SCUBA diving is an incredible sport that has spread across the globe. There is diving in over 180 countries and millions of divers all over the world! In each country, there are specific training agencies that set training standards, certify divers, evaluate dive professionals, and promote the sport.

The most important part of a successful SCUBA course is the student’s desire to learn, followed by the instructor’s ability to teach them. We strongly believe in our instructors and are confident that we train the best divers around! Our dive instructors have decades of experience and pride themselves on far exceeding the minimum requirements for certification. We train divers that we want to dive with, which means our divers are trained and taught to achieve mastery over the core dive skills and confidence in the water.

In the United States, our training agencies are overseen by the Recreational SCUBA Training Council (RSTC), which is comprised of the major training agencies, including SCUBA Schools International (SSI), the Professional Association of Dive Instructors (PADI), and a handful of other, smaller agencies. All Open Water Diver certifications issued by the member agencies are lifetime certifications valid across the world. Learn more about the RSTC here.

So that a diver from the California can dive on a remote island in Asia and a diver from that remote island in Asia can dive in California, the training agencies came together to form the World Recreational SCUBA Training Council (WRSTC). The WRSTC is a forum where the RSTC and other national training forums work together to establish standards for training so that dive guides can take divers out all over the world, confident in their skills. Learn more about the WRSTC here.

Here at Beyond Land Adventures, we are certified to train new divers all the way through dive professionals under both SSI and PADI. We primarily train divers in SSI and all our group courses are offered as SSI courses. We offer PADI courses as private courses for those who are specifically interested in getting the PADI certification. We strongly believe in our courses and look forward to teaching you!

The main difference between SSI and PADI is the training materials offered by the two agencies. We believe the SSI materials are substantially easier to understand, easier to use, and have a better overall system. SSI materials are also consistently updated and anyone who purchases an SSI digital training material has access to that program for life! SSI courses are also $100 less expensive than the corresponding PADI materials, so they provide an amazing value to our students!