Posted by Alan on May 15, 2002 at 06:30:00:
In Reply to: Re: SSI certification posted by tecdiver on May 14, 2002 at 17:12:37:
SSI isn't recognized any better internationally than PADI or NAUI. In fact, PADI is probably more recognized than anyone. In Singapore, I've had people tell me that they thought they *had* to have a PADI cert, because there were some countries that didn't recognize anything else (BS of course, but PADI isn't going out of their way to dispel this myth). I've dove in Thailand quite a bit, and every operator I've met was familiar with just about any agency you could name - NAUI, PADI, SSI, YMCA, BSAC, CMAS, etc. Because Thailand (Phuket and Samui, particularily) is such a popular destination for European divers, you tend to get a large number of CMAS and BSAC cards in addition to the PADI, NAUI, SSI, etc.