When Choosing Training It's Up to You

Getting into Scuba diving can be challenging especially if you don’t know anyone that is certified. In general the idea is quite daunting unless you have a stable income and time to enjoy this sport. Although if you do take on the commitment to become a certified diver it can really broaden one’s horizons exposing you to some of the most beautiful untouched environments on our world.

In hopes of avoiding bias I’ll only discuss the two certifying organizations that I have been trained through. The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) and Safe Scuba International (SSI), in the area that I’m from these are the only two options that train divers. While I did train under both organizations I personally would recommend PADI over SSI (opinion) because my first certification was through them and while certifications can extend across organizations once you began training to become a professional you should choose one and stick with that, it’s just simpler.

Although both organizations do have pros. PADI is more widely recognized, at least from what I could tell from my travels. SSI appears to be more centralized in the Americas and while the organization may have shop set up elsewhere I saw no sign of their presence in Europe. Although preferably I’ve found SSI’s training to be more thorough with instructors dedicating more time to individuals (varies based on instructors). What it all boils down to is your opinion, which organization is more feasible to you? When I first became certified in 2008 PADI was offering training at a local YMCA that I worked at so this cut down on cost of commuting to a dive shop further away. The cost and availability of the training was the deciding factor of why I chose to be certified under PADI. In general the reason why I switched to SSI was also because of my access to the training which was being offered at my college at the time.