Scuba Class Descriptions
Open Water Scuba Diver Course
The SDI Open Water Scuba Diver course is an entry-level certification course designed to give you the necessary skills to safely conduct open water dives. Some of the many skills you will learn include buoyancy, proper weighting, marine conservation, equipment assembly, proper dive planning, and maintenance. The course covers all the basic knowledge about equipment, physiology and the marine environment while training students to perform basic skills underwater. This course is the key to start exploring dive destinations around the globe or just in your backyard.
Inactive Diver Course
Has it been a while since you have been diving? Have 12 months gone by and you are planning a big trip? Do you want the reassurance that you are doing everything properly? The SDI Inactive Diver Program will get you back up to speed. During the course, we will review equipment assembly and maintenance, dive planning, hand signals, proper ascents and descents, emergency procedures, and buoyancy. By the end of this course you will be able to enjoy your next big dive with confidence and ease.
Solo Diver Course
One of SDI’s most popular courses, the solo diver program teaches experienced recreational divers how to safely dive independently of a dive buddy or strengthen your buddy team skills. The course stresses on proper dive planning, personal limitations, accident prevention as well as the benefits, hazards, and proper procedures for diving solo. You will also learn the additional equipment that is required for solo diving including it’s proper usage and assembly. This is the prefect course for underwater photography and underwater video divers.
Advanced Adventure Diver
You’ve taken your open water scuba diver course and now your ready to expand your knowledge but you would like to see what is out there first. The SDI Advanced Adventure Diver course will give you an overview of five (5) selected SDI specialties. Two of the specialties are SDI Deep Diver and Navigations Diver, which are the foundation of continuing diver education. The remaining specialties are listed on our Scuba Classes page.
The course is intended to introduce you to each of the five (5) specialties and not complete comprehension of the chosen specialty. One (1) dive from each of the chosen specialties may apply towards a complete specialty certification.
Rescue Diver Course
The SDI Rescue Diver Course is designed to develop your knowledge and necessary skills to effectively perform diver rescues and assist and administer necessary first aid. You will learn skills such as how to perform self rescues, buddy rescues, recognize and calm potential panic divers, administer proper first aid to divers that have experienced dive related injuries, conduct effective search patterns and manage accident scenes. After the SDI Rescue Diver Course you can enroll in the SDI Master Scuba Diver Development Program or start in the professional ranks and sign up for the SDI Divemaster Course.
Master Scuba Diver Development Program
You have already shown that diving is the sport for you by completing your Open Water Scuba Diver certification, Advanced Scuba Diver certification, Rescue Diver certification and you have logged 50 total dives, now take the next step. The SDI Master Scuba Diver Development Program is an earned certification and the highest non professional level of certification. Visit your local SDI facility and bring along all your accomplishments in diving, don’t forget the logbook with your 50 dives, the friendly staff will reward all of your hard work by submitting for your Master Scuba Diver certification.
So now that you have earned the highest of non professional training what’s next? You can continue to take SDI specialties that interest you like Computer Nitrox, Diver Propulsion Vehicle Specialty, Dry Suit Diver, and many more or sign up for the first professional level of training SDI Divemaster.
Divemaster Course
The SDI Divemaster Course is the first professional level certification. During this course you will be challenged and learn what it is like to work with divers as they experience the underwater world for the first time and you will learn how to lead already certified divers and show them some of your favorite critters or dive sites. We will also teach you how to manage divers, work the dive deck of a boat, and conducting safe and enjoyable dives. Other things you can expect to learn is diving Physics and Physiology, and being a professional SDI Divemaster. Your skills will be refined to demonstration quality and your knowledge increased to that of a professional. After you have completed the SDI Divemaster course you can move onto the SDI Assistant Instructor Course where you will learn more about academic presentations and have the ability to teach certain SDI specialties.
Advanced Buoyancy Course
While taking your Open Water Scuba Diver course you learned the basics of how to control and use your buoyancy, now take the SDI Advanced Buoyancy control course and make diving even more effortless and truly enjoy the freedom from gravity.
