SCUBA DIVING E-LEARNING COURSES
Once you’ve booked a dive on Search Scuba, you’ll need to complete an e-learning scuba diving knowledge course before your next dive. This course is not included in the dive that you’ve booked on Search Scuba. You can start learning immediately with one of the below recommended agencies.
PADI | THE PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION OF DIVING INSTRUCTORS (PADI)
PADI is a recreational diving membership and diving training organization. The courses offered include entry level to advanced certificates. PADI courses are performed-based diver training programs. As a beginner scuba diver, you’ll be trained on practical knowledge, safety and motor skills. PADI courses follow modern learning philosophies and receive regular updates via peer review.
Before diving, both theory and practical skills development courses occur with PADI. These are stand-alone courses receive a certificate once the student diver has successfully passed the course. Scuba diving theory is taught using online training supplemented with video and a live instructor to help participants visualize what they have read. Review sessions are carried out by a scuba instructor for both knowledge and skill development. Practical skills are completed in confined water (like a pool or shallow water), and performance evaluations in the open water.
SSI | SCUBA SCHOOLS INTERNATIONAL (SSI)
SSI is an organization that teaches the skills involved in scuba diving and freediving. SSI has over 2,500 authorized dealers, 35 regional centers, and offices all over the world. SSI offers internationally recognized recreational diver training programs – starting with snorkeling and entry level scuba diving courses up to instructor certifications. The most common programs are: SSI Open Water Diver (OWD) and Advanced Open Water Diver (AOWD). There are more than 30 different specialty courses. The main difference to other dive training organizations is that SSI instructors are only allowed to teach at SSI Dive Centers or SSI accredited dive clubs that adopt a franchise-like concept.
NAUI | THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF UNDERWATER INSTRUCTORS (NAUI WORLDWIDE)
NAUI is a globally recognized recreational dive certification and membership organization established to provide international diver standards and education programs. Many organizations specifically choose NAUI for their diver education programs including Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, United States Navy SEAL Teams and NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston, Texas (USA) where astronauts train for their space walks.
While NAUI is long been respected for having the highest training standards in the recreational diving industry, we are also highly regarded for our Technical Diver Training. Many of our technical developments have been adopted by other agencies; our Technical Diving Division leads in the development of new theories and research that keeps NAUI on the cutting edge of technical diving.
BSAC | THE BRITISH SUB-AQUA CLUB (BSAC)
BSAC has been recognized since 1954 by the Sports Council as the national governing body of recreational diving in the United Kingdom. The club was founded in 1953 and at its peak in the mid-1990s had over 50,000 members declining to over 30,000 in 2009. It is a diver training organization that operates through its associated network of around 1,100 local, independent diving clubs and around 400 diving schools worldwide.
SDI | SCUBA DIVING INTERNATIONAL (SDI)
SDI is a Scuba training and certification agency. It is the recreational arm of Technical Diving International, the world’s largest technical diver training organization. SDI is the only diver training agency that requires students to have access to a modern dive computer on all dives during training from the very start. SDI is also unusual amongst recreational diver training organizations in that it recognizes solo diving as part of recreational diving, and offers a special training course relating to it. Most major recreational diver training organizations mandate diving with a “buddy” at all times. SDI was the first recreational diver training agency to provide certification as Solo Diver.
RAID | THE REBREATHER ASSOCIATION OF INTERNATIONAL DIVERS (RAID)
With a comprehensive online training system, RAID offers over 60 courses online, with all-digital manuals and online-only paperwork. Students still need to complete the water-based portion of the course at a RAID certified dive center. RAID emphasizes that each center’s highly qualified and experienced instructors are committed to training people within each of their limitations, allowing them to develop and achieve confidence in their own abilities.