Many ask which dive certification is the best, is it PADI that’s better or is it NAUI and ‘what is the difference between PADI and NAUI?’ In this article I compare PADI vs NAUI and compare the differences vs the similarities of both these scuba diving certifications.
PADI vs NAUI: The PADI beginner scuba diving certification Open Water Diver and for NAUI is “Scuba Diver”. Both are recognised and accepted internationally and certify you to dive to 18 metres (60 feet). The main difference between them is NAUI trains its divers basic skills of saving an unconscious diver, whereas PADI doesn’t.
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What does PADI stand for?
PADI stands for the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, where their motto is “Under every rock, around every reef, a new discovery awaits“.
PADI’s claim is there are 27 million divers that started with them. The PADI diving agency has been around since 1966.
The organisation is a recreational diving membership and diver training organisation. It was founded by John Cronin and Ralph Erickson.
The two founders were both scuba instructors and divers who were friends in the state of Illinois, U.S.A. Their goal was to give more people a chance to enjoy the underwater world. They wanted to offer relevant, instructionally valid scuba diving training to create confident scuba divers who dive regularly.
PADI is a business for profit organisation and their corporate headquarters located in Rancho Santa Margarita, California, USA.
NAUI stands for the National Association of Underwater Instructors. NAUI has been around for longer than PADI. It was set up by Albert Tillman and Neal Hess in 1959. Their headquarters are in Florida in the US.
PADI vs NAUI table of differences and similarities
Now that I’ve explained what each organisation stands for. Plus where they are based, lets take a look at PADI vs NAUI compared.
In this comparison table below, I’m only going to look at the positives in both organisations. I don’t see how it benefits anyone by slating any diving agency over the other.
Lifetime - but you may need a refresher course if you've not dived in a while
Lifetime - but you may need a refresher course if you've not dived in a while
Famous divers
Sandra Bullock, Tom Cruise, James Cameron, Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson are all famous PADI divers
Kevin Costner, Lou Gossett Jr., Cameron Diaz; & Tiger Woods are all famous NAUI divers + Jacques Cousteau was on the Board of Advisers
Max age limit
No - but is down to individual health
No - but is down to individual health
Size and nature of diving organisation
Largest in the world and is a 'For Profit' organisation
Second largest in the world and is a 'Not for Profit' organisation
MOTTO
"Under every rock, around every reef, a new discovery awaits"
"Dive safety through education"
If you have any other questions about either of these diving organisations, please post a comment below.
The best advice I can give you is to choose the trainer first over the diving organisation. Which ever scuba diver training you take, you’ll enjoy it and will be safe.
So whether you choose PADI vs NAUI really doesn’t matter. It really only boils down to whether there’s a PADI centre or a NAUI centre near you. Or which diving agency training centre is where you happen to be on holiday at the time you’re looking to get certified as a scuba diver.
Is NAUI recognised by PADI and is PADI recognised by NAUI?
The question about whether NAUI is recognised by PADI or visa versa and PADI is recognised by NAUI is yes, both these diving agencies recognise each other.
However, whilst they recognise each other’s certifications, they are different. This means you can’t switch agency whilst you’re in the middle of your training or initial certification.
The important thing to understand is that when you’re ready to move to the next certification level, both PADI and NAUI will recognise each other’s certifications as “equivalent” training.
I hope you enjoyed this article about PADI vs NAUI
I’d love to hear from you. Tell us about your adventures of diving and snorkeling, in the comments below. Please also share your photos. Either from your underwater cameras or videos from your waterproof Gopro’s!
If this article hasn’t answered all of your questions. If you have more questions either about snorkeling or scuba diving (or specifically about PADI vs NAUI), please comment below with your questions.
There will also be many more articles about scuba diving (and snorkeling) for you to read and learn about these fabulous sports.
PADI vs NAUI (Which diving certification is better PADI or NAUI?)
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Article written by Russell Bowyer who has been a scuba diver since diving on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia in 1989. After his first dive he trained as a BSAC diver in the UK. He attained his Diver Leader certification with BSAC. He then went on to become a scuba diving instructor, teaching others how to dive and was voted as Diving Officer and Treasurer for the Saffron Walden BSAC club too. Russell has dived all over the world, including the UK, on liveaboards in the Red Sea, the Caribbean, South Africa and the USA. Russell is experienced in all dive types, including drift diving, deep dives that involved decompression stops and recreational dives too.
