Scuba Diving
Scuba Diving
Learning to scuba dive is really a very simple process. In very little time you can become a certified scuba diver for life! No additional training is required. Learning to dive gives you license to participate in diving activities anywhere they are offered -- the Florida gulf coast, when traveling abroad, during a Caribbean cruise, or even in the local rivers, ponds, and quarries near your home. Best of all, your scuba diving certification is a lifetime privilege. No annual re-certification is required. No exhaustive series of refresher courses. Your scuba certification is your permit to dive for your entire life!
Open water diver: The SDI Open Water Scuba Diver Course will cover all of the necessary skills and knowledge for open water scuba diving, including:
The aquatic environment: vision, light, sound, heat loss, tides, currents, waves, surge, etc.
Physics and physiology: buoyancy, pressure, air spaces, breathing compressed air, mixed gases, etc.
Dive equipment selection, assembly, use and maintenance
Dive planning
Basic scuba skills including mask and regulator skills, swimming underwater, buoyancy control, basic rescue techniques, and emergency procedures
And much more!
Advanced Adventurer: If you’ve taken your Open Water Scuba Diver course and are now ready to expand your knowledge but would like to see what is out there first, then the SDI Advanced Adventure Diver course is for you! The SDI Advanced Adventure course will give you an overview of five different SDI specialties. Two of the required specialties are the Deep Diver and Navigation Diver specialties which are the foundation of continuing diver education. The remaining specialty dives you can opt for include:
Advanced Buoyancy Control
Altitude Diver
Boat Diver
Computer Nitrox Diver
Drift Diver
Marine Ecosystem Awareness
Many more!
This course is intended to introduce you to each of the five specialties selected; not complete comprehension of the chosen specialty. One dive from each of the chosen specialties may apply towards the completion of a specialty certification.
Advanced Diver: The SDI Advanced Scuba Diver Development Program was created to make truly “Advanced Divers.” During the course your Instructor will take you through four complete SDI, TDI, or ERDI specialty courses (for example; Deep, Navigation, Photo, Video, Intro to Tech, Tender, etc.) covering all the skills and subjects, so that by the end you will feel comfortable to conduct dives of a similar nature.Once you have logged your 25th dive (these can include any and all training dives), visit your local SDI facility with your logbook and verification of completing four SDI, TDI, and ERDI specialties and you will be awarded the SDI Advanced Scuba Diver certification.
By earning the SDI Advanced Scuba Diver certification you will have increased abilities and comfort in the water and be ready for the next step, SDI Rescue Diver.
Beach and Shore diver: The purpose of this course is to acquaint a diver with the necessary procedures and knowledge to safely dive from shore. The focus of this specialty must be on how to handle different types of surf and shore conditions. Many great dive sites are accessible form the shore and do not require the use of a boat but do require some basic techniques and information how to execute the dives safely.
Dry Suit: he SDI Dry Suit Diver Course will open up a whole new world of diving to you. Many of the diving environments around the world are better experienced in a dry suit. Why? These areas have an abundance of marine life waiting to be seen and photographed – they just happen to be a little colder! Dry suits are also used in tropical water during the cooler months.This course allows the student to develop the knowledge and skills to properly use a dry suit. It will discuss the types of dry suits, accessories, maintenance and how to make basic repairs.
Full Face Mask: Divers often have a need, or want, to effectively communicate underwater. The SDI Full Face Mask Course is the perfect starting point. Full face mask diving allows the diver to relax and enjoy diving while not worrying about maintaining the second stage regulator. In addition, the full face mask will help insulate the diver from a coldwater environment.
Night Time/Limited Vis.: 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 this course is to acquaint the open water diver with the procedures, techniques, and potential hazards associated with diving at night, or in limited visibility. Becoming familiar with the use of dive lights, and night diving techniques such as navigation, buddy system procedures, communications, buoyancy control, and interacting with nocturnal aquatic life, the diver can safely enjoy night diving.
Search and Recovery: This specialty is designed to acquaint the diver with special skills and techniques necessary to successfully plan, execute and evaluate a search and recovery dive.
Rescue Diver: The SDI Rescue Diver Course is designed to develop the knowledge and necessary skills to effectively perform diver rescues and assist and administer the necessary first aid in the event of an emergency. 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.
Wreck: Wreck diving can be one of the most exciting aspects of sport diving, however every effort must be made to maximize safe diving techniques. The SDI Wreck Diver Course will discuss the equipment and techniques commonly employed while wreck diving. This course may be taught as a non-penetration, 2 dives required, or as a limited-penetration course, requiring 3 dives. Limited-penetration is defined as a swim through or within the ambient light of entry point.
