acerb29
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hello everybody i am a new to diving but i absolutely love it i was wondering witch diving school is better halls diving or prodive usa does anybody know?
Which is better?
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The most important thing to understand is that "which school is better" is highly subjective and involves a lot of criteria, including actual tuition and ancillary costs; location and physical facility; training agency affiliation and instructional methods; and finally job placement and alumni support...
Founded in 1975, Pro Dive has been recognized by PADI as its first-ever and Å®ost Chosen Career Development Center in the U.S. We have trained and placed nearly 3000 instructors worldwide and count among our alumni some of the most influential and iconic figures in the industry, including more resort and store owners and key management than any other facility. Pro Dive will most definitely prepare you for a successful stint or long-term career! in the diving industry. The training and credentials you will receive here will mark you as one of the worldÃÔ finest and most marketable diving professionals.
WeÃ×e chosen to partner with PADI because we believe it offers the absolute best return on investment in terms of the services and benefits it provides to its professional members, as well as their potential to grow and succeed in our industry. I personally spent 18 years as an Instructor with two other agencies while teaching diving part-time. When I decided to make this a full-time career, I knew PADI was the appropriate choice. If you want to Go Pro, you need to Go PADI and if you want to Go PADI Pro, you need to go to Pro Dive!
In terms of physical location, Pro Dive is unsurpassed, located directly on the Intracoastal Waterway in the heart of Ft. Lauderdale Beach and just 6 miles from the Ft. Lauderdale International Airport. Our newly renovated 10,000 sq. foot campus includes three classrooms (including wheelchair accessible); wi-fi student resource center, one-of-a-kind custom-built air fill operations station; state-of-the-art retail center featuring Aqua Lung and Atomic product lines; two Olympic-sized pools (with 12' of depth) and an 18' deep diving well on site; a freshwater lake designed for diving for days when the ocean is too rough, and the Pro Diver II, a custom 60' glass-bottom "floating classroom" docked right on site.
As important as "location-location-location" is, it's the programming and the ultimate career advice and placement that are most critical to our students. From your description as "new to diving," I'm going to assume that you are just at the O/W certification level...you'll probably start your Pro Dive training with the Advanced Open Water (AOW) Course, a series of five experience dives, possibly followed by the PADI Master Scuba Diver (MSD) program, which builds more experience and progresses you with the specialty certifications that pick up with the dives begun in the AOW. All of the dives during these programs count toward the required 60 that are needed to complete the Divemaster course and all are included in our Diamond Program tuition there is NO additional charge for diving with us. After completion of the MSD, you'll continue on into our Phase I/Professional Divemaster curriculum. Phase I itself also includes 2 non-diving courses: Emergency First Responder and DAN Oxygen Provider, and then kicks into high gear with Rescue Diver, followed by Enriched Air (Nitrox) Diver and finally Divemaster (DM) itself. Again, the exit requirement for DM is 60 logged dives©Ðf course, all dives in the Phase I and Diamond Pre-Phase courses count toward this number. Additionally, you will receive a 10-trip Charter Card for the Pro Diver II a $750.00 value at no additional charge. Between the Diamond Program courses and the trip-card, youÃÍl easily hit the required 60 for DM certification. All of our Phase training is done on a full-time, daily basis©Èenerally 8:00 to 5:00.
