Choosing the Right Scuba Organization for You

In this episode of the Just Go Diving podcast, Chastity and Joel explore the various scuba diving certification organizations available to divers. They discuss the differences between major organizations such as NAUI, PADI, SSI, SDI, GUE, BSAC, and CMAS, highlighting their unique teaching methods, philosophies, and the importance of choosing the right organization based on individual needs and goals. The conversation emphasizes the significance of instructor quality and the diverse paths available for divers to enhance their skills and knowledge.

Takeaways

The Just Go Diving podcast is for entertainment purposes only.
Choosing a scuba organization can be challenging due to the variety available.
NAUI is known for its personalized courses and quality over quantity.
PADI is widely recognized and has a strong global presence.
SSI offers flexible courses and free online theory materials.
SDI is known for its innovative approach and solo diving certification.
GUE focuses on rigorous training and high standards for divers.
BSAC is a well-respected organization in the UK with a club concept.
CMAS emphasizes long-term training and community engagement.
Instructor quality is crucial for successful scuba training.

Links to SCUBA Training Organizations:

NAUI https://www.naui.org/

PADI https://www.padi.com/

SSI    https://www.divessi.com/en/home

SDI/TDI https://www.tdisdi.com/

GUE https://www.gue.com/

BSAC https://www.bsac.com/home/

CMAS https://www.cmas.org/

keywords scuba diving, certification, NAUI, PADI, SSI, SDI, GUE, BSAC, CMAS, dive training

Transcript

Chastity Stern (00:00)
Hey, it's me, Chastity. Ever wonder how six million scuba divers picked their certification agencies so that they could just go diving? Was it research, luck, or just whoever had the coolest logo? Let's find out what the differences are and if it actually matters.

Chastity Stern (00:18)
Hey Joel, how's it going?

Joel Chernick (00:20)
How are you doing?

Chastity Stern (00:22)
I'm good, I'm good. I was curious, when did you decide to get SCUBA certified and how did you pick an organization?

Joel Chernick (00:32)
That's a good question. I was in Hawaii in like 2016 and I did a Discovery Scuba Dive in Maui and I was hooked as soon as I did that. as soon as I came home from that I thought, well I really want to be a scuba diver now. I was absolutely enamored with it.

I didn't even know there was different organizations at the time. I didn't even think about that. I just called the nearest dive shop to me in the town that I lived in. And they told me about what it would take to do the courses and to take the class from them. But I didn't even think about the organization or anything like that. It was just this is what they offered. It wasn't until years later that I even knew there was other organizations. and things that did that.

Chastity Stern (01:18)
Today I wanted to talk about a few different scuba organizations and what the difference is between them.

Joel Chernick (01:26)
I'd be really curious because I don't know much about the different organizations and you know why who where think a lot of new divers don't even have any idea about that stuff.

Chastity Stern (01:33)
Cool.

Joel Chernick (01:39)
So who sets the standards for dive training for these different organizations? Is there someone that sets the standards for all of them or do they just make their own standards up?

Chastity Stern (01:51)
Yeah, so the International Organization for Standardization, also known as the ISO, which is based in Switzerland, they bring global experts together to offer recommendations for minimum dive training requirements and decide on the best ways to do things.

Joel Chernick (02:07)
How many different organizations are there?

Chastity Stern (02:12)
lot. there are more than 160 scuba diving organizations not counting, yeah, so not counting the ones who teach technical and specialized diving.

Joel Chernick (02:17)
What?
Hmm, sounds like we could start our own scuba diving organization.

Chastity Stern (02:29)
As long as we met the ISO standards, we could.

Joel Chernick (02:32)
So how would somebody if they were starting out diving, I mean how would they ever know which one to pick if you had a choice between different ones? What would be the criteria someone would use to pick one?

