PADI - National Geographic Open Water Option?

[rickyd]

A friends son is asking my advice on PADI, vs the PADI/National Geographic option for basic open water. It's being offered through Sports Chalet. Without getting into a battle about SC and PADI, does anyone actually know anything about the N. Geographic addon?

We all already know that the instructor is the key, not the agency. According to the writeup, the NG option appears to add classroom, pool and open water time, concentrating on bouyancy & navigation skills, and what they call "exploration". Looks like it adds 1 more 3 hour pool session, a 3 hour classroom, and 2? more dives. At this SC, they traditionally do a beach, plus a boat for basic open water; the NG addon adds another beach.

I think any additional instructor led bouyancy skill training is great for the newbie. Some basic navigation skills can't hurt, but may be task overloading in the first 7 dives. I know I had enough to concentrate on already. "Exploration", if it means fish ID, coral ID, and basic rules like - don't use the reef to stop your descent -- there are better ways, like good bouyance skills, sound like goodness to me.

Price differential is about $150.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Doc Intrepid]

IMHO, its a mixed bag and very dependent on both your perspective and the attitude and dedication of the instructor. I just had our local LDS owner explain the PADI/NG option to me today, and my initial impression was that it was a crock - esp. when told the notebook was a $112 add-on. It hasn't been a huge seller in this area.

OTOH...many will agree that OW courses have been dumbed down to meet competitive demands of 'least time/least dollars'. This results in absurdities such as bouyancy - which is a critical skill for any diver - being 'introduced' in a cursory fashion during the standard 4 dives, and then emphasized more heavily in a second, additional expense course as "peak performance" bouyancy.

From this perspective, any training for which the student is willing to pay an additional cost, which correspondingly imparts to the student additional skills, would be a good thing - especially for a new student who is able to absorb and benefit from the additional material.

I would interview the instructor. (No surprises...) If the instructor can articulate the additional benefits, can describe a tangible skill set that the student will receive, then I would consider doing it - knowing that to some extent it may also be marketing.

As in all other cases - it depends nearly entirely on the instructor and what the instructor is willing to put into it. (The student, it goes without saying, must also be willing to not only pay the higher cost, but do all of the work necessary to derive the added benefit, as well.)

 

[Diver0001]

A friends son is asking my advice on PADI, vs the PADI/National Geographic option for basic open water. It's being offered through Sports Chalet. Without getting into a battle about SC and PADI, does anyone actually know anything about the N. Geographic addon?

We all already know that the instructor is the key, not the agency. According to the writeup, the NG option appears to add classroom, pool and open water time, concentrating on bouyancy & navigation skills, and what they call "exploration". Looks like it adds 1 more 3 hour pool session, a 3 hour classroom, and 2? more dives. At this SC, they traditionally do a beach, plus a boat for basic open water; the NG addon adds another beach.

I think any additional instructor led bouyancy skill training is great for the newbie. Some basic navigation skills can't hurt, but may be task overloading in the first 7 dives. I know I had enough to concentrate on already. "Exploration", if it means fish ID, coral ID, and basic rules like - don't use the reef to stop your descent -- there are better ways, like good bouyance skills, sound like goodness to me.

Price differential is about $150.

What are your thoughts?

I'll admit I don't know much about the National Geographic offer but in my mind for $150 your friend might be just as well off to tack a Peak-performance-buoyancy specialty onto the open water course. That's also 1 more day of theory, an extra pool session and two more dives and it's all focused on something he can apply right away.

R..

 

[D_B]

Doc has hit the nail squarely ... Instructor , Instructor ....

I did the Nat Geo class and did learn some things besides better buoyancy , and it did give me more time with an awesome instructor that I have come to know as my friend
The wreck mapping part was good because it gave me some idea what is done in that respect , opened my eyes to noticing the small stuff that is all around me (and made good buoancy ness. because you had to stay inches from the bottom and manipulate a marked rope on the bottom, again , without sturring up stuff) We did ours after AOW so we could concentrate on a higher task loading then the instructor would otherwise give us (slightly deeper, in kelp, harder tasks)
It also was great fun and I sorta like having a C card that says National Geographic Diver (I know, I know, but I do)

DB

 

[rickyd]

General consensus pretty much echo's my feelings; instructor instructor instructor.

My initial feelings, as your's Doc, is "what a crock.....easy way to get more money out of us". But, thinking about it, maybe not - If its a good instructor. The additional buoyancy skills, learned early, and in a controlled environment, are good, especially for a young kid - - - learning about looking at the small stuff, and not just swimming by, opens up a world most newbies forget about - you don't have to be swimming all about, to see some wonderful sights.

db - sounds like the NG as a separate specialty class for you. Here, they are bundling together with OW - - now you have me wondering if it's geared more to "experienced" divers, than to not even yet newbies. I know a lot of agencies and folks take AOW immediately after OW. I don't believe in that; I feel you should get at least a few, like more than 25, dives in before thinking you're ready for depth and night. Maybe I'm just conservative; or, maybe since I'm a gray haired grandfather, my perspective is different ;-)

Diver0001 - I know PADI has the peak performance specialty, but I have to admit, I don't know much about it. I'm SSI trained. Similar as my statement to db - geared for the newbie, still in OW class, or, should there be a few dives completed first?

 

[D_B]

PADI does want it to be with , or right after OW.
And the next Nat Geo classes will be taught after OW as a seperate class and geared towards that level of training

When we did it, my instructor said he preferred that we get AOW first so that we could be more comfortable doing the tasks ... besides that would let us do it in Catalina! (he was able to do it this way because at the time we were some of the first to do the class)


DB

 

[tiggy]

My husband and I did the National Geographic option with our certification. I've got a review of it on here from May. (It's either on this board or the main board.)

Personally, I felt I got a lot out of the program. The most important thing to me was the two extra dives. I can not tell you how much confidence both of us gained during those dives. If we had only done the 4 required dives for Open Water, I don't know if we would consider diving without a private DM. During the last two dives (especially the one where we mapped a reef), we learned through experience that we actually could manage a dive. The multitasking element was the big booster there. Our instructor and the other divers on the boat commented on how much our diving had improved in two days and that we looked much more comfortable afterwards.

That said, a good mentor could also provide these opportunities. We really didn't see an opportunity for a mentoring relationship, so we chose to go with the extra training. To me, it was well worth the extra money.

 

[Walter]

Without getting into a battle about SC and PADI,

What is "SC"?

 

[DeepSeaDan]

What is "SC"?

..."Sports Chalet"

D.S.D.

 

[Kagh't]

I've just got back from the red sea, where i did all the way up to AOW, and i will say the NG course is actually suprisingly fun.
Firstly, it gets two of your adventure dives out of the way for your AOW, so you can do the other three in a day and be done with it.
Secondly, the course is a nice introduction to the AOW. You go over several skills that will help in the navigation adventure dive, along with some boyancy skills. I did PPB and navigation adventure dives for the NG, so the two did compliment each other excellently.

The theory part we did after each dive (at the basic level 'identify and draw some fish, and we'll look them up afterwards' and 'list some reasons you shouldn't do this that and other, and why you should be careful when diving) and there was a knowledge review at the end of the manual. Nothing taxing at all, the knowledge reviews for the adventure dives took longer.

The DVD that came with my manual has got a few gems tucked away in it's depths. Theres a few interesting mini-docs on how wetsuits, dry suits, regs, depth gauges and cylinders (seeing a machine press a solid block of aluminium into a nice tank is something to behold) which as someone who's new to the sport, i found very interesting.


Overall, i would recommend it. It's some extra dive training, you can count it towards an AOW, you get a good looking C card and learn a few things.