Solo Diver: At one point or another, many divers have found themselves alone during a dive, whether it was intentional or not. SDI’s Solo Diving is the practice of self reliant scuba diving without a “dive buddy.”Solo diving, once considered technical diving and discouraged by most certification agencies, is now seen by many experienced divers and some certification agencies as an acceptable practice for those divers suitably trained and experienced. Rather than relying on the traditional buddy diving safety system, solo divers should be skilled in self-sufficiency and willing to take responsibility for their own safety while diving.
Being one of SDI’s most popular courses, the Solo Diver course stresses proper dive planning, personal limitations, and 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 its proper usage and assembly. This is the perfect course for underwater photography and underwater video divers as well as those diving with their children or buddies that may not be very experienced in scuba diving.
Snorkler: The SDI Snorkeler Diver Course is designed to give students the necessary skills to efficiently snorkel in conditions similar to their training without the direct supervision of an instructor.
Inactive Diver/Refresher: The SDI Inactive Diver/Refresher Program is designed to update and review the knowledge and skill level of an inactive diver. SDI encourages the use of this program for instructors, assistant instructors, and resorts or dive facilities that have questions regarding the diving history of an individual. This program can also be used as a catalyst for continuing education programs.
Shallow Water Diver: This entry-level certification course is designed to give students the necessary skills to safely conduct open water dives in conditions similar to their training using the shallow water scuba system without the direct supervision of an instructor. This course is specific to a shallow water scuba system, and is not intended to train participants in the use of conventional scuba diving equipment. Therefore, use of conventional scuba diving equipment, by participants, during this program is strictly prohibited.
Scuba Buddies: For those who want to test the waters and try scuba, this is the course for you! The SDI Scuba Discovery Program gives you a glimpse of what you can expect to experience in the underwater world as well as what you could expect to learn in the SDI Open Water Scuba Diver course. During this experience program, you will go through the basic safety procedures for enjoyable scuba diving under the watchful eye of an active SDI Instructor.
You will learn skills such as equalizing your ears, buddy checks, basic buoyancy control, underwater communication, and more. You will also be given an introduction to basic scuba equipment followed by an underwater tour in the local pool or aquatic environment.
Future Buddies: This program is designed to provide children between the ages of 8 and 12 an introduction to scuba diving in a controlled environment, under the direct supervision of an active instructor.
Master Diver: The SDI Master Scuba Diver Development Program was created to make true master divers. The program requires a new open water diver to complete four SDI, TDI, or ERDI Specialties, the SDI Rescue Diver Course, and log 50 dives. SDI feels a diver will be a true master scuba diver after these steps accomplished.
Diver Master: The SDI Divemaster Course is the first professional level certification. During the course you will learn how to work with divers, lead certified divers, and act as a dive guide showing divers underwater dive sites and the marine life that inhabits those dives sites. You will increase your knowledge about physics and physiology as well as increase your proficiency with your scuba and snorkeling skills.
Assistant Instructor: The SDI Assistant Instructor Course is designed to build on the SDI Divemaster Program by gaining practical teaching experience, learning to prepare lesson plans, and give academic presentations. You will work with an instructor to gain experience teaching before moving on to the SDI Open Water Scuba Diver Instructor level. Once you complete the Specialty Instructor training with a qualified SDI Instructor Trainer, you can become qualified to teach several SDI Specialty Diver courses.
Scubility: The SDI Scubility Diver Program is designed to give physically disabled divers the necessary skills and techniques used to conduct open water dives in conditions similar to their training without the direct supervision of a SDI Scubility Instructor. However, some SDI Scubility divers require supervision of a qualified SDI Dive Buddy.
Boat Diver: Boat Diving occurs every day around the world; whether is it an inland lake or in the Caribbean, South Pacific or Read Sea, divers can explore the underwater world located off-shore. Dive boats vary from small private vessels to a large live-aboard dive boats. The SDI Boat Diver Course covers the “how-to’s” of boat diving from how to board, proper boat etiquette, entry(s) and much more. The course will also introduce you to the various types of boats you may be diving from.
The SDI Scubility Diver Program takes a closer look at the techniques and equipment adjustments to meet a disabled divers needs allowing individuals to dive with safe diving practices.
The following courses are offered under the SDI Scubility Diver Program:
Public Safety Diver: This course is designed as Intro level in to Publice Safety diving.the proper techniques, skills, and knowledge to conduct basic searches and recoveries.