Boat Diver
Scuba diving from boats is an everyday occurrence. Whether on a private vessel or one of the many charter dive boats available worldwide, divers are frequently not aware of the special procedures and etiquette used when boat diving. The SDI Boat Diver course will introduce you to some different types of boat diving and the skills needed to plan and conduct a boat dive with maximum safety.
Computer Diver
The SDI Computer Diver course is for divers who have not yet used a dive computer or for divers that want to learn a little more about the computer they are using. Personal Dive Computers are used by the vast majority of divers today and have proven to be a valuable tool for monitoring and documenting dives.
Computer Nitrox Diver
The SDI Computer Nitrox course is a great next step after the Open Water Diver certification and is structured in an easy to understand manner by making use of a Nitrox programmable computer. Nitrox as a breathing gas has a lot of benefits for both new and experienced. The course will cover the use of Nitrox mixtures from 22 to 40 percent oxygen.
CPR1st Administrator Course/AED
The CPR1st course is one of the two first responder courses that SDI offers. CPR1st, like SDI’s other course CPROX, is a straight forwarded program that teaches what you need to know to respond to an emergency until trained professionals arrive. The course is Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation and First Aid combined in a comprehensive easy to remember format.
CPROX Administrator Course
The CPROX course is a straight forward no nonsense approach to teaching you as the first responder to an emergency how to handle the situation. The course is Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Oxygen administration combined into one program. You will learn how to use what is at your disposal to treat and stabilize victims until medically trained professionals arrive.
Deep Diver
SDI’s Deep Diver course is a must for any diver wishing to explore a little more and will teach you the risks and benefits of deep diving. Many interesting sights lie just beyond 18m/60ft such as beautiful wall dives, ship wrecks, and critters that don’t come into the shallows. By the end of the course your knowledge and comfort level will have increased. The Deep Diver course has a maximum depth of 40m/130, the suggested sport diving limit.
Drift Diver
Some of the best dives in the world are found in currents where the nutrients are rich and ready to be feed on by soft corals, sponges, and Manta rays. Whether you’re planning on drifting down a wall or shooting through a passage, the SDI Drift Diver course will teach you the techniques for doing it safely.
Dry Suit Divers
The SDI Dry Suit Diver course will open up a whole new world of diving to you. Many of the waters around the world are better dove in a dry suit. These waters have an abundance of marine life waiting to be seen and photographed, dry suits are also being used in tropical waters during the cooler months.
Equipment Specialist
There are many things that you as a diver can do to maintain your equipment and the SDI Equipment Specialty course is just the place to learn how to do that maintenance. This course covers BCD, regulators, wetsuits, dry suits and many more of the equipment items used while diving.
Inactive Diver Course
Has it been a while since you have been diving? Have 12 months gone by and you are planning a big trip? Do you want the reassurance that you are doing everything properly? The SDI Inactive Diver Program will get you back up to speed. During the course, we will review equipment assembly and maintenance, dive planning, hand signals, proper ascents and descents, emergency procedures, and buoyancy. By the end of this course you will be able to enjoy your next big dive with confidence and ease.
Marine Ecosystems Awareness
As divers, we have a vested interest in protecting the marine environment. In many cases, divers do not have environmental information about their own local sites. The SDI Marine Ecosystems Awareness specialty will increase the Open Water Diver’s understanding of marine environments, the problems facing these unique ecosystems, and the role that divers can play in protecting our marine resources. We will cover the local diving ecosystems as well as others around the globe.
Night - Limited Visibility Diver
Many divers find that night diving is their favorite type of diving. As with all specialty diving applications, procedures are different than those associated with Open Water Diving. The purpose of the SDI Night & Limited Visibility Diver course is to acquaint the Open Water Scuba Diver with the procedures, techniques, and potential hazards associated with diving at night or in limited visibility. You will be able to enjoy night diving with maximum safety and comfort.
