PADI vs SSI vs NAUI Diving: What you need to know
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PADI vs SSI vs NAUI Diving: What you need to know
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You say that NAUI “is the oldest recreational scuba diving organization”. Just to clarify, that is not the case at all, perhaps you mean it is the oldest of just these three?
That’s what we meant, David. Right you are. Will adjust the wording in correction. Thanks.
Hey Mike. In the end, I guess some people like the carefree approach, whereas others maybe like to treat things serious in order to relax and enjoy. Almost sounds like democrats and republicans viewing the same thing through vastly different lenses. I’m convinced that having both NAUI and PADI makes diving safer, as they challenge each other to be better. Thanks for contributing.
I have certifications from both NAUI (basic SUBA DIVER) and PADI (Advanced Open Water and a few specialty courses).
With PADI, I felt the vibe was, “Welcome to SCUBA diving! We’re going to have fun and you will love this life-long hobby!”
With NAUI it was, “Welcome to SCUBA diving! This is how you’re going to die… Now let’s review Boyle’s Law, Charles’ Law, and Dalton’s Law of Partial Pressures to explain how your blood vessel’s are going to explode if you mess this up…”
NAUI had a lot more classroom time than PADI, and a lot more math (granted this was 25 years ago and this may have changed). NAUI absolutely spent a LOT of time on safety and exactly what happens to your body tissues when diving. For the PADI classes I did the classroom learning online, which was much less intense. It seems that many things NAUI covered 25 years ago are not currently taught in PADI classes.
Perhaps I should also mention that the shop that ran my NAUI course was located in Groton, CT just outside the US Navy’s Submarine Escape Training School (by coincidence the shop, and my instructor, also trained and certified my father before I was born!). The instructors were not Navy instructors, but most of the shop clientele were Navy divers. I now live in southeast Asia and the local PADI shop where I train is more of the tropical island variety.
My NAUI class started with about 80 people (the course was offered through my university) and in the end I think six of us finished. In fact, after the first pool session we lost 50% of the class. Everybody in my advanced/specialty PADI classes graduated and enjoyed the experience.
I agree with the anecdotal evidence mentioned in the article: NAUI divers seem to really get into the technical (math & science) aspects of diving. If you are somebody who enjoys the math & science behind how and why things work, NAUI is great! If you just want to get in the water, dive, and have fun then I recommend PADI.
I am glad that I learned all the science first in my NAUI training, and am now able to apply that when I get additional certifications with PADI.