Note on recreational courses:  Our classes are all performance based which means that you have not successfully completed the program until you are proficient in the skills required.  As a result, some divers may have to do additional work or remedial training that exceeds the minimum requirements shown in the course descriptions.  WE ABSOLUTELY DO NOT teach the minimum standards courses that have been adopted by so many store and instructors in the industry.  We consider the minimum standard as a starting point and skill proficiency as the completion point for the courses that we teach.  If you are looking for the cheapest and fastest course available, we have a list of several hundred companies we can refer you to, but if you are looking for comprehensive and quality training – you have arrived.   

Recreational Courses we teach:   

OW Students from Germany & France in Crystal River

Entry Level Classes for Beginning Divers:

Try SCUBA – An experience course that takes about 2 hours and is conducted in a swimming pool.  If the pool sessions go well the diver will complete a dive at a shallow open water site with your instructor.   Prerequisites:  should be able to swim 

SCUBA Diver –This course consist of the first half of the full open water course and results in certification as a SCUBA Diver.  The SCUBA Diver certification allows the diver to dive in shallow water (12 meters/40 feet), under the direct supervision of a divemaster or divecon or instructor.  Prerequisites:  should be able to swim 

Open Water Diver – This is the first true certification course allowing divers to dive without supervision.  This course requires approximately 20 hours of training divided between pool and classroom (may be done mostly home study) and four open water check out dives.   Prerequisites:  Divers must be able to swim 200 yards, tread water and be comfortable in the water.   

Advanced Diver – Advanced diver courses are taught with two methodologies, but we prefer and offer those courses that require the completion of training in at least four specialty areas and the completion of 25-logged dives.  We feel an Advanced Diver should have both training and experience and this method best delivers that combination.  Our calendar of events will show advanced training weekends; these are either four or two-day weekend programs where we offer one specialty course per day.  Note:  you can use any specialty course for this advanced certification as long as it requires diving.  Courses like First Aid and Equipment Specialty do not count.   Prerequisites:  See the specific specialty course

Rescue Class in Key Largo

 Stress & Rescue – In some agencies, this is considered a level of  certification and in other agencies; it is considered a specialty course.  In either event, this course teaches divers to respond to common emergencies encountered by divers and their buddies.  We differentiate our course from others by focusing on simulating as closely as possible real world circumstances.  This course is a prerequisite for any professional level training and for Master Diver certification.   Prerequisites:  Certified Open Water Diver

Master Diver – Like the Advanced Diver, the Master Diver certification denotes the accumulation of both experience and training in a variety of areas.  To earn this certification, divers must complete five specialty courses one of which must be the Stress and Rescue course, and 50 logged dives.  All specialty courses must require diving so specialty courses like First Aid and Equipment Specialty are excluded.   Prerequisites:  Advanced Open Water Diver

Advanced Adventure Diver - This 4 dive course allows diver to sample up to 4 specialty area of training without commiting to a full specialty certification in a specific area.  Any specialty training area can be selected for inclusion in the Adventure Diver Certification.  Prerequisites: Open water diver.

Altitude Diver – Dives conducted above 1000 feet / 300 meters of sea level require modification of the decompression tables and special procedures to prevent decompression sickness.  This course covers these modification in procedures and requires two altitude dives.  Prerequisites:  Advanced Open Water Diver

Deep Diver – This course qualifies the certified diver to dive at deeper depths and the course is offered in two phases.  Phase 1 takes divers to a depth between 60 and 100 feet.  Phase 2 takes divers to a depth of between 100 and 130 feet.  These dives are conducted within the no decompression limits and the course focuses on gas management and advanced dive planning for deeper dives.  There are two dives required in each of the phases to the target depths.  Prerequisites:  Certified Open Water Diver and 10-logged dives are strongly recommended.   

Dry Suit Diver – In colder temperatures or in areas where the water may contain dangerous contaminants, many divers choose to dive in a specially designed suit that keeps the body dry.  These air-filled suits create issues with regard to buoyancy control and procedures such as maintaining ascent rates.  This course teaches procedures to deal with those issues and requires one session in confined or controlled water and two dives.   Prerequisites:  Certified Open Water Diver

Equipment Specialist – Diving is an equipment intensive activity and the equipment descriptions contain a myriad of terms that can be confusing for the uninitiated.  This non-diving program deciphers the difference between a piston and a diaphragm, the balanced and the unbalanced, and gives divers the skills they need to select equipment without being taken advantage of.  The course will also teach the advanced principles of cleaning and maintaining your equipment for extending its life cycle and for it to be ready when you are ready to go diving.  Prerequisites:  This course is open to anyone, but scuba diver certification or above is recommended. 

Marine Eco Systems – This general term describes a number of courses designed to teach the diver how to find and identify various types of marine life and how to protect the delicate environment of these creatures while boating and diving.  This course requires two dives.  Prerequisites:  Certified Open Water Diver

Navigation (U/W Navigator) – This course covers the principles of compass use underwater, the use of natural terrain features for navigation and other methods of coupling natural and compass navigation.  The end goal is a set of skills that will allow the diver to always know where he is underwater and more importantly, how to find his or her way back to the boat or exit point.  This course requires at least 2 open water dives, but due to our performance standards most divers require more dive time for skills proficiency.  Prerequisites:  Certified Open Water Diver

Night/Limited Visibility Diver – Human s are naturally afraid of the dark and things that go bump in the night, but night diving opens a whole new world within the underwater realm.  There are a few precautions which need to be taken when diving at night or in dark water with limited visibility.  This course covers those procedures academically, including night navigation techniques and requires two night dives.  Prerequisites:  Certified Open Water Diver

