Never heard of this before SSI & NAUI

[MXGratefulDiver]

This thread should go smoothly

After teaching both PADI and SSI, I can say that those two agencies have pretty much the same mantra: teach minimum skills and promote gear ownership and continued education. As always, the the instructor/student relationship makes or breaks the course.

Can't comment on NAUI.

I can comment on NAUI ... they do promote continuing education ... they don't promote pushing equipment sales. That's more a dive shop thing.

Both PADI and SSI are more tied into supporting dive shops than NAUI is ... which is where the equipment sales angle comes into play. NAUI also does not encourage teaching to minimum standards. In fact, one reason I chose to teach through NAUI is because they don't just allow me to teach above standards, they encourage it ... recognizing that environment plays a huge factor in what skills are needful, and to what degree ... and that instructors are in a better position to know what their students need than the agencies are. In this respect, they define minimum standards, but use a "loved one" standard to determine whether a student has achieved the objectives of the class to the satisfaction of the instructor. For those who don't know what that is, it means that to determine competence the instructor must decide if they'd trust a loved one to buddy up with this student. Where I live, minimum standards won't get that job done.

As for the OP's question ... when I was a DM I worked with an instructor who taught an OW class such that he could certify either SSI, NAUI, or PADI. He taught a great class, and it was well above the minimum standards of any of those organizations. He did not, however, offer multiple cards ... there's absolutely no point in doing that, except as a way to sell extra cards.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Tfast78]

Okay, all great answers here and much appreciated. I called the dive shop, didn't give my name and asked questions that led them to believe I wasn't certified yet. Not all classes can you get certifications with both agencies. Open water, most specialties and only a handful more can you get either agency by the same class (depending on the instructor, I guess if they are certified to tech both). I'm now leaning towards NAUI so wish me luck. Thanks again for all the replies!