Hello,
I am currently a PADI OW diver with approximately 40 logged dives, and my girlfriend is certified in France (CMAS 1* / FFESSM N1) with 30 dives. We also have a basic CMAS nitrox certification (up to 40% O2). We are living in France and are diving both in France and overseas.
We are more and more interested in diving and have decided during our last dive trip that we would definitely like to improve our skills. We like learning, training and getting better at diving in all its parts. I also love reading and understanding things around diving, so the more details I get, the happier I am. For the moment, I'm not attracted by the idea of cave diving and extreme dives, but I would like to be able to dive to the vast majority of dive sites / wrecks (I think that diving up to 50-60m would include almost everything?). I am also interested in leading people in a dive (not commercially, but with friends for example), but that's a long way from now so we'll see that later.
We have many options, and the diving agencies world is complex enough to make me hesitate:
1- FFESSM up to N3/4 (CMAS 3*)
That's the easiest and cheapest way as I can find a trainer at every corner in France. It will be also very useful in France as they probably won't let us dive to more than 40m if we are not level 3, whatever our other certifications are (from what I have read).
What I don't like with this training is that they make you dive to 60m with air, which from my readings and experience is considered silly from the whole world except France. Also, in all what I have seen, the training quality is very unequal among trainers as they have lots of freedom to do things their way.
2- GUE.
I have read a lot about them and they look to have a very advanced and qualitative level of training, which is definitely something we would like. I also like the idea of standardized gear and team skills, even if I have never seen more about that than my few readings, and what I have read about trim / buoyancy focus and detailed explanations about everything looks definitely interesting (but maybe I can get the same with any other agency, focus, reading and practice?).
I am not sure about where we would start: Fundamentals as we are already certified divers (but it seems that most people taking this course are much more experienced, so I am not sure we would fit and succeed in this course) or Rec 1 (for beginners, but the curriculum looks similar to Fundamentals).
Issues with this is the cost and time (Rec 1-3 / Fundamentals + Tech 1 would cost a lot), much higher than anything else and the fact that it's very underdeveloped in France (so maybe not very recognized by dive shops and no existing community except some cave people).
3- SDI or PADI + TDI
Continue with mainstream agencies like SDI or PADI (is there any real difference between them as they are both following RSTC standards?) and go with TDI for some tech courses in order to be able to dive deeper than 40m.
I don't really like what I have seen from PADI training (not detailed and rigorous enough for me), so I am not sure it's a good idea, but this path is not too expensive and it would be very easy to find instructors (mostly like FFESSM).
4- Mix of agencies
Continue with FFESSM up to N3, then go with GUE-F / T1 or TDI.
Or do everything from now with SDI/TDI or with GUE, and manage to pass the N3 certification from FFESSM just to avoid any issue when diving in France.
I haven't many examples of people going through this kind of thinking. The vast majority of divers I have met are following a single path (full PADI or full FFESSM) without any hesitation.
Would you have recommendations, thoughts, feedbacks or just experience to share about this?
Thanks
I am currently a PADI OW diver with approximately 40 logged dives, and my girlfriend is certified in France (CMAS 1* / FFESSM N1) with 30 dives. We also have a basic CMAS nitrox certification (up to 40% O2). We are living in France and are diving both in France and overseas.
We are more and more interested in diving and have decided during our last dive trip that we would definitely like to improve our skills. We like learning, training and getting better at diving in all its parts. I also love reading and understanding things around diving, so the more details I get, the happier I am. For the moment, I'm not attracted by the idea of cave diving and extreme dives, but I would like to be able to dive to the vast majority of dive sites / wrecks (I think that diving up to 50-60m would include almost everything?). I am also interested in leading people in a dive (not commercially, but with friends for example), but that's a long way from now so we'll see that later.
We have many options, and the diving agencies world is complex enough to make me hesitate:
1- FFESSM up to N3/4 (CMAS 3*)
That's the easiest and cheapest way as I can find a trainer at every corner in France. It will be also very useful in France as they probably won't let us dive to more than 40m if we are not level 3, whatever our other certifications are (from what I have read).
What I don't like with this training is that they make you dive to 60m with air, which from my readings and experience is considered silly from the whole world except France. Also, in all what I have seen, the training quality is very unequal among trainers as they have lots of freedom to do things their way.
2- GUE.
I have read a lot about them and they look to have a very advanced and qualitative level of training, which is definitely something we would like. I also like the idea of standardized gear and team skills, even if I have never seen more about that than my few readings, and what I have read about trim / buoyancy focus and detailed explanations about everything looks definitely interesting (but maybe I can get the same with any other agency, focus, reading and practice?).
I am not sure about where we would start: Fundamentals as we are already certified divers (but it seems that most people taking this course are much more experienced, so I am not sure we would fit and succeed in this course) or Rec 1 (for beginners, but the curriculum looks similar to Fundamentals).
Issues with this is the cost and time (Rec 1-3 / Fundamentals + Tech 1 would cost a lot), much higher than anything else and the fact that it's very underdeveloped in France (so maybe not very recognized by dive shops and no existing community except some cave people).
3- SDI or PADI + TDI
Continue with mainstream agencies like SDI or PADI (is there any real difference between them as they are both following RSTC standards?) and go with TDI for some tech courses in order to be able to dive deeper than 40m.
I don't really like what I have seen from PADI training (not detailed and rigorous enough for me), so I am not sure it's a good idea, but this path is not too expensive and it would be very easy to find instructors (mostly like FFESSM).
4- Mix of agencies
Continue with FFESSM up to N3, then go with GUE-F / T1 or TDI.
Or do everything from now with SDI/TDI or with GUE, and manage to pass the N3 certification from FFESSM just to avoid any issue when diving in France.
I haven't many examples of people going through this kind of thinking. The vast majority of divers I have met are following a single path (full PADI or full FFESSM) without any hesitation.
Would you have recommendations, thoughts, feedbacks or just experience to share about this?
Thanks