Chastity Stern (02:46)
I think it's difficult to say that one organization is better than another. Some are bigger and have more experience and others are just better known for specialized training or just have different teaching methods. I think that your location, where you live is really going to determine which organization to choose for your certification. If you plan to go to a warm water location, and finish your certification, you want to choose an organization that is in that location so you can finish up and go diving in that place.

Joel Chernick (03:15)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I did something like that where I did some of my training locally, my pool stuff and classroom stuff, and then I went and did my open water dives in Florida because I wanted to go somewhere that was warm.

Chastity Stern (03:31)
I think it's a very common thing for people to go down to their local dive shop and ask about, can I take some skills here? And then I want to go to, let's say Hawaii or I want to go to Florida and then they'll begin the e-learning and the pool training in their local area. And then they'll do what's called the referral and go to these warm water destinations and finish the open water skills.

Joel Chernick (04:00)
What are some of the more well-known scuba organizations that people might have heard of?

Chastity Stern (04:07)
In the United States, some are NAUI PADI, SSI, SDI, and TDI, which is technical instruction. We also have GUE. Then in Europe there's BSAC, and there's CMAS. So there are quite a few different organizations, it's really specific to where you live.

Joel Chernick (04:18)
I've heard some of those.

What can you tell me about NAUI? I've heard about that.

Chastity Stern (04:34)
I can tell you about NAUI, since I am a NAUI instructor. NAUI was founded in 1960. It is the oldest of all of the certifying organizations since then it has set the standard for certification programs. The classes are held online or in person with e-learning taking place prior to in-person class sessions. So you're prepared for in-water training before you ever get there. NAUI is one of the few recreational certification organizations that actually teach rescue skills in their open water course. It's also a non-profit organization. In fact, in the official registry, it appears as a non-profit educational association.
It's headquarters are in Florida. Its philosophy is based on quality over quantity. Their teaching methods are very flexible instructors are able to design the course so that you can learn the information in the best way possible.

If your instructor considers that you need more pool practice on let's say for example, mask removal and clearing. They can set aside time to practice with that particular skill as long as you feel you need to in order to get the skill down and be able to master it. They can also expand training sessions to include other pieces that aren't necessarily in the ISO standards. So let's say that you have an instructor that wants to talk about how to descend down a mooring line. That isn't part of the diving standards, so they can actually add that in and teach it and it's outside of the prescribed curriculum, but NAUI it allows instructors to do that.

As soon as you finish your first course with NAUI you can go on to take other classes such as advanced scuba diver or rescue diver NAUI offers everything from recreational to technical diving NAUI he's also known for creating the first public safety diver certification program

Joel Chernick (06:36)
Why would I choose NAUI over some of the other organizations?

Chastity Stern (06:42)
It may be because you live in the United States or that you live in an area where the local dive shop only teaches NAUI we They have personalized courses so they focus on quality again over quantity Another reason that you might choose to 
take your initial SCUBA certification with NAUI is because they're allowed to build their own teaching curriculum to meet the needs of their students. So as long as they're meeting the standards for the skills, they can add in whatever they want to help you be well-rounded diver.

Joel Chernick (07:17)
That makes sense well I started out diving my first certification was through PADI. You've had some experience with PADI also, what can you tell me about them?

Chastity Stern (07:28)
Well, I too, started out with PADI. That was what was offered to me through my local dive shop. I actually went all the way through my Divemaster with PADI. They are one of the oldest and most recognized diving organizations. They were founded in 1966 and more are in more than 180 countries and have dive shops around the world. So they tend to be the more recognized out of all of the scuba organizations. They do a really good job marketing their product.

Joel Chernick (07:59)
Yeah, I've seen their shops in all kinds of countries. Can you describe some of PADI's teaching methods?

Chastity Stern (08:06)
Sure. So like NAUI the theoretical class can be carried out in person or online while the skills practice are carried out in swimming pools and in open water locations. PADI has a very defined skills progression teaching method. You're required to pass each skill in order to be allowed to move on to the next one and that separates them from NAUI, which lets you move around within the skills.

