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PADI Distinctive Specialty Courses

6K views 59 replies 43 participants last post by  Rocky631689 
#1 ·
I have finished my postage stamp collection , ironed my anorak and am now on the hunt for the obscure and unusual....BUT....before anyone sends me some lesser know Eastern European 'specialist interest' web sites can I just say I'm sticking with diving for the purposes of this thread!

It's a simple and honest request about PADI Distinctive Specialty Courses.

It's not hard to find out about their Specialty courses but oddly it is hard to find out about their Distinctive Specialties.

Distinctive Specialties are usually only offered in one specific location and are therefore not widely accessible. PADI make this harder by not listing or providing much info on these courses (believe me, I've asked).

What I'd like to hear about is Distinctive Specialties that YD members are aware of, what they are and where they are being run and by whom - why? Well I just said I'd ironed my anorak! Any excuse to go places!

I am aware about the Recompression Awareness DS, the Whale Shark DS, an Oxygen Use DS and I've even heard of a Pearl Diving DS being run in Dubai (I think!) . I might even be persuaded to send out some greens if there are some useful posts.

Cheers in anorak anticipation !

Sea Pea
 
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#28 ·
desertrat said:
A buddy of mine went to the maldives for his honeymoon and when he came back proudly showed me his 'Maldivian Shark and Ray diver' speciality card. I presume this might be one.

Should have seen the look on the guys face at Dosthill quarry when he put that down as his cert level! :D
When I was in the Maldives on one of the resort islands, a fairly new diver took the Shark speciality and although some of us did have a bit of a chuckle the guy really enjoyed it and got a lot out of the course. While he was on one of the dives he had to identify the sharks and note the sex. He came away knowing a lot more about sharks than he did before.

However I did once see a badge at a certain Scottish dive centre who were offering Loch diver specialities :D
 
#30 ·
Interesting idea....

Fiona said:
....

However I did once see a badge at a certain Scottish dive centre who were offering Loch diver specialities :D
The opportunity for an almost endless 'location' specific DS courses is there ...how about a Sussex Pier Diving specialty ? ( I THINK I'm joking!!). Anyone interested had better act fast, Bognor Pier is all but a 'stump' these days, one of Brighton's (West Pier) largely went up in smoke but still have some left.

Fiona , would that be the Sottish that leaves you breathless, well sort of?

Cheers

Sea Pea
 
#31 ·
How about

The Tinnie Speciality. £99.00 and 10 ring pulls from a Fosters six pack. This is the one for the apreis diving specialist and can be enjoyed and made use of in any dive location especialy summer trips on Anglesey. Talking of wich it's time we arainged another. hay peeps.:teeth:
 
#34 · (Edited)
Seafood Diver?

Hmm, this is topical.

How about a PADI Seafood Diver Speciality? It could be run in parallel with Underwater Naturalist and could deal specifically with the identification and capture of edible, non-piscine marine life of the area. Specific diver skills you'd need to cover would include use of a long hose to enable the diver to remove his/her gear and squeeze under ledges to catch lobsters, crayfish, crabs etc, selection and design of crab hooks, abalone irons and also the use of lifting bags to get a goody bag of 80+ scallops to the surface and then getting them into the boat without suffering a hernia. The course could also include a seafood marketing component too.

You could run the courses out of places such as St Abbs, Seahouses, Whitby, Looe, or more locally (to me), Triabunna. These would be handy spots to sell off the excess seafood, or just the small ones, especially if there's a carpark near to the local wharf.
 
#37 ·
Richard Mason said:
Hmm, this is topical.

How about a PADI Seafood Diver Speciality? It could be run in parallel with Underwater Naturalist and could deal specifically with the identification and capture of edible, non-piscine marine life of the area. Specific diver skills you'd need to cover would include use of a long hose to enable the diver to remove his/her gear and squeeze under ledges to catch lobsters, crayfish, crabs etc, selection and design of crab hooks, abalone irons and also the use of lifting bags to get a goody bag of 80+ scallops to the surface and then getting them into the boat without suffering a hernia. The course could also include a seafood marketing component too.

You could run the courses out of places such as St Abbs, Seahouses, Whitby, Looe, or more locally (to me), Triabunna. These would be handy spots to sell off the excess seafood, or just the small ones, especially if there's a carpark near to the local wharf.
I know of 2 instructors who were professional chefs (one Australian) who now offer a DS called "Scuba Chef"! :)

As for catching your dinner at St Abbs Richard, don't - it's a no take Marine Park! :redface:

Kev.
 
#44 ·
There was a character diving distinctive speciality, however this looks to be NAUI rather than PADI. All the Disney divers had to do it before you could be Mickey Mouse underwater, and you could arrange to go and do it yourself. I recall a magazine article from one of the American mags about 10 years ago.
 
#46 ·
Sea Pea said:
I have finished my postage stamp collection , ironed my anorak and am now on the hunt for the obscure and unusual....BUT....before anyone sends me some lesser know Eastern European 'specialist interest' web sites can I just say I'm sticking with diving for the purposes of this thread!

It's a simple and honest request about PADI Distinctive Specialty Courses.

It's not hard to find out about their Specialty courses but oddly it is hard to find out about their Distinctive Specialties.

Distinctive Specialties are usually only offered in one specific location and are therefore not widely accessible. PADI make this harder by not listing or providing much info on these courses (believe me, I've asked).

What I'd like to hear about is Distinctive Specialties that YD members are aware of, what they are and where they are being run and by whom - why? Well I just said I'd ironed my anorak! Any excuse to go places!

I am aware about the Recompression Awareness DS, the Whale Shark DS, an Oxygen Use DS and I've even heard of a Pearl Diving DS being run in Dubai (I think!) . I might even be persuaded to send out some greens if there are some useful posts.

Cheers in anorak anticipation !

Sea Pea
usually the PADI instructor writes their own specialty course and submits it for approval by PADI, once that happens they can teach that specialty to students. As it'sdistinctive it belongs to that individual unless they are also a PADI CD and can teach that to other Instructors, There are so many out there that it would be impossible for PADI to list them all.It is usualy driven by the need for some specific skills to be taught that are not in the standard courses. I have written about 6 or 7 over the years. One of them was Redundant system diving. Twin sets, ponys etc long before PADI and DSAT started the Tec Rec stuff.
Hope that helps.:)
 
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