PADI Open Water.....do it here or abroad???

T-rev

Going ona big rtw trip and want to do this PADI course.

Someone suggested to me to do it here before I leave as the standard of training is much higher than the likes of India, or Thailand etc etc.

Its also a third of the price to do it while I am away, rather than here.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

Thanks.

Thinspired

I was looking into doing mine in Dublin but it would cost around 650 quid which is a bit of a joke considering I can do it on the Ningaloo Reef in Oz including four boat dives on the reef (which normally cost hundreds on their own) for 400 quid. I can go on to do my advanced course in the Philippines for one third of what it would cost here.

Is it genuinely the case that the standards are higher here or is it, as I suspect, that there's a far bigger market for these courses abroad and as a result more competition and lower prices? (for example it's cheaper to do the PADI on Oz east coast than west coast as the east coast has higher dive traffic)

T-rev

Yeah its the general consensus alright. I checked padi.com and it seems there is different levels of dive centres (theyre colour colded) and the ones I was checking out in India all seemed lower than the one I was looking at in Dublin.

Lustrum

Do it abroad, the weather is better and you'll have more craic afterwards!

Depends on the instructor, you could just as easily get a crap instructor here as anywhere else. Most diving schools in Asia are (as far as I can see) run by europeans/americans so the level of safety and professionalism is generally quite good, we've also dived with a local instructor in Philippines who was trained by his German boss (/overlord ) who was excellent.

Plus, the fish are prettier abroad

daveee

why not do it here im in the middle of doing mine
im doing it in the NAC on tuesday evenings
the price is 450 witch i think was very good
pm me if you need any more details

dave

T-rev

Had a discussion with my partner last night and think we are going to do it here. Gonna to the advanced open water in Europe and do another course/speciality as we go along.

Hopefully when we get to Oz we will have a good bit of dive experience and qualification that we might get a job somewhere in the dive industry.

hillmanwest

you made the correct decision doing your padi course here.The reason i say that is some dive centres here,when you use them for a dive after you have passed your OW, will ask did you do your course in warm or cold water.
doing your OW in oz or the red sea is fine but it doesnt prepare you for the cold temperate waters of ireland which need a little extra experience to handle safely,and basicly safety is paramount.

locum-motion

T-rev wrote: »

...Hopefully when we get to Oz we will have a good bit of dive experience and qualification that we might get a job somewhere in the dive industry.

The lowest qualification that will allow you to work in the dive industry is Divemaster (DM).
If your RTW trip is this year, you've probably already left it too late to get qualified to DM level, to be honest, unless you're planning on doing nothing else but diving/training/studying between now and then.

loctite

hillmanwest wrote: »

you made the correct decision doing your padi course here.The reason i say that is some dive centres here,when you use them for a dive after you have passed your OW, will ask did you do your course in warm or cold water.
doing your OW in oz or the red sea is fine but it doesnt prepare you for the cold temperate waters of ireland which need a little extra experience to handle safely,and basicly safety is paramount.

This is the biggest reason to begin your diver training in Ireland. Diving in Ireland is a completely different experience than diving in warmer tropical waters.

To do the course in Ireland has nothing to do with the standard of instruction or the rating of the centres. The PADI system of training is a standardised method, i.e. no matter where you go you will have to complete the same requirements to attain your award. The only variables are the instructors and the dive environment. You will get the same quality of instructor abroad as you will here.

Centres rating will vary according to a variety of different things, do they have showers on site? a shop? fill Nitrox or offer 300bar fills? this along with other factors will dictate the different level of dive centre. It will not matter a difference to your open water standard of tuition.

The single biggest reason to do your course here is the dive conditions. If you learn to dive in Ireland, you will be able to dive anywhere. Cooler water requires thicker wetsuits, which in turn requires more weight, coupled with hoods and gloves, add inclement weather into the mix and it can be a stressful experience. Warm water trained divers are 9/10 not prepared for this as their only experience to date is akin to a dive in the NAC, albeit with more sealife, but with regards to sea conditions its not that far off.

If you only ever plan to dive on holidays or when abroad, just do the course abroad, if you think diving is something that you could get into, do it here. BTW the same logic applies to the Advanced course. 30m in Ireland is completely different than 30m in Thailand.

