PADI Vs SSI

[packa123]

I am getting certified right now through a SSI agency And I have been looking at the different Specialty Courses. What I understand is that with SSI I have to log a certain number of dives and take a certain number of specialty courses to get my Specialty Diver Card. Now I have a question for those experienced divers out there....I know that both PADI and SSI are recognised and they are interchangeable, but what about the specialty courses? For example, I am going to Cancun here in the next couple of months and while I am there say I want to get my Specialty Card from SSI but the only places are PADI operated, would I be able to take a, for example, night diving course or navigation through PADI and have it go towards my SSI Card? Any info on this would help so that I will know how to plan my future classes. Also Wish me luck on getting certified!!! I am not there yet!

Austin Pack
packa123@hotmail.com

 

[Drew Sailbum]

I know you could take a PADI speciality course if you have the prerequisite training through another agency such as SSI. I don't really know if SSI would count a PADI course toward one of their cards, but I don't think so. Check with an SSI instructor on that point.

 

[Rick Murchison]

It depends on the specialty. Many of PADI's specialties will be honored and SSI will issue a specialty card from SSI for them (for a fee, of course); others require that you take the SSI written test, and some others just aren't considered specialties at all...
Ask your local SSI shop which PADI specialties you should take that meet their specs.
Or run down to Playa where there are half a dozen SSI shops.
Rick

 

[Lead_carrier]

Before getting only your specialty diver, check with your local dive shop. Many time they will offer you advanced diver for the same cost as specialty diver. If you have a dive professional at the dive resort you go to sign you logbook they may count a night dive toward the night dive certification. They should tell you what they will and will not accept that will count toward specialty diver or advanced. We can accept previous, documented dives toward many specialty courses if we want but we aren't required to. That is the instructors call.

Have a good time, enjoy the diving and don't worry too much about getting another cert level on vacation. Enjoy it.

 

[landlocked]

Take the courses for the knowledge not the cards. For example, what can you do with an SSI specialty card that you can't do otherwise? There are some exceptions; Nitrox obviously, Advanced Open water may be necessary to do night dives on a charter etc. My opinion is, if the card dosen't get you somewhere, why pay the fee? Just gleen the knowledge and don't get too caught up in collecting cards. Personally, I completed the requirements for an SSI Specialty card some time ago but never bothered to pay to get one. I never saw the point. I do have a Nitrox card in my wallet however. That one I have needed.

 

[Diver0001]

landlocked once bubbled...
Take the courses for the knowledge not the cards. For example, what can you do with an SSI specialty card that you can't do otherwise? There are some exceptions; Nitrox obviously, Advanced Open water may be necessary to do night dives on a charter etc. My opinion is, if the card dosen't get you somewhere, why pay the fee? Just gleen the knowledge and don't get too caught up in collecting cards. Personally, I completed the requirements for an SSI Specialty card some time ago but never bothered to pay to get one. I never saw the point. I do have a Nitrox card in my wallet however. That one I have needed.

Focussing on the knowledge is good advice but I have a comment make about mixing and matching systems. While it's true that the knowledge is the important thing both SSI and PADI have split that knowledge into a modular presentation that doesn't always completely overlap. If you take courses from both systems you *may*, depending on which courses are involved, end up with little gaps in your knowledge. Moreover, some courses are prerequisites for advancement to higher levels of certification and by mixing and matching you *may*, in fact, make more work for yourself in the long run as you find yourself having to take additional cross-over courses to fill in the gaps.

The idea of exposing yourself to different systems isn't necessarily bad. In fact it might have a positive effect on your learning, but you should realise that there could be consequences.

Cheers,
R..

 

[Walter]

"If you take courses from both systems you *may*, depending on which courses are involved, end up with little gaps in your knowledge."

That's likely to happen even if you stay in the same system.

 

[packa123]

Thanks you guys, you have beena big help. I was just wondering if they would honor each others courses and from what it seems sometimes they will sometimes they won't. So Thanks for your info.

Austin Pack
Fisrt Dive was done today!

 

[sirwinston100]

My husband and I are signed up to become certified in late July and the local scuba shop will certify us as either SSI or PADI but have us currently signed up to take the SSI course. We travel to the Caribbean quite frequently and the resorts that we stay at state they recognize PADI or NAUI. I'm concerned we might have a problem with them accepting our SSI certification. We have also noticed on a cruise that we recently took that they accepted PADI (SSI wasn't mentioned). I don't want to get out there and have problems with them accepting our certification so am now considering having them switch us to PADI certified. Should we be concerned?

 

[Dee]

While all the agencies have slight differences in their teaching methods, all are still held to a level of Standards. SSI is recognized as well as the others, PADI and NAUI are just better at advertising!