If you get hung up on a skill with PADI, you can't move to the next skill unless you complete it so you may spend a lot of time or unfortunately what might happen is you may have to stop right there and you can't complete your certification until you master that particular skill.

They also offer quite a few different levels of courses from recreational to technical.

Joel Chernick (08:56)
They've got lots of courses

Chastity Stern (08:58)
They do have lots of course.

Joel Chernick (09:01)
Photography, fish identification, there's all kinds of things.

Chastity Stern (09:06)
Yeah, for everything that you can do underwater, I do believe that PADI has a course. They also have the opportunity, and NAUI he does this as well, they have the opportunity to let their instructors write course material and have specialized courses made as long as it meets the ISO standards and the prescriptive way of teaching that these organizations have.

Joel Chernick (09:28)
Yeah, like in Hawaii, the Big Island, you can be a certified Manta diver.

Chastity Stern (09:32)
There you go. Yep, exactly.

Joel Chernick (09:36)
Why would someone want to choose PADI?

Chastity Stern (09:39)
Their educational system is very thorough. It's very well done. Their e-learning is well put together. It's pretty comprehensive. They're more readily available around the world. They have a lot of dive centers everywhere. if a person is looking to begin somewhere and end in another place, PADI just seems to have more dive shops in a lot more destinations that would make it easier to get that done.

Joel Chernick (10:06)
What are some of the other organizations that a diver might come into contact with here in the States

Chastity Stern (10:13)
So there are quite a few other organizations, SSI, Scuba Schools International. They were founded in 1970 and their main headquarters are in Colorado in the United States. at the present moment, they're in more than 110 different countries. They actually merged in 1999 with the National Association of Diving Schools and that gave them greater visibility.

They're currently one of the largest organizations with more than 2800 dive centers around the world. One of the main features of SSI is the regulation of their instructors. So if your goal is to become an instructor, you really want to focus on how they regulate this. So everyone that begins with SSI has the possibility of accessing their available training material without ever having to pay for membership. However, if you become an instructor or a dive master with their shops, you have to teach at one of their centers, you cannot teach on your own like some of the other organizations.

Joel Chernick (11:18)
Interesting and why would someone choose SSI?

Chastity Stern (11:24)
They're very flexible. So their courses are organized according to the student's performance. They have a basic price point. all of their theory courses are free and available online. So you could take them before ever choosing to pursue your certification. And they're recognized throughout the world.

Then we have SDI, which is Scuba Diving International.
Like Sierra Delta Indigo. This diving organization is one of the newest and it was founded in 1998 and it originally emerged as a sister institution of TDI, which is technical diving.

 So the idea behind the creation of SDI was to offer somewhat less technical training for people who just wanted to become recreationally certified. there are SDI training organizations in more than a hundred countries. they really focus on keeping really solid instructor training. Many of the experts that teach SDI also work at TDI, so that means that their experience and knowledge cross both platforms.

Joel Chernick (12:32)
Right? So you can kind of benefit as a student from that your instructor may know a lot more about it than just your basic open water stuff. Well, that's a good way to get you hooked on learning more too.

Chastity Stern (12:41)
Yeah. 

Yes, they have a pretty similar teaching method to the other organization. So it's primarily e-learning and multiple pool sessions. Then it's complimented with going to open water at the end of the course. They've always been pretty innovative. They teach dive computers. They were probably some of the first to teach about dive computers. The other organizations are teaching more about dive computers now but they lean more to teaching a dive computer instead of teaching dive tables, which I still teach dive tables. All the instructors that I know teach dive tables. Everybody loves dive tables or they don't.

Joel Chernick (13:19)
Yeah. Well, they do it for teaching, I've rarely looked at it since.

Chastity Stern (13:31)
An interesting thing and something that I don't personally promote is SDI is infamous for, They were the first dive training agency to offer solo diving certification, which has caused it some criticism in the world of diving.