As for the classes themselves: our DM course is an intensive 10-day program, combining academics, confined water, and open water training components. The academic knowledge development includes such topics as Physics, Physiology, Decompression Theory, Equipment, Skills and the Environment, Assisting with Students, and Supervising Certified Divers. This is where we teach the science behind all the information you have learned thus far in the Diamond Program. The confined water portions of the program will focus on developing demonstration-quality skills, as well as stamina exercises, including a 400 meter any-style swim; 800 meter mask-fins-snorkel surface swim; 100 meter tired diver tow (in full equipment); and a fifteen minute tread, with hands out of the water for the last two minutes. The open water portion of the course is where things really get fun as you will play the role of Divemaster to members of your team (we never exceed a 6:1 student/instructor ratio, regardless of the overall size of the class) in the real-world diving environment of Ft. LauderdaleÃÔ beautiful wrecks & reefs. We have found that what we accomplish through role-play is a far better training platform than what can be accomplished by a Divemaster-Candidate shadowing an Instructor during an actual course or dive. As such, we see a tremendous difference in those Instructor-Candidates who have done their DM training here vs. those who have done it elsewhere
DM is, as I mentioned, the entry to the professional ranks of diving, but is not generally an end in itself, but the means to an end work-permits for expatriates in most places require Instructor status©Ôo, DM alone does not make our graduates eligible for Job Placement. As such, the next step toward career development is the Phase II/Instructor Development Course (IDC), once you have been certified for six months. Pro DiveÃÔ IDC is completed over a two week period, and also includes the EFR-Instructor course (we have made this a part of our programming for over a decade; PADI is only this month requiring it for all new Instructors) and you will emerge prepared for the two-day Instructor Examination©×ery well prepared, indeed. Although the prize is successfully passing the IE, we do not focus on that as a stand-alone goal; we simply prepare you for it AND prepare you for a successful career as a dive professional! Upon successful completion of the IDC and IE, and with 100 logged dives, you will be a teaching-status PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor©Ând theoretically ready for the job market
However
We learned a long time ago that only 20% of the resort dive instructorÃÔ job involves actual instruction. The other 80% is made up of all the tasks that no IDC teaches©ôwork such as leading dives, crewing on a boat, filling tanks, servicing equipment, providing excellent customer service, etc.©ÕhatÃÔ why we designed our Phases III and IV, to give our graduates the competitive edge for job placement.
Phase III is our Master Scuba Diver Trainer Prep program, in which youÃÍl be certified to teach (5) PADI Specialty courses and (4) Divers Alert Network (DAN) programs, earning the DAN Dive Emergency Specialist rating along the way. Phase IV is our exclusive Resort Operations Specialist (ROS®), it provides additional PADI Instructor certifications including Digital U/W Photo Instructor from the WorldÃÔ First and ONLY Seas & Sea School of U/W Photography (5) additional technician certifications, as well as a full practicum/internship on our boat and within in our retail dive center. The credentialing and hands-on training found in ROS enable us to offer our exclusive Job Placement Pledge: You will have a job offer within 60 days or we pay you! No other Career Development Center in the world offers this?and because of the enhancements to the ROS programming and the internship requirements, we are also providing a $50 per day stipend toward housing for all students enrolled in Phase IV.
Also new for 2009 our exclusive video resume, in which potential employers will see you ÅÍive, telling them about yourself and demonstrating your boat-mastering and diving and teaching skills WeÃÓe also developing a proprietary program with one of the worldÃÔ foremost yacht crew training facilities, to train our graduates for dual roles in diving and in the yachting industry©Õhis will potentially double marketability and offers a level of income generally much higher than the resort or store-based dive instructor.
It's also important to understand that the only way Pro Dive does business is with 100% complete candor as to what you can expect from a career in the recreational diving business...we will never exaggerate the earnings potential of a novice instructor, in order to entice you to enroll here. The only way I personally do business is to build long-term relationships -- the satisfied dive professional is our "finished product" and represents Pro Dive worldwide...their success is our mission...
Of course, the only REAL way for you to determine which school is "better" is to visit both -- I encourage you to do just that -- so that you can make a true apples-to-apples comparison. Please feel free to call me anytime at 800-PRO-DIVE and come join me for a tour of our awesome campus and a day's diving -- on me!
Kelly
Founded in 1975, Pro Dive has been recognized by PADI as its first-ever and Å®ost Chosen Career Development Center in the U.S. We have trained and placed nearly 3000 instructors worldwide and count among our alumni some of the most influential and iconic figures in the industry, including more resort and store owners and key management than any other facility. Pro Dive will most definitely prepare you for a successful stint or long-term career! in the diving industry. The training and credentials you will receive here will mark you as one of the worldÃÔ finest and most marketable diving professionals.
WeÃ×e chosen to partner with PADI because we believe it offers the absolute best return on investment in terms of the services and benefits it provides to its professional members, as well as their potential to grow and succeed in our industry. I personally spent 18 years as an Instructor with two other agencies while teaching diving part-time. When I decided to make this a full-time career, I knew PADI was the appropriate choice. If you want to Go Pro, you need to Go PADI and if you want to Go PADI Pro, you need to go to Pro Dive!
