Naui or Padi

[LunarFear]

I was exploring this site and just learned about Naui which my local dive shop will not admit exists. They are Padi certified and claim that Padi is the only board in existence. A simple web search tells me more than they will. it is truly sad in my opinion. They even told me that they had seen on of the "fake Naui Certs" before and refused to sell the person equipment or air.

[LunarFear]

I was exploring this site and just learned about Naui which my local dive shop will not admit exists. They are Padi certified and claim that Padi is the only board in existence. If anyone can tell me which is better I would appreciate it. I have a Padi open water dive cert. do i need to get one from Naui as well?

[ScubaToys Larry]

No... you're fine with your Padi cert. I prefer the flexibility and the additional knowledge and skills we put in the Naui classes at our shop - but even I would not tell you to bother go re-take the open water class.

But for them to not admit their existence... wow...

[ScubaToys Larry]

Originally Posted by LunarFear

I was exploring this site and just learned about Naui which my local dive shop will not admit exists. They are Padi certified and claim that Padi is the only board in existence. If anyone can tell me which is better I would appreciate it. I have a Padi open water dive cert. do i need to get one from Naui as well?

You will see about a million posts on this subject - and they will all basically say it's really the instructor that means the most - not the acronym.

Here's the identical threads elsewhere: Whoes the best for dive cert????

NAUI or PADI?

[texdiveguy]

You have a strange LDS...I might suggest moving on to another--FAST!

[fisheater]

I agree.

Find a new LDS. I'm PADI certified, so I'm not a NAUI chauvanist. But I respect NAUI, and SSI and the others.

For a LDS to deny the existence of NAUI is, at best, grossly ignorant and, at worse, illegally cohersive.

In any event, they've proven themselves to be unworthy of your trust as a customer.

Move on.

[Chocoholic]

I did my OW with NAUI years ago, the instructor was excellent. I did my AOW with Padi recently and it was great, but I miss the NAUI instructor way of doing it. I did take it as a University class so it was a whole semester with lots theory and lots of pool work so that might've made a difference too. I would've taken the AOW with NAUI (OW2) but it is really difficult to find anyone up here that teaches NAUI.

[keyshunter]

Originally Posted by LunarFear

I was exploring this site and just learned about Naui which my local dive shop will not admit exists. They are Padi certified and claim that Padi is the only board in existence. If anyone can tell me which is better I would appreciate it. I have a Padi open water dive cert. do i need to get one from Naui as well?

NAUI has been around for a long time and is a well respected organization. The probability the shop is so ignorant of the industry that they know nothing of NAUI is very small. Better odds: they are lying! If they would lie about that, what else would they lie about? I would burn rubber getting out of there and find another shop.

You do not need a duplicate OW cert from another organization. In fact you can easily cross over to another org. for subsequent certs--AOW, Rescue, etc.

[Zenagirl]

It's all about the instructor, not the certifying agency. However, I have to agree that I wouldn't be too excited about doing business with a shop that denies the existence if a major dive agency.

We just happened to be PADI certified, but the bottom line for us is it doesn't matter who issued your certification as long as you got good training.

[fireflock]

Like the others said, PADI is fine.

Your shop, however, has some real problems IMO. I would think about looking for another shop.