I got congratulated for being a member of PADI for 30 years…
For paying them a membership fee for these 30 years while working as a full-time diver. (Sometimes, I received salaries that a working professional would not accept.) For having to save Divemasters, Instructors, and even a Course Director and his wife in Saint Barth. (The couple screwed up the night dive of all the “less qualified” divers in the group.)
The criteria to become a PADI Instructor is way too low. You can be one after around 100 logged dives. There are too many instructors being certified not only by PADI but other dive organizations as well. For me, it’s just the same shit with a different name.
I know plenty of gems in the organization, but based on experience, there are more of what I call tourists. They get the certification and then do it for a while without caring about their pay because they go back to the real world later. In the real world where they can live on their salary.
Why Stay with PADI
I stay with PADI because I can certify students without needing to be connected to a dive shop. By my logic and standards, I don’t certify you until you are able to take care of yourself AND your buddy. After that, go dive and, while you gain time and experience, listen and learn from more senior divers.
In my years as a guide on liveaboards, I mostly have to re-teach so-called advanced divers who were certified by their inexperienced instructors without having properly completed their skills. How can an instructor sleep well at night after certifying a person who is not ready yet?
Being a PADI Instructor
In my 30 years with PADI, I have done over 11,000 dives in the cold waters of Scandinavia, Canada and Alaska, as well as in warm water destinations around the world. I am not proud of being a PADI Instructor. But I am proud of all the years I worked with mentors and people who have taught me so much. Now, I am giving back by sharing my knowledge even if I am old and grumpy… teaching divers, divemasters, and instructors.
If you want to become a diver, find a good instructor and talk to your candidate. Do your due diligence and don’t just find something cheap and fast, and then dive. Don’t just pay and think you paid to get a certification; you need to earn it. It’s your life and your experience to enjoy.
I’ll probably get shit for this, but I have saved so many lives in all my years as a professional diver that I know I am right (as always).
Be safe underwater.
From a grumpy Sten