Re Working in the Industry.
If you really want to work in the Dive industry abroad, approach centres here and get the experience. You need to have RELEVANT experience to be employable in centres abroad. Doing courses and dives is experience, but it's just not that relevant. If you do your DM and approach a centre/ live aboard with 60-80 dives and no real working experience in a centre you will find it very difficult to get work. You need to have experience dealing with divers, how to handle them in the water, how to handle them out of the water, using all the different types of equipment related to diving, and I mean all of them, from boats to compressors to personal dive equipment. You can go from an OW to DM pretty quickly but it is very easy to spot a bad DM. You cannot teach this kind of experience in a course or by just booking in to do a few dives with a centre. Also get as many other certifications as you can, Powerboat handling, First Aid instructor courses(EFR), Oxygen Administrator certs (DAN). The more skills you have the more employable you become.

kuro2k

loctite wrote: »

This is the biggest reason to begin your diver training in Ireland. Diving in Ireland is a completely different experience than diving in warmer tropical waters.

To do the course in Ireland has nothing to do with the standard of instruction or the rating of the centres. The PADI system of training is a standardised method, i.e. no matter where you go you will have to complete the same requirements to attain your award. The only variables are the instructors and the dive environment. You will get the same quality of instructor abroad as you will here.

Centres rating will vary according to a variety of different things, do they have showers on site? a shop? fill Nitrox or offer 300bar fills? this along with other factors will dictate the different level of dive centre. It will not matter a difference to your open water standard of tuition.

The single biggest reason to do your course here is the dive conditions. If you learn to dive in Ireland, you will be able to dive anywhere. Cooler water requires thicker wetsuits, which in turn requires more weight, coupled with hoods and gloves, add inclement weather into the mix and it can be a stressful experience. Warm water trained divers are 9/10 not prepared for this as their only experience to date is akin to a dive in the NAC, albeit with more sealife, but with regards to sea conditions its not that far off.

If you only ever plan to dive on holidays or when abroad, just do the course abroad, if you think diving is something that you could get into, do it here. BTW the same logic applies to the Advanced course. 30m in Ireland is completely different than 30m in Thailand.

Re Working in the Industry.
If you really want to work in the Dive industry abroad, approach centres here and get the experience. You need to have RELEVANT experience to be employable in centres abroad. Doing courses and dives is experience, but it's just not that relevant. If you do your DM and approach a centre/ live aboard with 60-80 dives and no real working experience in a centre you will find it very difficult to get work. You need to have experience dealing with divers, how to handle them in the water, how to handle them out of the water, using all the different types of equipment related to diving, and I mean all of them, from boats to compressors to personal dive equipment. You can go from an OW to DM pretty quickly but it is very easy to spot a bad DM. You cannot teach this kind of experience in a course or by just booking in to do a few dives with a centre. Also get as many other certifications as you can, Powerboat handling, First Aid instructor courses(EFR), Oxygen Administrator certs (DAN). The more skills you have the more employable you become.

rubbish IMO.............. you will be luckly to spend 5min underwater on your second dive just to get certified as an OW in Ireland.

If you want to work in the dive industry you need the following

1. swedish
2. german
3. french
4, Spanish

4. if you don't have the above, good bye!!!

loctite

kuro2k wrote: »

rubbish IMO.............. you will be luckly to spend 5min underwater on your second dive just to get certified as an OW in Ireland.

If you want to work in the dive industry you need the following

1. swedish
2. german
3. french
4, Spanish

4. if you don't have the above, good bye!!!

Sorry you feel so bad about the standard of Irish dive instruction, but in reality that is not the case. If you only got five minutes on a dive you certainly wouldn't meet the required course standards to meet certification requirements.

I would agree that languages are a major advantage but that if you don't have them you are unemployable is rubbish. I've worked in plenty of centres abroad and only have one language. If you are working in Oz all you will NEED is English.

T-rev

kuro2k wrote: »

rubbish IMO.............. you will be luckly to spend 5min underwater on your second dive just to get certified as an OW in Ireland.

If you want to work in the dive industry you need the following

1. swedish
2. german
3. french
4, Spanish

4. if you don't have the above, good bye!!!

Well I'm glad you're not teaching me seeing as you cant even count to a simple number like 5.