SSI and PADI open water cert possible in Papeete?

[b1brownfamily]

I'm in Omaha and am about to start the course with the local dive shop which uses the SSI method. My daughter is completing her course in VA with PADI. We are going on the Paul Gauguin Tahiti cruise in June and have two days in Papeete before boarding the ship and want to complete our open water cert. there (much more appealing to me than a lake in Nebraska!!). Question is, can we both do it together (i.e. will we be able to get an instructor certified in both SSC and PADI)? I checked out the TopDive website and sent them an email but haven't heard back. Any guidance anyone can offer this newbie would be greatly appreciated!!

[scubadiver888]

I think you'd have to find a shop that does PADI and SSI. If you were both OW certified and you wanted to upgrade to Advanced Open Water (AOW) then PADI shops will recognize SSI OW and SSI shops will recognize PADI OW. But if you are in the middle of your certification, the paperwork for PADI and the paperwork for SSI are different. I don't think they'll let you.

 

I just checked the SSI website and they only have one dive centre in French Polynesia. It's website is http://www.boradiving.com/. I had a look at the website and it has the PADI symbol. So if anyone can help you out, these guys can.

 

I believe TopDive, although highly recommended, is only PADI.

 

I know for a fact that SSI requires the instructor to work out of dive centre. It is possible to have say a PADI certified instructor working in an SSI only dive centre but SSI instructors are only supported to be working out of SSI dive centres.

[tombo]

If you're going on Paul Gauguin you're probably better off waiting and doing your checkout dives with the DMs on board. Top Dive and other local operators are all on the French system, which is different than PADI, NAUI or SSI, although Top Dive may have DMs who are qualified to certify under one or more of the US systems. I'd contact Regent and ask how to contact Dominique, the head DM on PG, to ask him what the best option is. If Top Dive is a possibility, he will probably be willing to arrange it for you.

[b1brownfamily]

Thanks so much for the helpful information. I think I will start with a phone call to Regent to see about making contact with Dominique. We just figured with the two days in Papeete, it would be a perfect time to get the certification finished so we could dive with my husband and son once on the ship. I'll see what Dom. says. Thanks again!