Research Diver
The SDI Research Diver course will acquaint the open water diver with the fascinating topic of Research Diving. After the completion of this course, you will be better able to discover, explore, and appreciate the underwater environment by using research techniques and better preserve and protect the underwater environment.
Search & Recovery Diver
SDI’s Search and Recovery Diver specialty will teach you the basic of searching for a lost object from outboard boat motors to jewelry. You will also learn to recovery the object once it is located this includes the use of lift bags and tying lines underwater to secure and lift the object.
Shore/Beach Diver
Many great dives are located just off shore and can be easily accessed from shore. The SDI Shore and Beach Diver course will teach you the proper techniques for entries and exits, navigation, avoiding currents and planning of safe shore dives.
Underwater Navigation
One of the most important skills a diver can have is good navigation, this could be with a compass or by natural formations. The SDI Underwater Navigation Diver course will teach you the necessary skills to navigate using a compass and natural navigation.
Underwater Photography
Making a dive and seeing wonders of the aquatic environment can only be topped by taking pictures of it to share with friends and family. The SDI Underwater Photography course allows you to experience some of the special considerations of underwater photography, with a discussion of many areas of interest to the photographer. We will assist you in selecting a camera, good buoyancy techniques, lighting, and framing of the perfect shot. Whether you want to use film or digital, this course will teach you what you need to know.
Underwater Video
Most divers have a desire to bring home the sights and sounds of being underwater, if a picture tells a thousand words a video tells a thousand words per second. The SDI Underwater Video course makes it possible for you to save your underwater experiences and share them with others. Shooting underwater video is fun, exciting, and easy to learn. Some of the things you will learn during the course are equipment are techniques, and procedures needed to plan and shoot underwater video with maximum safety.
Visual Inspection Procedures
During the SDI Visual Inspection Procedures course you will learn to promote safety in the care and maintenance of high-pressure scuba cylinders by way of our SDI Instructors and a comprehensive Visual Inspection Procedures manual. One of the goals is to raise the consciousness of the industry to the need to meet and exceed the minimum standards established by local Regulations. Another goal is to train inspectors in the proper handling, filling, and inspection techniques including the identification of the various defective conditions that can lead to cylinder rejection or condemnation.
Wreck Diver
Wreck diving can be one of the most exciting aspects of sport diving and can uncover pieces of history seen by few others, however every effort must be made to maximize safe diving techniques. In the SDI Wreck Diver course, we will discuss and use equipment and techniques commonly employed while wreck diving. This course may be taught as a 1) non-penetration (2 total dives) or 2) limited-penetration (3 total dives) course. In the event of “Limited Penetration Training,” limited penetration is defined as “swim through or within the ambient light of entry point,”. We will teach you how to safely plan and execute wreck dives in a fun and enjoyable way.
Divemaster Course
The SDI Divemaster Course is the first professional level certification. During this course you will be challenged and learn what it is like to work with divers as they experience the underwater world for the first time and you will learn how to lead already certified divers and show them some of your favorite critters or dive sites. We will also teach you how to manage divers, work the dive deck of a boat, and conducting safe and enjoyable dives. Other things you can expect to learn is diving Physics and Physiology, and being a professional SDI Divemaster. Your skills will be refined to demonstration quality and your knowledge increased to that of a professional. After you have completed the SDI Divemaster course you can move onto the SDI Assistant Instructor Course where you will learn more about academic presentations and have the ability to teach certain SDI specialties.
Master Scuba Diver Development Program
You have already shown that diving is the sport for you by completing your Open Water Scuba Diver certification, Advanced Scuba Diver certification, Rescue Diver certification and you have logged 50 total dives, now take the next step. The SDI Master Scuba Diver Development Program is an earned certification and the highest non professional level of certification. Visit your local SDI facility and bring along all your accomplishments in diving, don’t forget the logbook with your 50 dives, the friendly staff will reward all of your hard work by submitting for your Master Scuba Diver certification. |
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