Class Schedule

This specialty is for anyone who wants to become a more responsible SAFE diver or intends on going to become a SCUBA diving leader, such as Divemaster, Assistant Instructor, Skin-diving Leader, or Instructor. The material covers the causes, effects, and treatments of diving related accidents, diving physiology, psychological aspects of diving, diving first aid, activation of EMS, and how to avoid and manage diving accidents. These topics will be presented in the classroom, in the pool, on a boat, and on the beach. Requires one pool session, one half day beach teach, three three hour classroom and boat lectures.

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If you like seafood you'll love this specialty which focuses on keeping your refrigerator stocked all summer and fall! This course will present to you techniques of LOBSTERING both day and night, SPEARFISHING, and HARVESTING SHELLFISH. Included is a tool making work shop, displays of several types of spear guns, catch bags, and other underwater fishing equipment. Also presented will be legal aspects and licensing requirements as well as recipes. You get to eat what you catch at the clambake graduation social. Requires two three hour lectures and four dives.

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Search and Recovery Diver

This course is to provide the diver with the skills and knowledge to do those underwater tasks commonly needed by the experienced recreational diver and to minimize the risks of such tasks.

ACADEMIC REQUIREMENTS Specific subject areas to be covered are as follows: Underwater navigation – provides the diver with the skills needed to use  a compass and natural aids for orientation, in order to establish position, get about and find particular locations while submerged. The theory, problems, methods, equipment, distance/time relationships and use of charts are to be included. Limited visibility diving - prepares the diver with the skills and knowledge needed to function and minimize the risk of diving in turbid water and at night. The problems, methods, equipment, hazards and cautions, plus safety procedures are to be included. Search methods - provide the diver with the background to understand and select a search pattern and then perform a search using proper techniques. The problems, methods, procedures and equipment are to be included. Light salvage or recovery - prepares the diver to handle the recovery of small to intermediate-size objects with limited equipment. The theory, problems, hazards, methods, equipment and principles involved are to  be covered. The necessary rigging and knot tying are also to be included.

PREREQUISITES Age. Minimum is 15 years. Certification: NAUI Scuba Diver certification or the equivalent is required. The instructor is to ensure adequate student knowledge and capability before any open water training and shall use skill or other evaluations to do so.

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Dry suit diving has become increasingly popular in recent years. While dry suits were once used almost exclusively for situations such as ice diving or deep wreck diving, many sport divers are now using dry suits regularly for every day sport dives all over the world. Material technology, valve design, and zipper reliability have all improved to a point where dry suits deliver greater value per dollar for cold and temperate water diving. This course is to provide the diver with a basic understanding of the knowledge and skills needed to minimize risks and gain experience in dry suit diving. It will train scuba divers to properly use and maintain dry suits.  By learning proper dry suit use and maintenance, you will extend your opportunities for diving to year-round.

PREREQUISITES Age. Minimum is 15 years. (Junior certification for ages 12 - 14 years is allowed.) Certification: NAUI Scuba Diver certification or the equivalent is required unless combined with the Scuba Diver course. The instructor is to ensure  adequate student knowledge and capability before any open water training and shall use skill or other evaluations to do so.

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Nothing is more colorful than a tropical marine aquarium, especially when you picked out the fish from the largest selection available, the ocean! This specialty covers how to select catch fish without harmful chemicals or devices that damage the scales or fins of the fish and how to safely transport the fish home to your aquarium from any where in the world. Legal aspects and permits, collecting tools and techniques, and aquarium construction and ecosystems will be covered. Requires two three hour lectures and four dives.

PREREQUISITES Age. Minimum is 15 years. Certification: NAUI Scuba Diver certification or the equivalent is required. The instructor is to ensure adequate student knowledge and capability before any open water training and shall use skill or other evaluations to do so.

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Do you know how Long Island Sound was created, or how tides and currents work? How about the micro organisms, marine plants, or even vertebrate biology the sound and the waters of the Northeast? In this Specialty diving course we discuss everything from the glaciers role in the creation Long Island and when Long Island Sound was a lake, to the future of this extremely productive body of water through conservation. Along the way we will present in easy to understand terms all about water flow, salinity, commercial harvesting of finfish and shellfish, why it has so much life you cant see through it, and other topics of oceanography, earth science, and biology! Requires two three hour lectures and three dives and a beach teach.

This course is to expose the diver to the physical and biological aspects of the diving environment with emphasis on the local area. This course will draw much of the subject material from related sciences, e.g., oceanography, limnology, geology, biology and ecology. The use of movies, slides and handouts are an important part of this course. Trips to aquariums and oceanariums will be most helpful. Effort should be made to  expose the student divers to several diving environments, e.g., lake vs. ocean, rocky reef vs. sand beach. (May be for skin or scuba divers.)

 Subjects to be covered are as follows: Plant and animal life - identification, relationships, dangers, regulations, uses - food collections and aquaria. Conservation and pollution - problem areas and possible solutions. Water movement and characteristics - tides, currents, waves and surf, temperature, pressure, density, buoyancy, visibility and sound. Shore, bottom and surface conditions - features, hazards, natural aids to navigation and wind effects. Diving locations - sources of information, use of charts, arranging and planning of dives.

PREREQUISITES Age. Minimum is 15 years. (Junior certification for ages 12 - 14 years is allowed.) Certification: NAUI Scuba Diver certification or the equivalent is required.  The instructor is to ensure adequate student knowledge and capability before any open water training and shall use skill or other evaluations to do so.

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Have you ever wanted to safely extend your bottom time or reduce post dive fatigue? If so you should consider learning about Nitrox. The Nitrox Specialty Course begins with a review of the partial pressure concepts as discussed in basic SCUBA diving. We then continue to discuss partial pressures of Enriched Air Nitrox (EAN). This will be followed by Oxygen Physiology, toxicity, and tolerance. Also covered will be selecting a Nitrox mix, equivalent air depth, Nitrox diving tables, decompression principals, and equipment considerations.

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This course is to provide the diver with the skills and knowledge needed to minimize the risks of diving at night. (May be for skin or scuba divers.) ACADEMIC REQUIREMENTS Coverage is to include planning and preparation, night diving equipment, procedures, problems, hazards, navigation and buddy system techniques.

PREREQUISITES Age: Minimum is 15 years. (Junior certification for ages 12 - 14 years is allowed) Certification: NAUI Scuba Diver certification or the equivalent is required. The instructor is to ensure adequate student knowledge and capability before any open water training and shall use skill or other evaluations to do so.