Joel Chernick (13:47)
That sounds like a loaded topic that's gonna need its own episode.

Chastity Stern (13:52)
Definitely.

Joel Chernick (13:56)
So there's another one I heard about, GUE. What do know about them?

Chastity Stern (14:00)
Yeah, so GUE or Global Underwater Explorers is an organization that provides education within recreational, technical, and cave diving. It is also a nonprofit organization and they are based out of High Springs, Florida in the United States. They are actually a 501C nonprofit organization, which they were formed to promote education, conservation, and exploration.

They're known for really rigorous styles of training that diverges from other organizations. They seek to establish a higher level of diver proficiency by extending their training time and establishing really solid performance objective criteria and they're one of the only organizations that I know of that requires re-qualifications among their instructors and divers.

Joel Chernick (14:58)
Hmm. Yeah, I've always heard their name mentioned in the context of technical diving cave diving and, advanced wreck diving.

So what about our friends that live in Europe and other parts of the world? What are some of the organizations, that we don't see in the United States?

Chastity Stern (15:18)
So BSAC is one of the oldest dive organizations, it's been active since 1953. However, it did not start as a training center. It was just a dive club for recreational diving. It wasn't until 1960 that it actually became an institution when it launched its first course to train instructors.

Joel Chernick (15:25)
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Chastity Stern (15:40)
BSAC is the organization that regulates diving within the United Kingdom and their courses are viewed by many expert divers as an indisputable quality option.

Joel Chernick (15:51)
What do know about their teaching methods?

Chastity Stern (15:54)
They have certification programs in basic all the way to professional level. The beginner courses mix several theory classes with really long training in the pool. Later, when you've passed the pool courses, you'll then be allowed to move on to open water training. they do four open water dives. after that, you can opt for other continuing education courses.

Joel Chernick (16:19)
What's the advantage for someone to choose BSAC for certification?

Chastity Stern (16:24)
If you live in the United Kingdom, it's a great choice because they're highly recognized there. Their training is very high quality, although the organization is not as well known as some of the other ones.

Joel Chernick (16:40)
Yeah, I've not heard of it before. You know, I know somebody we should ask about, BSAC

Jane, our friend Jane.

Chastity Stern (16:48)
Yes, our friend Jane.

Another organization I'd never heard about prior to doing the research for this podcast episode. CMAS is another organization and it is nonprofit. It's pretty famous in the sense that one of the founders was actually Jacques Cousteau.

Joel Chernick (17:08)
What? And I never even heard about it.

Chastity Stern (17:08)
And it was found, yes, it was founded at the Monaco Congress in 1959. The original purpose was to support the development of diving and to unify educational standards in different countries where it's present. During the last couple of decades, they've actually expanded their operation around the globe and currently they're in charge of regulating diving in more than 130 countries.

Joel Chernick (17:39)
That's really surprising because people my age Jacques Cousteau was the thing that got us all excited about diving. that was the first time we ever even heard about scuba diving or saw all those wonders and it really got our attention. So I'm surprised that organization is not more well known. 

Why would someone choose CMAS? Is that again, depending on where you live, where it's offered at?

Chastity Stern (18:06)
Yeah, the organization, they are more like a club concept. you don't pay for your certification. It's actually like being a part an athletic club or a swim club. You have these club dues and you're not typically charged for the course. You're charged for your club membership. So that, takes on a whole different approach. I think that by doing that, it's more long-term. Your training probably would be more long-term than jumping in and...

Joel Chernick (18:32)
Mm-hmm.

Chastity Stern (18:36)
Just getting certified and going diving. They have a fairly traditional teaching style. You know, they put a real high priority on the learning portion. They're not about get you in, get you out. So the club piece really ties into that because they want you to stick around and continue learning.

Joel Chernick (18:57)

That's a very interesting concept and I can see that there would be a lot of inherent advantages because it would keep people engaged because they're in a club and they also have all these other divers so they have buddies and other people to dive with and to encourage and to learn from.

