Certification scuba diving is essential if you plan to pursue scuba diving professionally. There are many certifications available depending on your interests and budget. Here are some popular certifications for beginners: PADI and SSI, NAUI and CMAS. Find out which one suits you best! Here are some tips and tricks to help you choose the right certification program.
PADI
PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors), an organization for professional diver training and membership, is known as PADI. John Cronin was the founder of the organization, as was Ralph Erickson. The certification includes a range of training requirements including underwater navigation, scuba diving safety and dive operations. PADI training teaches divers to safely and effectively manage a dive and how to navigate underwater.
Students who have completed the PADI open water course will receive a rescue diver certification. This requires five different dive courses with five distinct learning outcomes and skill sets. Two of them must be Deep Dive Specialty Courses and one must be Underwater Navigation Specialty Courses. Three of the other courses must be chosen from a given list. The Rescue Diver certification is designed for individuals who are willing to rescue others in distress underwater. The course usually requires two to three days of training. It includes theory and two open water dives.
SSI
A SSI course can help you decide which certification is best for you. Both SSI and PADI require a certain level skill. PADI courses have a more rigid structure and require the student complete skills in a specified order. SSI is more flexible. If a skill is too difficult, students can switch to the next one until they succeed. They can get their certifications in a matter hours with SSI because they can do it while they are on vacation.
SSI offers digital training so you can log dives quickly. Manuals can either be downloaded from the internet or obtained at a dive shop. SSI allows you to create an online profile and obtain an e certificate card. The cost varies, but in 2018 most courses cost about 50 USD. A dive training course can be completed to upgrade your certification.
NAUI
The National Association of Underwater Instructors is an association of certified instructors in scuba diving. Their primary mission is to create standards and education programs that are applicable to all scuba divers. NAUI certification lets you teach scuba divers to non-professionals while also meeting international safety standards. NAUI offers training classes as well.
The first NAUI training course was held in 1959 in Los Angeles by Al Tillman, a peer at Scripps Institute of Oceanography. In 1958, he and another oceanographer at the Scripps Institute granted provisional diving certifications. Scuba diving was popularized by Lloyd Bridges' 1960 movie "Sea Hunt". 1960 saw the founding of the National Diving Patrol. Jacques-Yves Cousteau became its first president. Today, the Navy SEALs and NASA use NAUI training programmes worldwide.
CMAS
Scuba divers from every continent should seek out a school that offers CMAS courses. There is no central list of approved dive schools. However, you can use a search engine to locate one. CMAS courses are equivalent to 5 days of diving and emphasize the importance of safety, including the use of a buddy. You must be at minimum 16 years old and have completed 25 dives. A medical certificate from a doctor is required to be eligible for CMAS certification. If you already hold another certification, the first step will be to complete an SSI course.
A qualification you have from one agency may not be recognized by another. However, you can still enroll in a similar course at another agency. If you have some experience in scuba diving and are interested in pursuing more advanced courses, you can use the table references below. You may need to start at a lower level, if you have a CMAS 1 or 2 certificate. If this is the case, you should seek out advice from the new agency prior to making the decision.