In terms of physical location, Pro Dive is unsurpassed, located directly on the Intracoastal Waterway in the heart of Ft. Lauderdale Beach and just 6 miles from the Ft. Lauderdale International Airport. Our newly renovated 10,000 sq. foot campus includes three classrooms (including wheelchair accessible); wi-fi student resource center, one-of-a-kind custom-built air fill operations station; state-of-the-art retail center featuring Aqua Lung and Atomic product lines; two Olympic-sized pools (with 12' of depth) and an 18' deep diving well on site; a freshwater lake designed for diving for days when the ocean is too rough, and the Pro Diver II, a custom 60' glass-bottom "floating classroom" docked right on site.
As important as "location-location-location" is, it's the programming and the ultimate career advice and placement that are most critical to our students. From your description as "new to diving," I'm going to assume that you are just at the O/W certification level...you'll probably start your Pro Dive training with the Advanced Open Water (AOW) Course, a series of five experience dives, possibly followed by the PADI Master Scuba Diver (MSD) program, which builds more experience and progresses you with the specialty certifications that pick up with the dives begun in the AOW. All of the dives during these programs count toward the required 60 that are needed to complete the Divemaster course and all are included in our Diamond Program tuition there is NO additional charge for diving with us. After completion of the MSD, you'll continue on into our Phase I/Professional Divemaster curriculum. Phase I itself also includes 2 non-diving courses: Emergency First Responder and DAN Oxygen Provider, and then kicks into high gear with Rescue Diver, followed by Enriched Air (Nitrox) Diver and finally Divemaster (DM) itself. Again, the exit requirement for DM is 60 logged dives©Ðf course, all dives in the Phase I and Diamond Pre-Phase courses count toward this number. Additionally, you will receive a 10-trip Charter Card for the Pro Diver II a $750.00 value at no additional charge. Between the Diamond Program courses and the trip-card, youÃÍl easily hit the required 60 for DM certification. All of our Phase training is done on a full-time, daily basis©Èenerally 8:00 to 5:00.
As for the classes themselves: our DM course is an intensive 10-day program, combining academics, confined water, and open water training components. The academic knowledge development includes such topics as Physics, Physiology, Decompression Theory, Equipment, Skills and the Environment, Assisting with Students, and Supervising Certified Divers. This is where we teach the science behind all the information you have learned thus far in the Diamond Program. The confined water portions of the program will focus on developing demonstration-quality skills, as well as stamina exercises, including a 400 meter any-style swim; 800 meter mask-fins-snorkel surface swim; 100 meter tired diver tow (in full equipment); and a fifteen minute tread, with hands out of the water for the last two minutes. The open water portion of the course is where things really get fun as you will play the role of Divemaster to members of your team (we never exceed a 6:1 student/instructor ratio, regardless of the overall size of the class) in the real-world diving environment of Ft. LauderdaleÃÔ beautiful wrecks & reefs. We have found that what we accomplish through role-play is a far better training platform than what can be accomplished by a Divemaster-Candidate shadowing an Instructor during an actual course or dive. As such, we see a tremendous difference in those Instructor-Candidates who have done their DM training here vs. those who have done it elsewhere
DM is, as I mentioned, the entry to the professional ranks of diving, but is not generally an end in itself, but the means to an end work-permits for expatriates in most places require Instructor status©Ôo, DM alone does not make our graduates eligible for Job Placement. As such, the next step toward career development is the Phase II/Instructor Development Course (IDC), once you have been certified for six months. Pro DiveÃÔ IDC is completed over a two week period, and also includes the EFR-Instructor course (we have made this a part of our programming for over a decade; PADI is only this month requiring it for all new Instructors) and you will emerge prepared for the two-day Instructor Examination©×ery well prepared, indeed. Although the prize is successfully passing the IE, we do not focus on that as a stand-alone goal; we simply prepare you for it AND prepare you for a successful career as a dive professional! Upon successful completion of the IDC and IE, and with 100 logged dives, you will be a teaching-status PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor©Ând theoretically ready for the job market
However
We learned a long time ago that only 20% of the resort dive instructorÃÔ job involves actual instruction. The other 80% is made up of all the tasks that no IDC teaches©ôwork such as leading dives, crewing on a boat, filling tanks, servicing equipment, providing excellent customer service, etc.©ÕhatÃÔ why we designed our Phases III and IV, to give our graduates the competitive edge for job placement.
