The Argonauts John or Jean Francois ???????

[acharpenter]

Rock on dude - this is what I am interested in!!!

[Deltaforce]

DetectorGuy --

Not sure where you are getting your intel.  Yes PADI is by far the largest cert agency in the world, but I'm not sure that makes them bad.  They put together a sensible approach to a basic certification and then offer a wide range of specialties that you can choose from based on your personal interests.  They also seem to be fairly responsive to the market -- as an example, they will soon be offering a recreational rebreather cert.

As far as PADI being the only game in town?  Hardly.  Most of the instructors I know are cross-certified to teach SSI courses.  My son finished his OW SSI course at the U or M last year.  They are a viable option -- plus they have the only solo diving cert (which you may want to check into).

And as Grumpie stated, there still are NAUI instructors around if you want to go that route.

You can even attend a commercial diving school in Brainerd if you are so inclined.

If you don't like PADI, why do you keep writing checks to them?  There are lots of options. 

[Deltaforce]

Oops!  I meant SDI had the solo diving cert, not SSI.

I got my S*I agencies mixed up. 

[NorthlandDivers]

We have been teaching SSI since 1999.

[DetectorGuy]

USDiver, The info I have from Padi is first hand. Last year I finished the Divemaster course and it took me about 6 months to complete. Not because of my typical slow learning rate, but because My instructor went above and beyond what was required from Padi to pass the certification. This extra effort from my instructor was greatly appreciated and was not watered down at all. During those 6 months Padi had changed their requirements twice for course completion and these changes were not stricter each time, but very much softer. The instructor let me and the others in the class know about the changes as we were going through the course. Since then I get the updates from PADI when course requirements change and I can tell you for a fact that Padi wants more people to get pushed through the system than years past. Does this make them bad? Not necessarily, as I think they are good enough for the 4 courses I took through them with an instructor that pushed more than the requirements. Do I think I am too nervous to let my little girl get certified through them? Yes. As far as the other specialties that Padi and the other orgs offer... For $500 I could set up a Padi Certification course for underwater knitting if I wanted to. All they require is a little denaro and you can make up any certification course you want. I know there are other agencies in town, but like Ford versus Chevy, Padi and Naui are the two heavy hitters with Padi being the largest but my opinion is that NAUI is what I would call the best. That will strike a nerve for quite a few of you, but Apples to Apples, Naui has the stronger language of the two. The requirements for Naui are more stringent on most courses when compared side by side to PADI. There are different reasons why I placed any of my money into Padi's hands. I think I am done collecting C-cards and have no intentions of going on to be an instructor. Infact the Divemaster class I only took to gain a knowledge base to draw on from time to time. I do want to take a course from Dive Rescue International called Dive Rescue 1. Any other certifications would be possibly advanced Nitrox, Trimix, and possibly intro to cave. I have no intentions of getting Full Cave at this point in my life.
I did hear that SDI offers a Solo Diving Cert, but with about 1/3 of my dives being solo already, it may be a waste of my resources. I know that there are still Naui Instructors in the area and the quality their of instruction has nothing to do if whether or not they are attached to an actual diveshop. I have seen the "Commercial Diving School" in action... This is just my opinion so don't start foaming at the mouth or anything

[popolarbear]

If terry ever had an invitational dive. In his basement I would make the pilgrimage

[popolarbear]

I would like to see the construction of a purpose built dive fishing lake that was spring fed and conected to the river.  Choke full of fish,fishermen,divers,etc. The right spot might have clear spring water close to the river say some were near Bloomington fery bridge. Also currious why they called blue lake blue originaly?

[Terry]

                              Hey Popo!
                                   Unless you (and Angie) want to dive in the sump pit in my basement,,,,there's a TRINITY invitational dive coming later this summer, but with more open water then you'll find in my basement, will make sure you get invited.    T

[DetectorGuy]

75 dives for each diver? That is a busy springtime for them! That would be 3 dives a week for the last 25 weeks. Or 3 dives on Saturday and 3 dives on Sunday every weekend for the last 3+ months. Ambitious bunch of divers you have there, especially when summer officially starts today. The good news is that tomorrow the days start getting shorter and the lakes will be making ice before we know it ;D

[divermike]

i can barely remember that dive shop"argonauts" from the early eighties when i got serious about meself getting certified.can anybody give a brief history of that shop? when it started, by who, strength's,weakness, when it disappeared, etc.....
minnesota doe's have a rich history of dive shops and i think( well, i just like history) it would be a cool project to document the early days of minnsota dive operations and such. jack the frogman, smith, paulson divers, Vets salvage SOS?,grumpies dive crib,
how many others?...........
when ron still owned his shop, he had put together a short writeup on jack the frogman and it was on his website.
trin-fin, sounds like you are puttin' out a call to bring back the old fishing nets, barnacle encrusted crows nest, portholes with plenty of patina, blackbeards plank, and the creaky tongue and groove floor boards of smith on central. ARRRR trin-fin, you just brought a salty tear to me vintage eye...........
old mike :'(