PADI vs SSI, from instructor / dive shop owner point of view

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I ease into mask clearing using a set of exercises I picked up from @Peter Guy. Having students breath with just their faces in the water (standing in confined water or using buckets), filling their masks and standing up and then clearing, all help with doing things underwater.
I make it even simpler. Standing in waist deep water in the kiddee pool, no snorkels, no scuba, they fill their masks with water and put them on full. Then we have a conversation. Once they can converse with a mask full of water, I tell them the mermaid joke: Why do mermaids wear Sea Shells? B shells are too small. Almost everyone snorts, clearing their mask. I can see if the mask is too loose/tight or if there are any other issues. Once they can talk, we clear masks floating on the surface. I've never had a student get frustrated using this process.
 
that is the up side with Padi that others need to follow.
The reason that SSI requires the instructor to be affiliated with a shop was explained clearly in a workshop I attended directed by SSI Director Doug McNeese. The purpose of scuba instruction is to help the dive shop sell gear. A scuba instructor's primary job is to get students to buy gear. If the instructor is independent of a shop, then that purpose cannot be fulfilled.
 
The reason that SSI requires the instructor to be affiliated with a shop was explained clearly in a workshop I attended directed by SSI Director Doug McNeese. The purpose of scuba instruction is to help the dive shop sell gear. A scuba instructor's primary job is to get students to buy gear. If the instructor is independent of a shop, then that purpose cannot be fulfilled.

there is no dispute about that. the point i was making was that if you have no shop close by y ou can find a PADI instructor that can convein a class because a shop ins not a condition of being able to teach. Hense you will find many padi instructors and not so many of the others.
 
Other than that, does it really happen that someone chooses your shop because you are PADI or SSI or any of the other hundreds of agencies?

In my case, in the places I've lived, there was one local shop, so choosing another would involve a major allocation of time and money to commute to the next shop. Even at that, if a friend didn't have a a condo I could use at one of the shops training locations I would still be a carreer OW diver.


Bob
 
The reason that SSI requires the instructor to be affiliated with a shop was explained clearly in a workshop I attended directed by SSI Director Doug McNeese. The purpose of scuba instruction is to help the dive shop sell gear. A scuba instructor's primary job is to get students to buy gear. If the instructor is independent of a shop, then that purpose cannot be fulfilled.
1. Every recreational training I did was with PADI and no wonder I never bought anything from the instructor/shop.
2. The shop that I did my OW in Philippines actually did not have any equipment to sell!
3. The LoB in Thailand that I did my multi-level training also had nothing to sell bar some basic accessories.
 
Folks have already hit on this, but to tie it directly back to the OP's question:

I'm doing PADI because SSI has a shop connection requirement. In my context I don't necessarily want or need to be tied to a shop. (Though my LDS is good and will likely be able to offer a better price than I can )
 
I make it even simpler. Standing in waist deep water in the kiddee pool, no snorkels, no scuba, they fill their masks with water and put them on full. Then we have a conversation. Once they can converse with a mask full of water, I tell them the mermaid joke: Why do mermaids wear Sea Shells? B shells are too small. Almost everyone snorts, clearing their mask. I can see if the mask is too loose/tight or if there are any other issues. Once they can talk, we clear masks floating on the surface. I've never had a student get frustrated using this process.
I'm going to add that. I haven't given a full description of the exercises I received from Peter. I also plan on adopting the UTD technique where the students breath from a long hose with the BCD floating at the surface to get the feeling of depth control using their breath and being free from their BCD/BP/W. I'm probably not describing things sufficiently as I'm tired.
 
question to SSI instructors: do SSI standards allow to conduct "Deep Diver" specialty course at 19m depth?
Or, to be more precise: with all required dives being shallower than 30m.
 

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