Question about PADI E-Learning, and training

[wycacher]

Hello all, first post on the forums. I am doing a lot of research into which LDS to go through, but am fairly certain I will go through PADI. I work a very time demanding job (11 days on, 3 days off- 12-30+ hour days) and am looking to do E-Learning for the book work and private instruction for the pool courses. I have found a LDS that has a remote facility where I live to do the pool dives with a private lesson, but I do not want to travel the 8.5 hours for where they do the OW cert dives. Will there be any issue with me completing pool with them and referring out to a different LDS that dives locally for OWC? The reason I am not going through the 2nd shop is that they are quite a bit more expensive for the private lesson, and are 2.5 hours from me. I have read somewhere that you are locked into 1 dive shop with the PADI E-Learning, so does that mean you can not refer out for your OWC dives? Thanks!

 

[oly5050user]

Hello all, first post on the forums. I am doing a lot of research into which LDS to go through, but am fairly certain I will go through PADI. I work a very time demanding job (11 days on, 3 days off- 12-30+ hour days) and am looking to do E-Learning for the book work and private instruction for the pool courses. I have found a LDS that has a remote facility where I live to do the pool dives with a private lesson, but I do not want to travel the 8.5 hours for where they do the OW cert dives. Will there be any issue with me completing pool with them and referring out to a different LDS that dives locally for OWC? The reason I am not going through the 2nd shop is that they are quite a bit more expensive for the private lesson, and are 2.5 hours from me. I have read somewhere that you are locked into 1 dive shop with the PADI E-Learning, so does that mean you can not refer out for your OWC dives? Thanks!

You can certainly do the academics and confined water for a ow course with 1 LDS and comlete the 4 ow dives with another.No issues at all about it..Get a referral from the LDS that does acad/pool work and GO ! Done every day here in NY out of the LDS that I teach out of. Being in a affluent area of the country,Westchester NY, very often a client would walk in with a plane ticket in 1 hand, leaving in 2 or 3 days, asking for private instruction on a private schedule, need to be done immediately! Finished up such a client today on a private basis who is leaving in a couple of days to Mexico. We are THE only facility in our area who can offer private courses based on the clients schedule,at any day/any time, as we have our own onsite indoor heated pool.No other facility near the NYC has this ability. I am just waiting for the client who has a private jet and needs the instructor to travel with them! Sorta happened to me a few times already, except for the private jet ..Still waiting for that one..

 

[TSandM]

My husband, who is a PADI instructor, assures me that you can buy your e-learning through one shop, do the pool through another, and your OW dives through a third, were you to want to do that.

I will warn you that shop politics are such that, if you do your e-learning and pool through one shop and apply to another to do your OW dives (and the shops are competitors in the local market) you may run into some attitude issues.

 

[Peter Guy]

OP -- IN THEORY each part of the training program can be done independently of the other. Whether you will get someone to do it independently might be another issue.

You can, for example, contact any PADI shop or instructor who can provide you with the eLearning. As far as I know, you do not have to ID any shop or instructor if you go to the PADI site and just buy the eLearning yourself (but I think it will default to the nearest shop which will get the commission -- but I am not positive on that). In any event, IN THEORY, once you've done the eLearning, any PADI instructor will accept it.

Again, IN THEORY, any PADI instructor can provide you with the Confined Water training and then sign you off for your Open Water dives. And last, any PADI instructor, after confirming your skill level, can do the Open Water dives while relying on the eLearning certificate and the Referral Form.

If you have a local shop that will allow you to do this, go for it. OTOH, if you come to me for private lessons, I charge the same amount regardless if you do the OW with me or as a referral -- and I require private students to do the eLearning. You may find out it is not the money saver you are contemplating.

 

[wycacher]

Thank you very much for the quick replies, there are some things that I did not take into account. I will do some more research on the prices and may just drive a little extra to complete with my original shop. I would like to stay with one if I could, make some friends and partners along the way, especially since I am doing this on my own and don't have anybody out here interested in diving. Thanks again, and I will update what direction I decided to go.

