Welcome to the newest and oldest US National certification agency!

[CaptBill]

Jim, I look forward to seeing your divers, with their SEI Cards, down here in the Keys. The shop I'm with is NAUI, SSI, and PADI. We welcome divers from every agency.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Thanks Bill. I hope to get back down to the keys at some point. Went to Bonaire this year and heading to Jamaica in April. Then hoping to do some shorter St Lawrence trips late summer early fall. I'm thinking my wife would like to come back to the keys in 2010. Maybe I'll bring some advanced students down and do the Grove, Duane, Eagle, and if she's down- the Vandenberg. Would make a nice trip doing keys wrecks every day! And thanks for welcoming our students!

 

[1wet1]

Wow am I behind! I just learned today that YMCA is no more and have been reading your posts. Nothing has been posted lately. IS this still going on? How do I get my (YMCA) AOW transferred to the new agency? Why didn't the Y let it's members know in a letter or email? Why didn't SEI reach out to them?

 

[Brandon]

Ahhhhh, this is good news =) I was wondering what all this SEI stuff in your signature line was about! Liked what you were saying when I read your posts, but didn't realize it would become the reincarnation of the YMCA program.

Kudos to all of you!

-B

 

[Walter]

IS this still going on?

SEI is still going on and growing.

How do I get my (YMCA) AOW transferred to the new agency?

There's no need to switch, but if you want to do it anyway, send me a PM and I'll work out the details of getting you a new SEI card.

Why didn't the Y let it's members know in a letter or email? Why didn't SEI reach out to them?

I can't answer for YMCA, but SEI did contact all the YMCA instructors and a good number of them have crossed over. I was retired, but came out of retirement to be a part of SEI, I'm very excited about it. It's like the old YMCA SCUBA Program, but better.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Wow am I behind! I just learned today that YMCA is no more and have been reading your posts. Nothing has been posted lately. IS this still going on? How do I get my (YMCA) AOW transferred to the new agency? Why didn't the Y let it's members know in a letter or email? Why didn't SEI reach out to them?

SEI could not reach out to YMCA certified divers as we did not have access to the full membership lists. As to why the Y did not notify members the truth is that they did. At the Pro level. All leadership level members received a letter in July of 2008 informing us of the "sunsetting" of the Y scuba Program. You really do not need to change over your card. The Y is still issuing replacement cards to non leadership level divers in the event they lose or misplace their card. Your YMCA card is still recognized and respected worldwide. Of course if you would like to have an SEI card and we will certainly welcome you just contact SEI HQ at SEI Diving Home Page

Or email them at info@seidiving.org, You can also call them at 765-281-0600. Ask for Thad or Santyna. Either of them will be glad to hook you up. Or why not ask them about SEI instruction in your area and take a new class or upgrade to AOW plus?

You can also PM me for an instructor in your area as I have the list and if you will be around in March stop in at Scubafest in Columbus and say Hi! We can even set you up there. Myself and Tom Leaird will both be there for the entire weekend. For info on Scubafest go to www.scubafest.org

 

[ajtoady]

Jim, is there a website that gives more info on the SEI courses? I went to the SEI homepage but did not find info such as limits upon finishing a course. Such as depth allowed after open water cert. or do they offer a Deep Diver such as PADI. Thanks for all of your posts and input.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Right now there is no deep diver course. Like the y program our recommended max depth for sport divers is 100 ft. Even though our tables go to 130 the time at depth is short and quickly approaches the ndl's. I myself encourage this level of conservatism. Does this mean you cannot go beyond 100? No in fact it is a recommendation. However due to Narcosis and short ndl's having some extensive gas management and even deco plans should be considered. I'd like to see us do a deep specialty to 130ft and someday that may happen.

The other thing you need to consider is that our ow class technically certs to 100 with the proper experience and planning.

 

[ajtoady]

Jim, thanks for your reply. I was not in any way comparing but was curious about requirements, classes, and level certifications etc. I have done the PADI Advance Open Water and am currently hoping for my Ice Cert if the ice holds out. I have contacted my local instructor and informed him I want to continue on to PADI Deep and Nitrox this year. Rescue is also a possibility. I am a realist and will probably very rarely go beyond 100' but look at it as though any thing learned is sooner or later going to be useful. At my age I want to be safe AND informed. I also believe in being responsible for my own safety and education in the activities I pursue.

 

[Diver003]

Wow, I had no idea SEI was the continuance of the YMCA program. I was originally certified through the YMCA course and their standards were very high. Having looked at your syllabus for AOW and Nav, Jim, SEI looks like a great organization as well. My open water class was over a period of about 2 months, meeting once a week (or twice - if we had to make up skills in the pool we didn't pass the first time). I thought all courses were this rigorous and when I first learned of 3-day resort courses a number of years ago I thought it impossible to even compare to what I had done. I was actually quite offended one time when in a dive shop a worker confidently made a statement assuming I had gotten into diving through such a resort course.

Anyway, is there an instructor search function available publicly? It seems the SEI website wants me to directly contact them for this information. If you have the information readily available, I'd be interested to see who is around Raleigh, NC. Otherwise I'll go ahead and send them an email. Thanks!