When considering scuba certification, don't lose sight of the fact you are seeking training to allow you to venture into an alien environment where you can die if you don't get the proper training.

You Get What You Pay For!

That, without a doubt, is the absolute truth about scuba certification. I've been teaching now for 18 years and diving for almost 35 and I have never seen any bargain course convey the same knowledge and refine the skills you will get from more expensive course. On the other hand, I have seen plenty of top dollar courses give what you could have gotten from the cut rate $99.00 guy down the street. Simple economics prevents anyone from offering a complete and comprehensive scuba certification for $99.00, $125.00 or anything close to this price.

While we're talking money let's examine the $99.00, or similarly priced, scuba certification. Does that $99.00 include everything you need to get certified and by everything I mean does it include:

1. gear used during class
2. gear used on open water
3. entry fees or charter fees at the dive location
4. text books or other course materials
5. practice time between classes
6. certification card

If all of these things are not included it is not a $99.00 scuba class and if it is not a $99.00 scuba class but they have told you it is, what else are they going to lie to you about.

What Types of Certification Are Available?

This depends a little bit on where you are.

• Dive Resorts: At dive resorts you will likely find a short course "Resort" certification and a regular certification. The regular certification is likely to be a condensed version designed to take place in a couple of days as opposed to the resort course that will take a couple of hours. The resort course will likely restrict your diving to only that resort and have an expiration date. A full (regular) certification should be good anywhere in the world and should be good forever. make certain you pin down all of the details of the course before you plunk down a bunch of money.

• Neighborhood Scuba Shop: In the last 35 years the scuba industry has changed considerably. Advances in equipment have opened up diving to almost everyone. As a result the types of certification available have increased. Where you used to have only an open water scuba certification and that was it, you now have basic, confined space, protected environment, shallow water, deep water, gulf diver, nitrox, mixed gas and so forth. You can tailor your dive training to meet your own needs. Keep in mind not all of these certifications will be available at every shop.

Get the certification that best suits your needs as a diver. You are going to start with the basics anyway so get the basic certification then build your experience and certification level.

What Certification Agency Should You Certify Under?

Unless you know something about a specific curriculum and teaching standard, probably the best agency to certify under is the one at the shop that is most convenient to you and meets the other requirements you have set for your own training.

Truth is the scuba industry is self regulating and all training agencies must comply with the same, industry wide, training standard. If they don't and they get sued they are screwed along with the local shop and the instructor who did the training.

I don't care what anybody says, all scuba certifications from recognized training programs are generally accepted everywhere in the world.

• Example: About 15 years ago the shop I teach for decided to issue its own certification rather than a national agency. As a result I issued cards 1 and 2, the first and second, under this program and then took the students to the Bahamas to dive with UNEXO, a notoriously strict dive destination. When the students, in line in front of me, presented their cards the person behind the desk examined them and then signed them up for their first shark dive. Keep in mind these were the first, second and only two cards in existence for this certification and they were accepted without question.

If someone tries to sell you their training program with the idea that other certification card might not be accepted everywhere stop them right there and go on to the next dive shop.

Choosing A Dive Shop:

Today there is a dive shop convenient to just about everyone, everywhere. In selecting your shop and considering everything presented so far, choose the one that you feel comfortable with but you may want to ask a few more questions.

• How long does it take to get certified
• How long does each class take
• How many classes are there
• Are you in the pool with every class
• Can you use the pool between classes and how much does that cost
• What is the class schedule
• What if I miss a class
• Where will the open water be
• How will I get there and where will I stay

If you are meticulous you may have hundreds of questions so I won't keep building the list. These should suffice to get you going.

The questions about the pool are critical. You're learning to scuba dive. You can't learn to do it by just reading. You can get information and knowledge like that but you can't get dive skills. Get certified some place that has a pool or access to one that you can use to practice in between classes and one that provides plenty of pool training, not just one or two pool classes.

Hope this helps. Dive Safe and Dive Often

Afterthought: Don't let the shortcomings of a training facility (I mean the pool) affect your assessment of the training program as a whole. I have had the luxury of teaching in a 15 foot deep, purpose built, scuba training pool for the last 18 years. Plenty of courses are taught, and most people learn in, pools considerably shallower than this. Eight to 12 feet is the norm and I have seen quite a few classes taught in 6 foot deep pools.

It is impossible to fully teach skills that require deeper water. Buoyancy control, for example, requires deeper water to allow the student to actually experience neutral buoyancy properly. Many instructors do their absolute best within the limitations of their training environment. It is the ones that shortchange you, even when they have an excellent facility, that you must watch out for and stay away from.