Rec for Dive Operator with SSI Certification Course in Cozumel

[Sloeber]

I wasn't asking you in particular, just in general what difference does it make which agency has more (or less) market share? They all teach the same stuff.

I hear this so often and its like nails on a chaulkboard for me. What I find interesting is those that make this claim are not SSI. The PADI people love to say "its not the agency its the instructor." Reality is, its both. The instructor is what the student sees, but the instructor relies upon the agency for support. You might have found a fantastic instructor from any agency, but I promise you they would be better at their job if they had better support from above. Same in any industry. Think of your own profession... Can you be as successful as possible if the company that employs you doesn't care? If your bosses do not care, does it make it easy for you to do a great job? Or would you be better at your job if you were constantly recieving support from your upper management?

Without getting into an agency bashing thread, I tend to make this kind of correlation on the topic:

If I buy a used car, I drive off the car lot and never hear from the business again.
If I buy a new Ford/Chevy, I will get a birthday mailing and notice of any big promotions.
If I buy a Mercedes, the service department comes to my house to get my car for oil changes and provides me a free loaner car for extended service.

All agencies provided me a car that gets me from point A to B. But the better agencies stay with me and support me throughout the duration of the ownership, while other agencies simply abandon you. PADI, for example, you only hear from them when they want money. SSI, on the contrary, constantly give out promotions to both their pros and recreational divers. There are many examples, but the most convenient example was Covid. PADI raised their price for instructor renewal while SSI made it free to renew, plus gave out free Science of Diving eLearning to over 66,000 divers worldwide.

Do they all teach the same thing? Almost, but not entirely. I just completed 22 PADI > SSI professional crossovers in 2024 Q4. Half of the class is showing the instructors what we do different in SSI versus PADI. Is it a lot? No, not at all. But there are differences.

 

[Racer_X]

I hear this so often and its like nails on a chaulkboard for me. What I find interesting is those that make this claim are not SSI. The PADI people love to say "its not the agency its the instructor." Reality is, its both. The instructor is what the student sees, but the instructor relies upon the agency for support. You might have found a fantastic instructor from any agency, but I promise you they would be better at their job if they had better support from above. Same in any industry. Think of your own profession... Can you be as successful as possible if the company that employs you doesn't care? If your bosses do not care, does it make it easy for you to do a great job? Or would you be better at your job if you were constantly recieving support from your upper management?

Without getting into an agency bashing thread, I tend to make this kind of correlation on the topic:

If I buy a used car, I drive off the car lot and never hear from the business again.
If I buy a new Ford/Chevy, I will get a birthday mailing and notice of any big promotions.
If I buy a Mercedes, the service department comes to my house to get my car for oil changes and provides me a free loaner car for extended service.

All agencies provided me a car that gets me from point A to B. But the better agencies stay with me and support me throughout the duration of the ownership, while other agencies simply abandon you. PADI, for example, you only hear from them when they want money. SSI, on the contrary, constantly give out promotions to both their pros and recreational divers. There are many examples, but the most convenient example was Covid. PADI raised their price for instructor renewal while SSI made it free to renew, plus gave out free Science of Diving eLearning to over 66,000 divers worldwide.

Do they all teach the same thing? Almost, but not entirely. I just completed 22 PADI > SSI professional crossovers in 2024 Q4. Half of the class is showing the instructors what we do different in SSI versus PADI. Is it a lot? No, not at all. But there are differences.

I've been through SSI OW training (university). Also NAUI OW AOW (they lost the record for AOW and I lost the card). Also PADI AOW. I can categorically state "same stuff that actually matters." There might be a few minor style differences (such as equipment recommendations tied to lines the LDS carries). Instructor quality matters, and very often the instructors are able to teach across agencies, rendering the difference negligible. As you pointed out - SSI -> PADI and SDI->PADI.

I get you run an SSI shop. Completely understand your perspective and your vested reason to promote SSI. I would work on your car analogy, however.

In your dive shop analysis, it isn't about the number of shops (and as you are referencing proprietary data, it's less compelling by default). It's about which places are delivering actual training under which agency, as the survey examines - a much more important question that determines training market share. As you pointed out, there's a lot of PADI/SDI shops now. SDI training is less expensive so shops are switching to SDI training and offering the PADI version for an upcharge. There may be compelling marketing reasons, for example, to keep the PADI affiliation. It's also about rate of change - so comparing 2023 and 2024 data is useful to determine trends. I did find an SSI press release about 3500 shops or something, but again, it's a biased press release.

Arguably, the NPS rating is also important as it theoretically measures customer satisfaction with their training. However, I've had issues with the concept of NPS for years.

Again, I make no statements about which is better, and I'm certified in 3 different agencies for different stuff. I went with the TDI version of intro to nitrox versus the SDI version just 'cause I like keeping my options open - but that's out of scope for "which is better" as TDI covers different stuff in the course for very good reasons.

I agree that any agency for OW is fine, and experience after OW/AOW is what will help you develop diving skill. Technology evolution has significantly increased the safety of diving and lowered the bar for entry into safe diving.

 

[ggunn]

I hear this so often and its like nails on a chaulkboard for me.

I am sorry if it annoys you, and to be clear, I am speaking only of OW instruction because that is all I have experienced, and OW certification is what this thread was started about. Beyond the fundamentals that I learned in my certification classes, virtually all I know about diving is what I have learned in the 30 years I have been diving since I was certified. Which agency certified me is irrelevant.