A Whole New Way To Look At Scuba Training

When training first started, there was very little organized training outlines.  Most of your instructors were ex-military and they designed their courses in the same fashion that they were taught.  There were more than a few cases where the beginning scuba student was seen doing push ups with a tank fastened to their back.

Flash-forward to today's scuba training experience and there are two types of scuba programs.  The first is your traditional scuba shop.  The second is through independent instructors.  While both have plenty of merit and lots of opportunity, many times the training falls short of expectation or necessity.  

Proper scuba training is a rewarding experience and gives you the essential tools to keep you safe while diving.  Divers, especially  new divers, should give the process more consideration than the training equivalent to ordering a fast food hamburger.  High quality dive training should enable you to extend your dive limits, increase your comfort, increase your familiarity, increase your safety, and increase your bottom time.  Most of all, additional training should allow you to continually reach new depths in diving and provide a lifetime of underwater adventure.

On average 61% of all gross profit for a traditional scuba shop comes from new divers taking beginner lessons and purchasing gear.   Only 12% of their gross profit comes from advanced level dive courses and students. Thus, the primary focus of a traditional scuba shop is to acquire new divers and to sell them equipment.  There is nothing wrong with that.  This is America and capitalism is great.  However, that leaves little time or effort to focus on program development for Advanced Level scuba divers.

On average an independent instructor issues about 20 certifications. Those include beginner certification numbers.  Considering that most of these instructors have primary occupations outside of scuba diving, this is a pretty good number.  However, in most cases, it does not demonstrate the breadth of opportunities needed to expand their teaching experience.

The Academy of Scuba is changing the traditional methods divers use to get advanced level training. Our primary business model and associated revenues are derived from advanced level training!  This allows us to focus our efforts on creating a curriculum that exceeds industry standards.  Compare our curriculum to any shop or instructor in town.  It is the best possible curriculum to expand your skills and experience.  

Breaking the cert card mold.  Many dive instructors look at agency standards as a maximum level of training. The Academy of Scuba has turned the training model upside down.  We look at agency standards as a minimum level of diving. Our advisory panel has developed a curriculum to exceed what most dive shops and independent instructors are teaching.  Instead of demonstrating mastery to attain a certification card, we look at setting minimum thresholds to be a qualified diver (not just certified). Advanced level diving is more than showing an instructor perfected and muscle memory driven skills, it is about showing a commensurate level of ability, instinctively, to theory, motor-skills, and equipment familiarity.  

The reward for completing an Academy of Scuba course is the knowledge you gain and the experience you absorb -- the certification card is a distant second to the former.

Welcome to the Academy of Scuba!