41 replies to this topic

[Bubble2Bubble]

I became a OW diver in Costa Rica but I've done alot of my other certification locally as well. Then I went to Cozumel to do my Rescue Diver certification because I felt that they would have the best first hand experiance in training.

1. Have you ever taken a certification in another country?

2. Would you do it again?

3. So how many certification have taken in another country compared to all your other certification?

4. What certification did you take and how did it compare to the instructions you received locally? Would you do it again?


Curious Bubbles

[BlueSail]

I did my OW PADI in Idaho, then an advanced course with NAUI (the latter was a joke, not because of the agency I don't think, but because the instructor was an idiot). So I went back to PADI. I did my Rescue course in Idaho, and then did my Divemaster training with Aldora Divers in Cozumel.

I do it again in a heartbeat. My DM instructor in Coz was a former commercial diver and one of the best instructors of the bunch I've dealt with. His English was a lot better than my Spanish, and communications were great.

[WreckWench]

Isn't Idaho a foreign country???

Sorry about that..I went to UofI and lived there for many years so feel a bit qualified to post such a remark. Afterall the B-52's sang about "Living in your own private Idaho" and the state used to have road signs saying..."Welcome to Idaho...What America Was 40 years ago!"

[annasea]

1. Have you ever taken a certification in another country?

Yes.

2. Would you do it again?

Yes! In a heartbeat!

3. So how many certification have taken in another country compared to all your other certification?

One. But hey, it's a start!

4. What certification did you take and how did it compare to the instructions you received locally? Would you do it again?

NAUI OW and it was far superior to what I tried locally. Yes indeed!

[BlueSail]

Hey WW,

Watch out with the Idaho jokes!! A person living in a glass house (Texas) should not throw stones!!

[WreckWench]

Hey WW,

Watch out with the Idaho jokes!! A person living in a glass house (Texas) should not throw stones!!

Dust house maybe....glass I don't think so!

[finGrabber]

I've used my certs in foreign countries, does that count?

[Terri]

I did my OW cert here in the U.S.

But I did my AOW in Curacao. And will be doing my Rescue diver cert in Curacao in September.

[Got_Air?Will_Dive]

I did my PADI OW resort course in Nassau, Bahamas, with Stuart Cove's before finishing my OW and also my AOW in Cozumel. I wanted to see a shark during my first OW dive but didn't see one. To be able to swim next to and was the first reason I wanted to SCUBA dive in the first place. I absolutely LOVE Cozumel. It's the best location to truly earn your AOW. My favorite dive was a deep dive in Palancar Horseshoe where I got to see my first octopus! I can't wait to visit my underwater friends again!

[drbill]

Did my OW in Los Angeles... that's pretty close to being a foreign country.

Did my AOW in Cairns, Australia, so I could get a PADI card (they didn't even exist when I started diving) and not have to do all those stupid check-out dives with DM's whose parents weren't born when I started diving.

[dustbowl diver]

OW-In Tenkiller Lake in Oklahoma (That's pretty foreign-right?)

AOW-Belize

[BlueSail]

I know what you mean DrBill.

My AOW NAUI instructor brought his mother along on the weekend we did check out dives on Whidbey Island!

What's worse, I had to not only correct him on the answers on the written test but to tell him how to solve some of the problems. For example, what is the volume of a 10 cu ft balloon at 66 FSW when it is taken down to 132 feet? Answer: P1*V1 = P2*V2, 3 ATA * 10 CU FT = 5 ATA * Y CU FT, Y = 6 CU FT). He kept trying to tell the class is was 5 CU FT (multiple choice question of course). So to make it really simple, I suggested he bring the balloon to the surface, where it would be 30 CU FT, at which point he said, "Oh yea, that's how you do it."

I'm not saying that PADI doesn't have a few snotty-nosed, unqualified instructors in diapers as well, but wow, that experience sure soured me on NAUI training.

Edited by BlueSail, 21 June 2006 - 10:01 AM.

[Bubble2Bubble]

BlueSail and DrBill
You guys both have seen our Industry grow from Infancy to where it is now and we always will appericate your input in whatever thread you choose. But I must ask you guys and anyone else do you think by going to a forign country you can breeze thru courses and receive less actual training and come back with a cert easier than in the US. or dose it matter and its really upto the OP/Dive Shop?

Case in point

I was recently offered a DM card with a 100% guaranty of passing for $450. they went as far as saying they didnt have any OW students at the time but they would just have some of the shop workers fill in. I passed and went on to a Real Place that really cares as much as I do about my training!
OK OK I got off track alittle

Can This Happen Anywhere in the World???


B2B

[PerroneFord]

What amazes me about recreational SCUBA training is how people do NO homework in selecting an instructor and then blame the agency when they get poor instruction.

I've seen people talk to literally a DOZEN cave instructors before settling on one. How many people here spoke to more than 1 or 2 instructors before taking AOW or Nitrox?

ALL agencies (yes even infallible GUE) have less than stellar instructors. And from what I have seen, there are some EXCELLENT instructors out there in each of the major agencies. It is the job of the CLIENT to find a good one and solicit their training.

The AOW instructor I chose put me on a 8 month waiting list. I still have 2 months left to go. She's off doing cave exploration in Mexico at the moment.

[Latitude Adjustment]

I did it backwards, I dove Bermuda, Labrador and the Bahamas and then came home and got certified.