 

[racerx_]

I did exactly what you're describing. You should double check with the shops first just in case they give you trouble. But e-learning can be purchased direct through padi.. Then I found a shop to let me do pool dives and got a referral for the OW checkout dives. It's a long story why it ended up that way and its not really the best way to go about getting trained but it worked for me and my schedule.

And yeah it definitely cost more this way.

 

[261311]

Will there be any issue with me completing pool with them and referring out to a different LDS that dives locally for OWC?

Best to call just to be sure. You might want to inquire about the fees from the secondary shop for the check out dives as well to make sure that it's feasible.

Question however, the primary dive facility with the nearby pool and e-learning, why are they not able to modify the checkout dive location? Clearly this secondary shop uses another location close to where you are. If the primary dive shop has instructors doing pool time with you in the area they should have the ability to assign them to a local lake, quarry, whichever. I'd be curiously concerned about their pricing and lack of "assistance" and cooperation if this is actually any issue for them. Sometimes the shop with the best pricing isn't the one with the best training and instructors. It seems like a pretty basic and flexible, fluid thing for someone to want to change the location of checkout dives if the primary doesn't work out. In fact, considering PADI teaches the principle of primary, secondary and sometimes tertiary dive locations if conditions are bad at one and you have to call it, the shop sure isn't adhering very well to the creedo of this whole thing or to customer satisfaction.

 

[Colliam7]

I have read somewhere that you are locked into 1 dive shop with the PADI E-Learning, so does that mean you can not refer out for your OWC dives? Thanks!

Not at all. What you may have read is that, when you sign up for eLearning, you select a dive shop to link your training to. That shop then a) can access your eLeaning record to monitor progress, and b) receives (some very modest) compensation from PADI (for administering the Quick review, etc, etc.). There is no obligation to do anything else with that shop.

What you want to do is:

a) eLearning for academics, followed by
b) Confined Water with Shop A, followed by
c) Open Water (and certification paperwork) with Shop B

This is not a problem. You may find it to be more expensive that doing everything through one facility, but it appears from your post that time is more critical than money. You may find that there is a bit of discontinuity between CW and OW, but that reallly depends on whether there is any communication between Shop A and Shop B (there should be, but often is not).

But, this situation is really not materially different than the process of doing an Open Water Referral after Confined Water training.

I recommend you first work out the details of Confined Water training with Shop A. THEN, link your eLearning record to Shop A. Do not start eLearing before you are ready to do the link - it is hard to have it chanaged after you begin. But, even if you don't establish the link at the start, you will still be able to complete eLearning, download your record form and take it to Shop A, who can administer the Quick Review. They won't get the modest additional compensation from PADI, and their fee for CW may reflect that. Not a big deal, just a piece of information.

 

[boulderjohn]

You say you are in SE Wyoming, so I am going to take some guesses as to the locations you are talking about. I will assume that the 8.5 hour drive is to Santa Rosa, NM, to dive in the Blue Hole. If so, I am surprised that you don't have a local shop that will go instead something over 4 hours to Homestead Crater, in Utah. Colorado shops frequently drive through your area to get to it. I don't think it is the greatest area in the world in which to be certified, but it works.

I don't know what your truly local conditions are like. You are a few hours away from the sites in the Denver area, which are not the greatest training sites in the world, either.

An option you have not discussed is doing the ELearning and pool locally and doing the OW dives on vacation pretty much anywhere in the world. That is an extremely popular strategy in your area.

 

[Scott]

I don't know what your truly local conditions are like. You are a few hours away from the sites in the Denver area, which are not the greatest training sites in the world, either.

There are a few reserviors close that a store out of Casper uses for certifications in the summer. Alcova and Pathfinder Reservoirs. I have met a few Wyoming and NE Colorado stores doing certifications while diving at Flaming Gorge and Bear Lake too.

Depending on when the OP finally takes the course, there are other options closer. No tropical conditions, but closer.