Locate where (PADI) Specialty Courses are Offered

[Raystafarian]

If I want to find out where there is an instructor for a specific PADI course, how can I do that? All I can find is a way to search for shops around me and then click through to see what courses they offer.

Say I really wanted a Railroad Yard Diver distinctive specialty - how would I find that? I know that I could get Whale Shark Awareness at the Georgia Aquarium or even that there's a Blue Heron Bridge Dive specialty offered through (supposedly) only one dive shop - but I know these by chance, not because it's obvious on the PADI site.

 

[tursiops]

If I want to find out where there is an instructor for a specific PADI course, how can I do that? All I can find is a way to search for shops around me and then click through to see what courses they offer.

Say I really wanted a Railroad Yard Diver distinctive specialty - how would I find that? I know that I could get Whale Shark Awareness at the Georgia Aquarium or even that there's a Blue Heron Bridge Dive specialty offered through (supposedly) only one dive shop - but I know these by chance, not because it's obvious on the PADI site.

PADI does not list the many "distinctive specialties" that various instructors offer; the PADI site only lists the standardized specialities plus a few special distinctive specialties, like Whale Shark and Self-Reliant. But they do not say which shops offer what, for ANY of the specialties, because that is determined by the shop and the certifications their instructors have.

Your best bet is either to look at individual shops, as you've noted, or to post here on ScubaBoard that you are interested in XYZ and see if anyone offers it. I offer a distinctive specialty in Coral Identification that is analogous to the Fish Identification class, but to my knowledge it is not listed anywhere, so you'll never find it by searching. But if you indicated on SB an interest in that topic, I'd be happy to try and work something out so you can take it!

Sorry it is so hard....