Dive organisations - who, where and when.


When you are first contemplating diving this is one of the questions that will inevitably cross you're mind. In this article we will try and shed some light on what is available, suggest a likely first starting point and further suggest that you may well not necessarily conduct all you're training within the same training organisation.

As far as commercial training agencies are concerned the main ones worldwide are:

PADI or Professional Association of Diving Instructors
(www.padi.com):

The PADI System of diver education assures that PADI professionals worldwide deliver PADI courses in a consistent and standardized manner, yet adapted to your unique needs and the requirements of your local diving environment.

A PADI course you sign up for in Indonesia is virtually the same as a course a friend may take in Poland, yet both will be adapted to local cultures, customs, protocols and language. With more than 130,000 PADI Professionals and around 5300 PADI Dive Centers and Resorts operating in 180 countries and territories, you will likely find a PADI Professional who can speak your language and offer you a comfortable learning experience. To serve the needs of divers worldwide, translations of PADI materials are available in at least 26 languages.

PADI offers the Open Water Diver course, the most widely accepted and esteemed diving certification in the world. One of the popular entry level training opportunities that PADI offers is the Discover Scuba Diving program, accessible at any PADI Dive Center or Resort. Basic concepts and scuba skills are taught here under the supervision of PADI Professionals in pool or pool-like conditions. Though minimum age requirement is 10 years old, younger kids can also attend the 'junior' courses.

The entry level training emphasizes practical safety issues instead of theoretical concepts such as the physics and chemistry of diving. The Discover Scuba Diving program can be followed by the PADI Specialty Diver and PADI Rescue Diver programs for people who want to continue. These include advanced training and additional skills specific to personal interests. After each course is completed, a certificate is issued which is widely accepted throughout the world as proof of proficiency.

NAUI or National Association of Underwater Instructors
(www.naui.com):

NAUI Worldwide is the world's oldest, most respected and second largest diver training agency in the world. Established in 1959 as a not-for-profit membership association and organized solely to support and promote Dive Safety through Education, NAUI continues as the recognized leader in innovative education.

NAUI Worldwide offers a full range of training programs from Skin Diver through Instructor Course Director, with dozens of specialty courses including Nitrox and technical diving.

Thousands of member instructors, dive businesses, resorts, and service centers are located in countries throughout the world.

SSI or Scuba Schools International
(www.divessi.com):

SSI is also a worldwide diving training organization that specializes in business support for dive businesses and was established in 1970. It is, in fact, the largest school-based training agency in the world with various regional centers, and its certification is widely accepted throughout the world.

In the Spring of 1999, SSI merged with the National Association of Scuba Diving Schools (NASDS) and created a new synergy in the dive industry. The sales and marketing expertise of NASDS, when joined with the renowned educational products of SSI, created a stronger company that is in a better position to serve Dealers, Instructors, and ultimately, Divers.

The beginner programs offered by SSI include Scuba Ranger, Try Scuba, Passport Diver, Open Water Diver, Snorkeling, and Scuba Skills Update. In order to reach SSIs highest recognition level in diving - the Platinum Pro5000 Diver award, you have to go through a number of intermediary levels of training such as Stress and Rescue Diver, Specialty courses, Continuing Education Ratings, and advanced programs such as Dive Leader Education System, including Dive Control Specialist and Open Water Instructor.

There are of course a number of other agencies available to you and these tend to focus on specific facets of diving such as:

Cave diving (Global Underwater Explorers are well respected in this particular arena).

TDI or Technical Diving International go for the more technical aspects of diving such as Advanced Nitrox, TriMix etc.

There are others too. So you need to take a good look around (particularly once the basics are out of the way) and select an agency that is a good fit for your interests at that particular point in time.

Most of my training has been conducted within the PADI training system and I have no complaints at all having (thus far) done pretty much everything upto and including Rescue Diver.

I did my Nitrox and Advanced Nitrox with TDI as at the time it was more convenient.

I am also a member of GUE (Global Underwater Explorers) who have a very narrow focus on diving practice that some take issue with. I don't however, their reasoning is sound, strict and safety conscious to what some would call the extreme.

In summary: If you're just starting out then it has to be said that the most accessible organisation is PADI and as their slogan states " PADI - Where the World Learn's to Dive" - but then they do have the lions share of the international market!