<lurk mode off>

I know how everyone feels about "me too" and "I agree" posts.. so rest
assured this isn't one of them.. It's an "I agree, but with a caveot" post
<bwg>

I agree with Mike on this one.  If your instructor isn't worth a crap, the
card won't be worth much more than the paper/plastic its printed on.  Heres
the caveot.  Try to decide how far you intend to go in your certifications.
If you are just getting certifications for the sheer joy of it.. then stop
reading now.  On the other hand, if you think you might want to get your
instructors card sometime in the future, then you might want to try to stay
in the organization that you expect to teach for.

Reason being, at least one agency (possibly others) want the prerequisite
certs to be from their agency.  If you have certs from multiple agencies,
dealing with the conversions and such can be a real pain.

I have cards from PADI and YMCA, and as I've worked toward my PADI
instructor goal, I've gotten static several times about the YMCA cards.  I'm
sure its just a scam to "Put Another Dollar In" as it were, but it has been
a pain.  I even had one shop tell me I had to retake a PADI OW before I
could get into a PADI AOW since they wouldn't accept YMCA OW as a prereq!

Moral of the story:  Like Mike said.. find a good instructor.. but.. if you
plan to teach some day, you might want to stay within that organization.

Good Luck!

Steve

<lurk mode on>


> Don't look for an agency. Look for a good instructor that you are
> comfortable with. There's not a dime's worth of difference in any of
> the agencies that I am familiar with at this level of diving.
>
>
>
> On 4 Jan 2002, at 12:36, Richard Blackburn wrote:
>
> > My OW certification is via SSI.  I have logged 24 dives, and can now
> > work on my SSI AOW.  Now for the question:
> >
> > What AOW should I get: SSI, PADI, NAUI, IANTD, YMCA SCUBA?  Is there
> > an advantage to one over the other?