Chastity Stern (19:07)
Mm-hmm.

Right.

Joel Chernick (19:16)
There's so many people here or the people that I've known, they become certified but then they don't follow up on it because they don't have other friends that dive or it's not convenient. But I think that club idea is a good way to retain divers and to keep them excited about it. That's an interesting paradigm. I'm surprised we don't have some type of situation like that in this country. So with all these...

Chastity Stern (19:36)
Yeah, I think it would be pretty cool.

Joel Chernick (19:41)
So with all these different options available, it's like, how is someone supposed to choose what's the right thing for them? in many cases, do you think people even have much of a choice?

Chastity Stern (19:53)
Again, I think it's difficult to say that one organization is better than another. I think the most important things to think about when you're choosing an organization is what are their dive standards? What are their standards for the skills that they teach? How big are their class sizes? Do they put a lot of students in one class with one instructor or do they have dive masters or training assistants who are available to assist these instructors and provide a more well-rounded environment for learning? Because if you have eight students in a class with one instructor,

Joel Chernick (20:27)
That's going to be tough.

Chastity Stern (20:28)
The odds that you're gonna get really specialized one-on-one training is pretty slim. And what is the required teaching time? Like what is the mandated amount of time that these instructors are required to teach classroom skills? Like your practical and your theory and then how many in water pool sessions do they have?

Will you be better suited to take less or more? But what is the prescriptive amount of hours required to teach these classes? I think that that's really important. I also think that the classes that you wanna take are really important. So are you interested in taking something like underwater photography? Or do you wanna become dry suit certified? Or do you want to become a rescue diver? Or possibly a public safety diver and learn how to dive on a full face mask?

So the classes that you're interested in taking should help you pick which organization you might want to become certified with. It will also help you to pick the organizations that you want to continue learning with. I always think that this is a big misunderstanding. You may become certified with one organization and a lot of times I feel like people just stick with that organization.

You can get certified with any and every organization that's out there. I think the more learning that takes place from the different organizations, the more well-rounded you will be as a diver. I think another thing to take into consideration is the teaching style. How are these classes being taught?

Joel Chernick (21:54)
Mm-hmm.

Chastity Stern (22:03)
If you learn best in person, you want to seek out an organization that's going to teach you that way. If you really don't like in-person learning and you're fine doing it online and you're successful that way, then that works or you can get a combination of the two. The most important piece I've saved for the last is your instructor. You can pick any organization that you want, but if you don't have a really solid instructor, your instruction is only as good as your instructor. So a good instructor is always key to your success. And what are your goals? I don't know that a lot of people get into diving thinking that they need to think about what their long-term goals are going to be, but that's really important. What are your goals as a diver? So always be thinking long-term and do you want to stick with one organization or do you want to learn from many?

Joel Chernick (22:36)
Hmm.

Chastity Stern (23:00)
Then set your goals for the future. Then you'll be able to pick who best suits your needs.

Joel Chernick (23:08)
Well, when I first started, I had no goals. my only goal was to become an open water diver. And I didn't even realize what that entailed until I did it. And then of course, in the, manual for the course and all, it started talking about other courses and things that you could do after your progression that you could take. And at the time I didn't even know there was anything I thought, well, if you're open water diver, that's basically it.

Although I figured that tech people had to learn more, Of course, I did realize once I was certified that I really did not know much of anything. And then, then I gradually learned that there was other courses that we could, improve our learning

Sorry folks, we'll see you later, because we gotta "Just Go Diving".


Chastity Stern (23:55)
And now for the legal stuff. The Just Go Diving podcast is intended for entertainment purposes only. The opinions expressed by the host and guests are not a substitute for professional scuba instruction. All scuba diving training and activities should be performed exclusively by certified scuba divers and strictly within the scope of their training and certification. Neither the host nor the guests assume any liability for injuries, damages, or other consequences arising from the use of any information provided in this podcast.