PADI/NAUI Interaction

[tracydr]

You're in CA. There must be dozens of instructors from both agencies reasonably close to you. Why don't you interview some more, first?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

So someone who follows the quickest path to Instructor with NAUI could be Instructing the NAUI Deep or Wreck Specialties only a month and 50 dives after starting their OW course; with possibly no wreck dives and less than a handful of deep and night dives combined.

At just one month / 50 dives, a NAUI Instructor could teach way more Specialties than nearly every PADI MSDT, so obviously NAUI Instructors must be at a higher level than PADI MSDT's.

I don't have my NAUI S&P's in front of me, but unless they've gone and lowered standards in the year that I was away from teaching, the above is not true.

Last time I checked, you needed a minimum of 100 dives to be a NAUI instructor.

Heck, you can't even become a DM without at least 60.

Neither, to my concern, is nearly adequate ... but I don't think there's any way someone can go OW to NAUI instructor in a month.

If I get some time when I get home I'll dig through my NAUI S&P and provide a more definitive answer.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

that is false, you need to have 50 dives to be a NAUI instr.

I don't have my NAUI S&P's in front of me, but unless they've gone and lowered standards in the year that I was away from teaching, the above is not true.

Since cerich's SB Profile list him as NAUI Rec and Tech Course Director I thought he was a reputable source.

Scuba Instructor Training, NAUI Instructor School, Becoming A Dive Instructor

I quoted the pertinent FAQ's from the page linked above. Commercial Diving Academy at 40 Fathom Grotto sure makes it sound like 30 days / 50 dives is all that's needed to become a NAUI Instructor.

 

[aquaregia]

Same page, two items down: Scuba Instructor Training, NAUI Instructor School, Become a Diving Instructor

To attend the TIP, you need a minimum of 50 logged dives. Our facility allows you the opportunity to log many dives while you are here.

 

[aquaregia]

NAUI S&P 1996 edition, pages 2.92 (rev 1-04) indicates that you must hold a NAUI DM or NAUI AI, or have completed NAUI PREP within 12 months and have 50 logged dives that are varied in environment, depth and activities.

That's the latest revision as of January 2008.

 

[Thalassamania]

Looks like NAUI's headed down the rat hole too ... except in some rather rare cases, 50 dives is nowhere near enough experience.

 

[aquaregia]

Removed -- offtopic.

 

[cerich]

Folks, that 50 dive limit has been like that for MANY years.

I don't see many that could pass a ITC with that few dives, however some can and indeed do, it's about the quality of the student and the instructors involved.

Folks don't forget that Navy pilots are taught by the pilots that just graduated pilot training at the top of the class, they teach then get to go to plum aircraft assignments.

 

[Thalassamania]

OK, I'll reconsider. While I hate to see raw numbers of that sort reduced, if other pieces of the program are kept intact then the integrity of the program is maintained while the opportunity for the rare individual is left open. Face it, if all the remained was the test of, "would I permit this individual to teach my loved ones how to dive?", that would be sufficient if the Course Director both highly competent and scrupulously honest, two characteristics that I've not often seen outside of "independent" Course Directors.

 

[cerich]

if all the remained was the test of, "would I permit this individual to teach my loved ones how to dive?",

and the reason my primary loyalty has always been with NAUI.