stargazer61
Contributor
Matt my point was that a person who has taken a resort dive class is not certified. A "resort certification" is no more useful than a "discover diving" certification, which is about as useful as the toilet paper roll hanging in my bathroom. In fact the toilet paper is probably more useful 'cause it's softer and will get a better grip where it's needed most.
Depends what you consider useful. It's not meant to be an equivalent to open water. It's just a safe entry point for someone wanting to do some supervised dives. That's what got me started - I still remember the dives I did on my "discover scuba" in Thailand. From the point of view of getting me into diving it was very useful.