Distinctive specialties

[El Orans]

Having done a distinctive specialty recently I was left wondering what kind of other distinctive specialties were on offer.

I've tried searching PADI.com without much succes.
Does anybody have a list?

 

[Mako Mark]

I have three distinctive specialitys I have written,

Limited Visibility diver (for divers that train in the tropics and get lost if it gets less than 10 ft viz)

Dive site cleaner

Underwater mapping

 

[SubMariner]

Having done a distinctive specialty recently I was left wondering what kind of other distinctive specialties were on offer.

I've tried searching PADI.com without much succes.
Does anybody have a list?

The list is ever-growing. At one time Underwater hunter/gatherer was considered a "distinctive specialty", now it's pretty much mainstream.

Any PADI Instructor with a minimum of 25 certs to his/her credit and at least 20 dives in a particular Specialty can submit a course outline for a DS to PADI for approval.

Fun, eh?!

 

[voop]

Distinctive specialities are just that: specialities which are distinctive to an instructor, i.e. they do not appear in PADI standards. A distinctive speciality must, though, conform to PADI standards and be verified and approved by PADI. This is why the PADI www-site doesn't list distinctive specialities.

There's a number of ways an instructor can be allowed to teach a distinctive speciality. Other than what SubMariner writes, an instructor can follow a training course by a PADI Course Director, who also provides course outlines etc which the instructor must follow.

There are an impressive list of distinctive specialities out there, including at least one very good "underwater photography" specialities which go above and beyond the std. PADI UW-photo speciality, O2 administration, azimuth-rebreather, limited-viz-diving, buddying-for-handicapped-divers, compressor-handeling and so on.

It all depends on the instructor -- and as always, a good instructor will have good distinctive specialities and provide spectacular training in them, whereas a less-good instructor....well....you get the picture.

 

[Scuba Cowboy]

I teach a Kayak Diver course that is PADI sanctioned. Also wrote an Abalone Diver specialty, haven't sent it in for approval yet.

 

[justinbaker]

artificial reef insertion specialty

my local instructor told me a couple of years ago they put a cessna plane in a local lake, and all that helped got this certification.

 

[orangeBloke]

There was this one some time back from the humor section of the board that's worth a mention again http://www.scubaboard.com/t20350.html

If you want the real specialities have a look at http://padi.com/english/common/courses/rec/continue/specialty.asp

 

[Wristshot]

Horizon Divers in Key Largo recently got a new PADI Speigel Grove diving specialty.

I have already dove the Speigel Grove with them three times, but that was before this new specialty.


Wristshot

 

[Mako Mark]

There are a couple of other ones tht I know about:

The most popular distinctive for years was shark diver and many many wrote their own specialties for that.
There are many photo distinctives, macro, W/A, night, U/W modeling am sure there has to ba a digital one around somewhere.

One guy somewhere wrote an Underwater gourmet specialty, (how to catch and cook seafood)

There is an underwater wedding specialty done by a guy in Florida who is a JP and a diving instructor (two dives as every wedding has a dress rehearsal)

I have been thinking of writing and UW marrage proposal specialty. I have helped four guys pop the question now and know the do's and donts.

 

[voop]

Actually, I notice on the PADI pro site that there's a "Recompression Chamber Awareness Distinctive Speciality" in the UK. The speciality does involve a chamber-dive to a maximum of 40m (being bent in advance doesn't seem to be among the requirements for taking this speciality).

It seems like a good idea for a speciality if it's taught in conjunction with some more decompression theory etc. (I do not know if it is taught like that, though, I just glazed over the instructor guide). Any UK divers/instructors with first-hand knowledge about this distinctive speciality?