April 7th, 2010 | 
Author: οthеr ехсеllеnt scuba diving programe аlѕο саn. hοw tο сhοѕе a ехсеllеnt coach, ехсеllеnt resort, аnd ехсеllеnt places, primarily іn Southeast asia. thanks.
οthеr ехсеllеnt scuba diving programe аlѕο саn. hοw tο сhοѕе a ехсеllеnt coach, ехсеllеnt resort, аnd ехсеllеnt places, primarily іn Southeast asia. thanks.
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Check if they are a well managed lecture.
The condition of their equipment is excellent.
Any coach that spends training time with
his students is a sign of a excellent coach.
The program will only be as excellent as the instructor.
A excellent sign is if they are a 5 star padi programe or resort. They have to earn this ranking for brilliant benefit.
Making sure the SCUBA operation has a PADI 5 Star Rating and you can find more in rank on Rodales SCUBA Diving Magazine Website: www.scubadiving.com
Make sure that when you go out on any boat trip that the crew does a roster roll call rather than a head count! Question if there is O2 on board with First Aid,radio and know where the nearest medical hospital is and hyperbaric chamber. Look at the equipment they provide and see if it looks as if it is well maintained. Make sure you choose your dive buddy wisely and you feel comfortable with them. Question questions if you are not sure about equipment. Pay attention to dive briefings and consult the dive master if you have any questions,comments or concerns. Make sure that your instructor has liability insurance and has completed any recent PADI Instructor Updates!!! The bottom line is if you don’t feel comfortable with any SCUBA Operation….trust your judgement and look for another but research any SCUBA Operation owing to PADI and Rodales SCUBA DIVING Magazine Website. Dive Training is another excellent SCUBA Magazine.
ALL PADI, NAUI, and SSI (and probably others, though I can’t really speak for them)
instructors are excellent, or at least excellent enough. That is what makes them nationally recognized purveyors of dive training: standards. Any dive instructor in excellent standing with his or her agency should be just fine.
That being said, the fact of the matter is that no one teaches diving- that is something you learn continuously every time you dive.
What the major agencies lecture you is underwater survival.
This is no trivial matter, of course, but as far as what kind of diver you will turn out to be, it means very small whether you learn at a nice resort or from some guy who operated out of his house.
To place it in perspective, (assuming you drive a car) does the driving course you took in high lecture make you the driver you are today? Probably not. The kind of diver you become depends on your attention to detail, situational awareness, blah, blah blah, in a word: YOU.
PADI (Place Another Dollar In) is the largest, but they are really more about merchandising than diving. NAUI is more about diving, although truthfully, they get kind of irritating with their holier-than-thou stuff, primarily small details. Reckon of them kind of like the WIndows/Mac of the diving community. Then there are ones like SSI, which I used to pimp for about ten years ago. (Linux?)
What are the differences?
The various agencies and instructors are only superficially different- they all lecture nearly exactly the same material.
If you want something in a different flavor, you might try IANDTand TDI, etc, that all kind of go off in their own directions, but at first, stick with the huge name brands that are recognized everywhere.
Remember, above all, that the kind of diver you are rests entirely in your own hands. The instructor will cover all the material- He has to. it is up to you to make sure that you have learned everything to your own satisfaction. If at any point, you feel uncomfortable with your skill level, tell the instructor, if he hasn’t already noticed. He will be glad to go over it again until you feel safe with it. Remember, Diving dead imitate poorly on him, so he wants you to do well.
More importantly, you are only going to have about five dives with this guy. You don’t want to be out in the water on your sixth dive with unresolved issues.
The feature of your training experience is a total ‘nother matter, though.
Some people feel better about going to a 5 star facility, regardless of what the 5 stars represent. Some people prefer going to a private instructor, where they won’t be pressured to buy a particular brand of gear. Your gut feeling upon meeting the instructor will tell you what kind of experience your training will be. Go with the personality you like best, and let the gear, facility, and other superficial nonsense come in a distant second.
Except you dread for your life, in which case go with the huge facility.