CYBER DIVER ADVISOR :: Scuba CoursesDiving courses are designed to ensure that you develop knowledge and skills necessary for safe and enjoyable diving. After completing a diving course, you will receive a certification card which verifies that you have met all course standards established by the training agency.  WHICH TRAINING AGENCY IS BEST?
There are hundreds of diver training agencies around the world. Some are internationally recognized, some are not. Because you will almost certainly be diving all over the world, we strongly recommend you train with an internationally recognized certification agency. The leading international certification agencies are BSAC, CMAS, IDEA, NASDS-SSI, NAUI, PADI and YMCA. For technical diver training, choose ANDI, GUE, IANTD or TDI. There are minor differences between the various diving courses but no training agency stands far enough above the others to support any claim of superiority. Despite all of the marketing hype and misinformation which revolves around quantitative comparisons (our training dives are longer, deeper, tougher, etc), there is no significant difference between the certification agencies in terms of ensuring that course content alone will enable you to become a better prepared and safer BEGINNER diver. CONSIDER: 1) All major international certification agencies accept each other's certifications and 2) Diving safety analysis indicates that all agencies have the same accident rates. More importantly, all diver certification agencies have adopted the same step-by-step approach to diving education and acknowledge the inherent risk of diving. What this means is no matter how good your entry level training is (i.e. your entry level course instructor), it is NOT enough. Four days of training are better than three, five days are better than four, etc, etc. Simply stated, to reduce the inherent risk of diving, there is no substitute for continuing education and experience. In the modern diving education system, the burden of responsibility is on each individual diver to decide what level of risk they are willing to accept. Unfortunately, over 70% of all divers stop training after their initial certification course regardless of which agency they start with. WHAT TO LOOK FOR Although the major international diver certification agencies are NOT qualitatively different in terms of certification standards and procedures, diving instructors ARE and that's what makes courses different. The quality of a diving course depends primarily on the commitment and ability of your instructor. It takes about a week to get certified as an instructor; it takes much, much longer to learn how to help students with specific learning challenges and teach effectively. Ask to meet with your instructor before you sign up for the course. Ask them how long they have been teaching and how many divers they have certified. Look for a minimum of three years experience and 100 certifications. Ask about how the course will be conducted. Will there be a teaching assistant available if you have a problem with a particular skill and cannot keep pace with the other students? Above all else, make sure you will be learning from an instructor you trust with your life. THE ROLE OF THE DIVE CENTER Most dive courses are conducted by instructors employed by a dive center. The dive center owner sets the price and other parameters such as course duration, instructor per student ratios and maximum number of participants which may be (and some would argue should be) more conservative than training agency standards. Some companies are notorious for high-pressure scuba equipment sales strategies to increase profits. Before you sign up, find out if you will be expected to buy scuba equipment. If so, find another dive center. Scuba equipment purchase decisions should be left to your discretion and should reflect your interest in diving after you complete a course. DISREGARD MARKETING GIMMICKS If you're looking for a good diving course, ignore such crude marketing gimmicks such as gold cards, 5-star dive shops and franchise dive shop networks. What you're trying to find is a thorough and responsible scuba diving instructor and a good training program that will give you adequate time to learn and develop new diving skills. Check around and call as many dive centers as possible. Get references from other divers. If you're just getting into diving, you will be looking for the best available "open water" course which will include at least four or five dives in a natural marine environment. These courses can be completed in two or three days, however, four or five days is better because you will have more time to practice and master such demanding and important skills as buoyancy control and ascents. Obviously, the amount of time you have for skill development depends on student to instructor ratios but in general, go for a four-day or longer entry-level training course. UNSAFE AT ANY DEPTH Avoid two-day courses such as the PADI "Scuba Diver" certification. While divers need to take the initiative to continue training and enhance personal safety, certification agencies need to establish certain minimum entry level course requirements. PADI's two-day Scuba Diver course (not to be confused with the PADI Open Water course) is little more than a marketing initiative designed to increase PADI certifications. PADI rationalizes "dumbing down" entry-level requirements by asserting that divers don't have enough time to learn to dive (i.e. complete Open Water courses). Diving is inherently risky. If you don't have enough time to learn to dive, take up stamp collecting. (Go to CDNN's "Unsafe at any Depth" editorial) HOW TO SAVE MONEY Go to How to Save Money in CD Advisor - Dive Centers. Go to ScubaLinx Diver Education for complete listings and independent diver evaluations of diver certification agencies. | 
