Thalia

Can someone tell me what types of certifications are there?
I remember that there are 2, one where you can only dive when there is an instructor and another where you can conduct the activities yourself.

miervaldis

You maybe interested in this website :

http://www.padi.com/

Thalia

Thanks for the link
I will have a look at it. Maybe it has what I wanted.

Maxwell

You know... they make certifications for almost everything... once there was almost a need for a bicycle license in my country... It was out of this world... and it almost happened.

Naid

Its not the certification that is important. Its the skill that is needed.
If you take driving for instant, there are many people who have a license but drive like that have never taken the test before. Which endangers not only themselves but others around them.

There are somethings that you can't learn from reading a book.

Clanova

Thanks for sharing this site miervaldis. Till i read this thread, i never knew that any such kind of certification even existed. Well either ways i dive for fun, not for becoming any proffessional diver any day, so i'd keep myself away from any such kinda certification.

limbo

Very nice site. Thanks for sharing it. I am going to start reading up on the certifications soon. As was stated I understand the reason for the certification. As with boating many people feel that they can just go out and do it and they have absolutley no idea what they are doing.

Mahdy

Hey limbo, frankly speaking, i dont like this certification stuff. As Naid poited out, there are many incidents when even the people who are certified to do some things dont do it. Whereas others for whom doing that act maybe just a hobie or an intrest, but still they become perfect at it.

Thurman

Surely seems to be that http://www.padi.com is a quite a reputed one for diving certification.

The first two steps in getting certified in scuba diving is to make sure that you are a reasonably proficient swimmer and you get medical clearance from your doctor to take up the sport. As for the swimming, you don’t have to master every type of stroke. Scuba certification only requires that you are able to swim about 200 yards using any stroke you want and to be able to float or tread on water for about 10 minutes. If you are in good general health and are comfortable in the water, then you should be able to scuba dive without any problems.