Phase III is our Master Scuba Diver Trainer Prep program, in which youÃÍl be certified to teach (5) PADI Specialty courses and (4) Divers Alert Network (DAN) programs, earning the DAN Dive Emergency Specialist rating along the way. Phase IV is our exclusive Resort Operations Specialist (ROS®), it provides additional PADI Instructor certifications including Digital U/W Photo Instructor from the WorldÃÔ First and ONLY Seas & Sea School of U/W Photography (5) additional technician certifications, as well as a full practicum/internship on our boat and within in our retail dive center. The credentialing and hands-on training found in ROS enable us to offer our exclusive Job Placement Pledge: You will have a job offer within 60 days or we pay you! No other Career Development Center in the world offers this?and because of the enhancements to the ROS programming and the internship requirements, we are also providing a $50 per day stipend toward housing for all students enrolled in Phase IV.
Also new for 2009 our exclusive video resume, in which potential employers will see you ÅÍive, telling them about yourself and demonstrating your boat-mastering and diving and teaching skills WeÃÓe also developing a proprietary program with one of the worldÃÔ foremost yacht crew training facilities, to train our graduates for dual roles in diving and in the yachting industry©Õhis will potentially double marketability and offers a level of income generally much higher than the resort or store-based dive instructor.
It's also important to understand that the only way Pro Dive does business is with 100% complete candor as to what you can expect from a career in the recreational diving business...we will never exaggerate the earnings potential of a novice instructor, in order to entice you to enroll here. The only way I personally do business is to build long-term relationships -- the satisfied dive professional is our "finished product" and represents Pro Dive worldwide...their success is our mission...
Of course, the only REAL way for you to determine which school is "better" is to visit both -- I encourage you to do just that -- so that you can make a true apples-to-apples comparison. Please feel free to call me anytime at 800-PRO-DIVE and come join me for a tour of our awesome campus and a day's diving -- on me!
Kelly
Welcome to the ScubaBoard! If that's not a testamonial and advertisement for ProDive, I'll eat my fins. Never been with either shop, but HAVE heard good things about ProDive!
Last edited:
Rainer
Contributor
the ones from the west and the north are better.
PARADISE HUNTER
Contributor
:lol: That's funny!
I was thinking along the lines of a zombie or vampire comment.
Seriously, you should find more discussion on your question here:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/q-scuba-certification-agencies/#
Welcome to the board.
PH
I was thinking along the lines of a zombie or vampire comment.
Seriously, you should find more discussion on your question here:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/q-scuba-certification-agencies/#
Welcome to the board.
PH
MichiganScott
Contributor
- Messages
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- I just don't log dives
I dunno, Hogwarts sounds pretty cool
Acerb29
Pro Dive and Halls are both excellent schools. While not a graduate of either, over the past 30 years I have been diving with and spoken at length with graduates of both. I hold both Naui and Padi certifications so I don’t have an automatic bias… I have talked to both recently about continuing education… you will not regret either choice.
Rather than worrying about “which is the better school,” focus on "which is the better fit for you." If you are going to own your own hometown dive shop, your answer may be very different than if your dream is to work at Stuart’s Cove or serve as a dive officer on a yacht. Here are some questions you should ask yourself.
1. What agency do you want to work for after graduation? If you are planning on going Naui, Halls is clearly your choice. If Padi, Prodive is a better fit.
2. Where do you want to work? Poll the dive shops/resorts in your chosen employment locations and see if there are a large number of potential employers who hire instructors from your agency of choice (#1 above). If employment in a specific location or region is your goal, the answer to this question should be one of the, if not the most important. Do not rely on the schools to tell you what the market is. They all claim 100% placement and have statistics to back it up… The question you should be interested in isn’t “will you get a job” but “will you get a job where you want to be.” If the rather than dry land you answer is serving on a yacht, Pro Dive is definitely the better choice. Fort Lauderdale is home to several of the world’s largest schools for yacht crews… At Pro Dive you can dual track -- do both your scuba and yacht programs simultaneously -- and be ready to step right onto a yacht the day after graduation. Dive officer on a yacht is for singles only unless your spouse is also in the industry (you are always on the move and seldom in one location very long), but you get to see the world, meet amazingly successful people (the owners and guests on yachts are not dull, boring and average!) and the starting pay on yachts is close to double what resort based instructors get. Do you want to start your career in one small private corner of paradise or see it all and then choose?