Nitrox Diver – The gas mixture typically used by divers is air because unlike what you hear in many uninformed media resources, oxygen becomes quite toxic at depth.  However, increasing the amount of oxygen in the air you breathe can allow divers to extend no decompression limits allowing longer dives or increase the safety factors for divers who have certain risk factors including advanced age or health issues.  Recreational divers are permitted to use special procedures and tables or Nitrox computers to dive air mixtures which are enriched with oxyen up to a maximum of 40 %.  This academic course covers these procedures and focuses heavily on tables and dive computers for basic calculations.  Divers will receive an introduction to the math involved but for a detailed understanding of the mathematics, you should enroll in an Advanced Nitrox course. Depending upon the agency, this course may or may not require 2 dives due to the fact that it is mostly a theory course and no new water skills will be taught.   Prerequisites:  Certified Open Water Diver

Draeger Dolphin allows diver to get up close and personal with a Manatee

Rebreather Diver – Closed circuit and semi closed circuit rebreathers are a different technology that gives divers extended bottom times with minimal gas supplies by maximizing both decompression profiles and gas use efficiency (by actually recycling the gas you exhale).  SCRs and CCRs are frequently used by photographers and videographers because they produce few or no bubbles and allow the diver to get very close to marine life.  Rebreather training is unit specific and we offer training on several different recreational and technical rebreather units – including Cis Lunar Mk VI, Dräger Dolphin, Dräger Atlantis, DrägerRay, CCR 500, CCR 1000, Mk15/16, LAR-V and others.  Recreational rebreather courses are no decompression courses using nitrox gases.    Prerequisites:  Certified Open Water Diver (some units can be used for your open water training), some units may require Nitrox, Advanced Nitrox and/or Advanced Open water certifications.  

Search & Recovery Diver – Did you ever lose something underwater?  This course teaches the methods of conducting searches for small objects and large.  Search patterns using compass navigation, terrain feature navigation and physical aids like line reels are covered in this course.  Additionally, divers will learn how to rig and lift objects up to 50 pounds while using lift bags and minimize risk to the diver.   Prerequisites:  Certified Open Water Diver

Underwater Photography - We teach two varieties of this course; The first is for the diver using the typical point and shoot camera in an underwater housing (or a waterproof camera).  The second version is for divers using more sophisticated cameras with some additional degree of manual control including single lens reflex cameras in underwater housings.  The focus is on composition and effective exposure in digital imaging, although Mike still shoots some film based Nikonos cameras and will teach students using this older technology.  These courses are taught by Mike Ange, whose photos have been published in a number of print magazines including Skin Diver, SCUBA Diving, Asian Diver and a number of web sites including SEAduction.com.  Divers will complete at least two open water dives for beginners we also recommend one extended confined water session prior to the open water activities.  Prerequisites:  Certified Open Water Diver

Underwater Videography - This course is oriented toward digital imaging systems in underwater housings and it is taught by Mike Ange, whose video clips have been purchased by and used in nationally released television shows on networks like the outdoor life network (OLN) and in various web venues.  We focus on composition, maintaining and positioning the camera for optimum quality and shooting easily editable or no edits required segment lengths.  This course requires at least 2 open water dives.  Prerequisites:  Certified Open Water Diver

Wreck Diver -   Shipwrecks are the ultimate thrill and challenge for many divers and this is one environment that basically has something for everyone.  Only minutes after sinking we witnessed barracuda and other large fish species taking up residence on the USNS Vandenberg and both the diversity and quantity of marine life continues to grow as shipwrecks age.  Many ships also have unique histories and some are loaded with artifacts.  The basic recreational wreck diver course covers the procedures and safety issues of concern for divers diving outside and around a shipwreck.  This course requires 2 wreck dives.  Prerequisites:  Certified Open Water Diver, Deep Diver Certification is also recommended. 

TRANSITION COURSES:

Cavern Diver – A cavern is defined by divers as the entry area of an underwater cave system where natural daylight is clearly visible, the depth is shallower than 100 fsw/30 msw and there are no restricted areas where two divers cannot comfortably swim side by side.  This course requires one open water dive and at least 4 cavern dives.   Prerequisites:  Certified Advanced Open Water Diver or an Open Water Diver with at least 25 logged dives.   

Limited Penetration on the Speigle Grove

 Limited Penetration Wreck Diver – This course has limits very similar to the cavern diving course but is conducted on shipwrecks.  Divers will also be allowed to do simple linear swim through areas of the wreck providing that sunlight is clearly visible from the entry point of the swim until the diver exits.  The course requires one open water dive for line drills and equipment rigging and 4 wreck penetration dives.   Prerequisites:  Open Water Diver, Wreck Diver and at least 25 logged dives. 

Advanced Nitrox Diver – For divers pursuing the deep technical programs this is the first course in that progression.  Unlike the basic nitrox course this program focuses on using the actual math formulas to calculate exposures and complete dive plans.  Divers will also obtain a more complete understanding of the requirements for oxygen clean/compatible equipment and how to maintain their equipment in that state once it has been cleaned for oxygen use.  Divers will use nitrox mixtures with up to 40% oxygen for bottom gas and a small stage (pony) bottle with mixtures of up to 100% oxygen will be used for ascents and safety/simulated deco stops.  This course requires 4 dives and is limited to a max depth of 140 fsw/40 msw.  Dives requiring actual decompression stops totaling a maximum of 15 minutes may be completed.   Prerequisites:  Nitrox, Deep, Stress & Rescue Diver and at least 50 logged dives.

PRO CERTIFICATION COURSES – see these courses on our Turning Pro Page !