Thanks R, I am enjoying the experience!
No, we are not derived from or based on CMAS. CMAS is French-based system that provides a form of recognition, but through local agencies. AUSI is CMAS recognised through AUF in Australia, but that is the only link.
Yes, we believe that our standards are significantly different. They have been developed over the past 20 years and are under constant review (in fact we are about to release a new update) and all our instructors and operators participate in this review process.
Our main differences are related to safety. We are very concerned that divers should experience a safe and enjoyable experience while learning - so that they can enjoy diving safely after. As part of that we actually insist that instructors do the teaching - because a video can't tell if you are paying attention. We also insist that students experience diving, not just participate in drills, as part of their training.
We believe in repetition of basic skills - nothing unusual there, but you would be surprised how often this does not happen.
I can't list all the differences for obvious reasons, but some of our innovations are worth mentioning:
- We introduced the dive level system
- We created Level I for scuba experience as part of Level II (open water)
- We have restricted our Level I scuba instructors, even though qualified, so that they must have experience with courses before teach - and they must experience teaching higher levels before teaching it.
- We have carefully waded our way through the multitude of international and Australian standards to define new standards for resort diving - and to deliver a safer more enjoyable experience for customers.
- We introduced the open license.
Enough! Lets just say we won't compromise on safety. Why not register on our site and have a look.
We run a very lean operation - and yes it is close to giving it away. We do not believe in charging instructors to be our customers. As long as they are doing some business, we don't charge. We can do this because we don't have regional players to feed or other extra fat on the overhead. We keep our certification charges as lean as possible and that is sufficient to run our operation.
As to development costs - how do you cover 20 years of hard work? We have done it now, so our attitude is, let's get on with it!
Why not ask another question - why are other agencies so expensive? If you look at how much money the average dive store is paying to their agency - how many new cars could they buy if they halved their cost? In the current market, its got to be an issue?
Cheers
R
