Why Should I Join NAUI?

[The Chairman]

But so far I don't see how membership would benefit me unless I missed something.

You can trust the divers, I'm sure. Should something happen, I don't know that you can trust any survivors. You've been trained to be a professional, whether you join an agency or not. It's why I never pursued being a captain. It just wasn't worth the liability.

 

[cleung]

I believe that Canada is treated the same as the USA as far as agencies go. In that case, if you are acting as a divemaster, then you need to be "current" with an agency and insured. That may be through an umbrella policy with your dive shop or as an individual, but if you are acting in that capacity you need to be insured and active with your agency, no different than an instructor, just cheaper.
I'm going to go out on a limb, albeit a sturdy one, and say that you're doing this with Dan's dive shop given your location and NAUI? If you are doing any shop sanctioned anything, you really need to stay current for the safety of that shop.

Being a NAUI member means you get to vote for the board of directors, but it's mainly if there was an issue in the water that you would have some semblance of defense.

No I don't deal with Dan's dive shop and I don't think they are NAUI anyway. My dive group is not through any particular dive shop as we are totally independent as a community group. So far the way we work is that in the regular dive sites we do, they are all max 30 foot shore dives. For any trips outside of our regular sites (since I don't know those sites), I don't lead dives anymore as our dive members just buddy up and each pair does their own thing in the water for shore dives and same thing with charter boat dives we do. In the case of boat dives, we let the captain do the dive briefings and each buddy pair again does their own thing. I'm just the guy who happens to make the initial communications with any dive charter we take on. So given this scope, how does this change things?

 

[tbone1004]

@cleung Dan's is a NAUI shop for reference, a big one actually, but interesting.

In that case, I wouldn't become an active dive master in the first place and stay out of any potential liability. Go through the training but don't get certified.

 

[CT-Rich]

I dive with new divers periodically. The local dive shop will often ask me to buddy up with new divers that show up at shop dives without a buddy. I am always happy to help out, but when it was suggested that I get the DM certification, it was a flat “no”. As a DM you are identifying as a professional and will assume some liability if things go south. You might beat it in court, eventually, but it will be expensive.

As a dive buddy, I am a co-equal and if another diver makes a bad decision, it was his. I might get sued anyway, but I was not marketing myself as a “dive professional.” Even if you never get in the water, the family may decide that your failure to warn them about something could be construed as contributing to an accident, because you were a “professional.” A family that loses its sole source of support may be desperate and look at you as a possible lifeline.

If you get the cert, look at the cost of insurance. I am not a lawyer or a dive professional, but have a vivid imagination.

 

[cleung]

Thanks for all your feedback so far folks. So what this is all telling me so far is that the 'benefit' of becoming a NAUI member is really to have the privilege of paying more money in membership fees as well as insurance coverage but no other real perks of being a membership. For example, I'm also a member of the Canadian Ski instructors Alliance and membership benefits include magazines, the right to take in training sessions and courses only available to members, discounts at many ski resorts and other types of businesses such as hotels and car rentals plus special pricing for gear from ski manufacturers. I'm not seeing any similar 'benefits' of NAUI membership other than being able to pay more $. Is that about right unless I didn't catch it anywhere on the NAUI website.

 

[tbone1004]

Thanks for all your feedback so far folks. So what this is all telling me so far is that the 'benefit' of becoming a NAUI member is really to have the privilege of paying more money in membership fees as well as insurance coverage but no other real perks of being a membership. For example, I'm also a member of the Canadian Ski instructors Alliance and membership benefits include magazines, the right to take in training sessions and courses only available to members, discounts at many ski resorts and other types of businesses such as hotels and car rentals plus special pricing for gear from ski manufacturers. I'm not seeing any similar 'benefits' of NAUI membership other than being able to pay more $. Is that about right unless I didn't catch it anywhere on the NAUI website.

It's not a membership organization like say the NSS-CDS, NFSA, etc. all of the training agencies require you to maintain active status with them but since NAUI is a non-profit it is run a little weird where the members get to vote for the BoD instead of having it run as a for-profit corporation if that makes sense. The dues to NAUI are the same as you would have to pay to PADI, SSI, SDI, etc. if you were an active-status divemaster with them.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I generally advise against becoming a pro for any agency, unless you plan on opening a dive center/shop or you REALLY want to teach.

 

[boulderjohn]

The local dive shop will often ask me to buddy up with new divers that show up at shop dives without a buddy. I am always happy to help out, but when it was suggested that I get the DM certification, it was a flat “no”. As a DM you are identifying as a professional and will assume some liability if things go south.

I am not an attorney, but it seems to me that if a dive shop asks you to dive with a new diver and that new diver understands that you were asked to do that because of your greater experience, then you may well be acting as a professional and can be sued as a professional would be if things went south. The difference would be that you would not have any insurance to cover the suit.

 

[CT-Rich]

I am not an attorney, but it seems to me that if a dive shop asks you to dive with a new diver and that new diver understands that you were asked to do that because of your greater experience, then you may well be acting as a professional and can be sued as a professional would be if things went south. The difference would be that you would not have any insurance to cover the suit.

The shop has monthly picnics so divers can meet up and find buddies. I assume just about the same liability regardless of how I meet a dive buddy. I would not be off Scott free if do something really stupid that results in the death of another. However, when you are adding a professional title and some sort of compensation to the mix, the equation changes. I would assume that a paid DM is thereto to provide a level of expertise to ensure the safety of a participant. As opposed to two divers diving together for their mutual enjoyment and safety.

Getting medical advice from a doctor is different than getting it from you car mechanic or Tucker Carlson.

 

[ofg-1]

Why should you join NAUI? Well, rumor has it, if you don't, they will send an instructor to your house middle of the night and shave your cat.