3. Are you a city person or more quiet and laidback? What do you plan on doing when you are not in class or diving? Marathon is relatively quiet and remote. The population is somewhere around 10,000. Fort Lauderdale on the other hand is a real city with all the pluses and minuses. If you like kicking back and being completely off the radar screen, Halls might be a good fit. If you are more into the city scene (beachfront, malls, movie theaters, parties, libraries, museums etc.), then you should lean toward ProDive. There is no right answer… Just what is right for you.
4. Marital status. Single looking to hook up… Fort Lauderdale. Married looking for a second honeymoon… Marathon. Married and spouse needs to find a job… Fort Lauderdale.
5. Toys and special programs. Over the next 6-8 weeks Pro Dive is opening year round demo centers for dry suits, underwater cameras, dpv’s, full face masks with communications and underwater video. It is simply going to be the best place in the world to play with scuba toys and pick up specialty certifications. On the other hand, Halls has a rebreather instructor program (are you a tech diver?). Pro Dive does not. Then again, Pro Dive has the only program (“ROS”
where every graduate is certified as both a Reef Check instructor and an instructor of underwater photography… And so the list of pros and cons goes on and on. Which brings us back to “which is a better fit for you?”
Most importantly, if you are the least bit unsure, visit them both, meet the staffs, check out their boats, look at the local accommodations, and see which is the place you want to make home for the weeks or months you are taking your courses!
Hope this helps... let us know where you decide to go!
P
Pro Dive and Halls are both excellent schools. While not a graduate of either, over the past 30 years I have been diving with and spoken at length with graduates of both. I hold both Naui and Padi certifications so I don’t have an automatic bias… I have talked to both recently about continuing education… you will not regret either choice.
Rather than worrying about “which is the better school,” focus on "which is the better fit for you." If you are going to own your own hometown dive shop, your answer may be very different than if your dream is to work at Stuart’s Cove or serve as a dive officer on a yacht. Here are some questions you should ask yourself.
1. What agency do you want to work for after graduation? If you are planning on going Naui, Halls is clearly your choice. If Padi, Prodive is a better fit.
2. Where do you want to work? Poll the dive shops/resorts in your chosen employment locations and see if there are a large number of potential employers who hire instructors from your agency of choice (#1 above). If employment in a specific location or region is your goal, the answer to this question should be one of the, if not the most important. Do not rely on the schools to tell you what the market is. They all claim 100% placement and have statistics to back it up… The question you should be interested in isn’t “will you get a job” but “will you get a job where you want to be.” If the rather than dry land you answer is serving on a yacht, Pro Dive is definitely the better choice. Fort Lauderdale is home to several of the world’s largest schools for yacht crews… At Pro Dive you can dual track -- do both your scuba and yacht programs simultaneously -- and be ready to step right onto a yacht the day after graduation. Dive officer on a yacht is for singles only unless your spouse is also in the industry (you are always on the move and seldom in one location very long), but you get to see the world, meet amazingly successful people (the owners and guests on yachts are not dull, boring and average!) and the starting pay on yachts is close to double what resort based instructors get. Do you want to start your career in one small private corner of paradise or see it all and then choose?
3. Are you a city person or more quiet and laidback? What do you plan on doing when you are not in class or diving? Marathon is relatively quiet and remote. The population is somewhere around 10,000. Fort Lauderdale on the other hand is a real city with all the pluses and minuses. If you like kicking back and being completely off the radar screen, Halls might be a good fit. If you are more into the city scene (beachfront, malls, movie theaters, parties, libraries, museums etc.), then you should lean toward ProDive. There is no right answer… Just what is right for you.
4. Marital status. Single looking to hook up… Fort Lauderdale. Married looking for a second honeymoon… Marathon. Married and spouse needs to find a job… Fort Lauderdale.
5. Toys and special programs. Over the next 6-8 weeks Pro Dive is opening year round demo centers for dry suits, underwater cameras, dpv’s, full face masks with communications and underwater video. It is simply going to be the best place in the world to play with scuba toys and pick up specialty certifications. On the other hand, Halls has a rebreather instructor program (are you a tech diver?). Pro Dive does not. Then again, Pro Dive has the only program (“ROS”
where every graduate is certified as both a Reef Check instructor and an instructor of underwater photography… And so the list of pros and cons goes on and on. Which brings us back to “which is a better fit for you?” Most importantly, if you are the least bit unsure, visit them both, meet the staffs, check out their boats, look at the local accommodations, and see which is the place you want to make home for the weeks or months you are taking your courses!
Hope this helps... let us know where you decide to go!
P
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