they finish their dives in open water. The divers love this as they get to try a real dive without waiting for the end of their class/pool. Remember that thousands of people try scuba diving on a reef without the benfit of any real class or pool training at all. Since two scuba dives can be completed in a morning or afternoon, four can be completed in the length of a single day thus two days of training and one day of diving = three days. I DID NOT SAY THAT THE FOUR OPEN WATER DIVES WERE COMPLETED IN ONE DAY.
Government controlled scuba courses are not a new issue either. It has been debated and suggested many times in the past twenty years. PADI has been in the forefront of opposing this plan both by making and demonstrating the safety of scuba and by fighting the lawmakers who have too much time on their hands. Generally it comes up whenever a congressman knows someone who had a bad experience while diving and of course he thinks he can do a better job.
If that ever happens it's virtual scuba for me!
Currently there are several long debates on the board to which you refer that rankle me (tec diving, drinking & diving, extreme deep diving, etc) but they continue because the parties to the debate do not post messages that are false, defamatory, inaccurate, false, vulgar, hateful, harrassing, profane, threatening or invasive.
I may and will disagree with you. That's my right and yours.
You will however draw a lot of flack if you suggest I'm prejuduice or even unfair. Check the tremendous support the administration received via posts from many members when they finally removed the member to which we refer. (Does that last sentence make any sense? This a nuisance not being able to name names!)
 
NASDS was around for almost 40 yrs. I think they should be on the poll too.
 
I noticed that there were a few quite well-known certification agencies not included. It would have been nice to have them all on the list too see how they compare but also so no diver feels disenfranchised.
I am very surprised that NASDS is missing too since it has been in existence longer than most and is very well known internationally.
To not list NASDS or ACUC but include such very small and relative newcomers as NASE is strange.
 
I agree...To have NASE really shocked me. Has anyone ever took there course. Give me a break. You can almost go straight from bubbly maker to course director.
 
Originally certified as ACUC , NAUI , PADI. In 1980

I am a PADI instructor. IANTD gas blender. Also trimix instructor from Professional Underwater Scuba Schools International.(kinda like GUE)


There is someone from MDEA registered on here . Please email me.


Please add ACUC to the list.

Ron
 
Originally posted by bengalsmgtsucks
NASDS was around for almost 40 yrs. I think they should be on the poll too.
SSI was formed from NASDS in 1970; now SSI has absorbed NASDS. Doug McNeese (CEO of NASDS) is now "Executive Director" of SSI and SSI has adopted "the best of NASDS" into their company.
So, NASDS didn't really go away, but took the name of its own progeny, SSI.
Perhaps it would be appropriate to change the "SSI" listing to "NASDS/SSI" for clarity.
Rick
NASDS OWI/SSI DCSI
 
I haven't been back to this thread in a long time....... since nobody answered me request to have ACUC added about 3 months ago...... I'm glad to see other ACUC certs. come out from under the rocks......

Seahunter - at risk of getting flamed jumping in between you and Gadget......
I hear the Scuba2000 commercials on the Edge 102 radio station (Toronto) all the time via satelite. The first time I heard it I thought "Must be a PADI course - put em through as quick as they come". In fact, some friends almost went for the course thru Scuba2000 until I talked them out of it - telling them there was WAY TOO MUCH to learn in a weekend - and yes you may be diving, but you won't be diving safely. Now, I've read the discussions here, and there is no doubt in my mind that you are qualified and have the experience, but I fail to see how a student can safely trained in a weekend. I guess I'm a "see it to believe it" kind of guy, and from what I've seen, I'm not believing it. I dove with two gentlemen who had been trained on a weekend course in 2000 - I do not know the the instructor or shop involved, but they were both from TO. While they were very nice people, their dive skills IN EVERY ASPECT, SUCKED, to say the least. Would I dive with them again? - not outside of a pool! And somewhere in that year they managed to live thru almost 40 dives I think, and not improve on thier skills at all.

Those two undertrained divers were the only two I've dove with who were taught in a weekend course (aside from resort course divers..... don't even get me going on that one), but I really wasn't impressed. I did not feel safe underwater with them in our group and questioned their abilty to handle a situation of any sort at depth.

This bunch of rambling did nothing to shed light on this subject, only my opinion of some undertrained divers. But I think you'll have to throw me in the side of doubting weekend training course...... I can't possibly imagine how everything can be said in a weekend, the students comprehend it and still have time to perfect skills in the pool before jumping in the lake........

my 2 cents......

SS
 

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