Whether you are choosing your dive course with PADI or SSI, or any other different dive organizations they all develop their own materials, standards and certifications which their instructors use to conduct the courses, they all essentially teach the same thing! You will use the same kind of equipment and see the same marine life under water.
The quality of the courses strongly depends on your dive instructor and the dive school you train with. Here at Big Blue Diving, our Instructors are able to offer you courses with the three biggest Dive Organizations in the world; SSI (a German/ Australian organisation) and PADI (American) & BSAC (British). They all follow the diving standards set by the Governing body – RSTC (Recreational Scuba Training Council) meaning that knowledge and skill requirements are almost the same.
Hmmmm…. PADI or SSI?
In layman’s terms, its like having an Australian Driving license or an English driving license. We might have taken a different test but driving the car is still the same! Certifications are interchangeable & recognized 100% throughout the world. We tend to favor SSI by about 90%. Why? Well SSI recognizes that every person has a different learning method, and they allow their instructors to plan the course with a lot of flexibility when it comes to theory, swimming pool exercises or open water exercises. PADI is too inflexible in that they have a set order in which to do the course & if you come across a skill you struggle with you can’t go further until demonstrating mastery of that skill which for some can be a massive problem! Sometimes when struggling with one thing, the more one struggles the harder it gets! Given the opportunity to leave it & then come back to it later, it then becomes a breeze!
In addition PADI costs more as you are forced to buy the manual which becomes an additional thing to squeeze in to your already bulging backpack & isn’t terribly eco friendly. With both SSI & BSAC we lend you the manual & at the end of the course you give it back thereby saving you 800 Bt & a few more trees! Consequently over recent years the SSI certification has become increasingly more popular & therefore creating a demand for SSI Instructors! With the dramatic decline in PADI requests & the difficulty in finding work for PADI Instructors & Divemasters we believe it makes sense to do your SSI for both beginners & professionals alike. Don’t you?
