Open Water SCUBA Diver Course @ Friends Select School

(Thats where you are right now!) Confined Water Training is the basis for all of your SCUBA training and Underwater World offers it in a few different formats for your convenience. Most courses have 1 or 2 confined water sessions a week, though in the Summer we have condensed weekend courses.

Underwater World also offers these courses at multiple locations in the area. This allows us to teach on different days and times to best suit your schedule. No other Dive Center in the region teaches at multiple locations and this is just another way we try to make your training convenient for you

No matter what Confined Water training you take, you will be schedule for a minimum of 12 hours of in-water training and approx 6hrs of lecture and eLearning refresher. On average thats about 6 hours more than the local average and at the same price! Those 6 hours are the difference between just knowing how to dive and being a comfortable, confident diver.

This difference in training will be apparent to you on your first Open Water dives. You will notice other students confined to the underwater platforms on their open water dives and though you can expect to spend some time there as well, Underwater World students will actually get off the platforms and do some true open water exploring!

At Underwater World you aren't trained to the the minimum standard. You are trained to a level that will allow you to safely enjoy your investment, comfortably and confidently.

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Open Water Certificaiton Dives are the capstone of SCUBA training and are required to become a fully Certified Open Water SCUBA Diver. These dives consist of 4 "open water dives", over a 2 day period. During these dives Students will be tested on the skills they have learned in the confined water training and get comfortable with buoyancy outside of the confined limits of the pool! Just like with other Underwater World training, we have options to make this the most convienent for you!

Most commonly, students choose to do these dives locally with us over one of our Certification Weekends. We usually do these dives at a training lake, Lake Allure or Willow Springs, located about 1.5hrs West of Underwater World. The cost to complete these dives locally with Underwater World is $325 and includes the 4 dives and equipment rentals. Though it does not include the entry fee for the lake, in most cases you will have the option to purchase these tickets through Underwater World when you register for your Open Water dives

You may also choose to do your Certification Dives on an Underwater World Dive Trip or even complete them on your own dive trip with a document from your Instructor known as a Universal Referral. Your Instructor will cover all the pros/cons of each option throughout the course, so there is no reason to make that choice today.

Whatever option you choose, Underwater World will remain your certifying Dive Center. That means that even if you choose to do them on your own dive trip with a Universal Referral, we will help guide you through the process and be your representative to the training agency for any issues that may ever arise.

With over 50 years in business, tens of thousands of dives, and tousands upon thousands of certifications, Underwater World rolls deep to support even the newest of divers!

Though NAUI and other Training Agencies allow certification to take place at 10 years old, our 50 years of training experience has taught us that we should wait. Though diving is safe, we are teaching people and in this example children, to understand the concepts of life-support in a condition where life cannot be sustained without proper training, understanding, and correlation of sometimes complex concepts. There has also been decades of, admittedly conflicting, studies showing negative effects on bone growth and young divers.

It is for this reason that we wait until 12 years old to Certify.
Young divers may begin their training at 11 years old but must have turned 12 prior to Certification Dives. We understand that this can be frustrating for families that want to dive together but we hope you understand that this shows our commitment to putting safety above all else.

For young divers, 11-16 years old, Underwater World offers, two, specially desgined programs to certify them. Though they may take our regularly scheduled courses, we have also found that teaching younger students together, and with content designed for better understanding, they have more fun and will be safer divers.

These "Teen SCUBA Camps" take place at the beginning and end of each Summer. They are 1 week long (plus Certification Dives) and run from approx 9a-430p every day! Not only is this a great opportunity to keep the kids busy in the summer, it will give them the life skill of SCUBA diving, teach them responsibility and risk management. We have training hundreds of divers through these camps and some have gone on to be Marine Biolgist, Environmental Scientist, and other profession based around their found love of the Underwater World.

SCUBA Camp for Teens

The short of it is, we will provide all the equipment you need to take the course. This equipment is included in the price of your course and will be brought to the confined water sessions for you. When it comes to Certification Dives, as long as you complete these dives locally or on a trip with us, your rental equipment is povided included in the Certification fee of $325.

In the case of Certification Dives, the equipment is NOT brought to the local dive site for you. Part of training is learning how to checkout and be responsible for picking up the equipment and students will be responsible for this going into their Certification Dives.

We highly recommend that all Students purchase their own mask, fins and snorkel. It is not a requirement but, just like golf, skiing, or other equipment intensive sports, it will make learning much more consistent and comfortable. We offer a 15% discount on mask fins and snorkels for students enrolled in our courses. If you are interested in purchasing your own life-support equipment, it is best to talk to a sales team member to find out what kind of diving you plan to do and what works best for that kind of diving. There is a program where if you purchase qualifying life-support packages, you would receive the Certification Dives for free, saving you $325!

So, after all that; Underwater World will provide you with everything you need for Certification Dives and your Course at no extra cost to you. No hidden fees here.

As far as what Underwater World charges, we make it black and white. Students purchase the Confined Water Training, which includes the eLearning, then, when ready, they purchase the Certification Dives or the Referral Packet. There are no other fees that we collect. Keep in mind that you may choose to upgrade your eLearning for $50 and that would be additional.

Certification Fees that are not collected by Underwater World are not included in our estimate. For example, if you plan of doing Certification Dives locally with us, the lakes usually charge $65 per day. However, you may elect to purchase these entry tickets from the lake or Underwater World when registering for your Certification Dives, and no, we don't charge even $1 more than the lake does. No "convenience fee", just convenience.

These Certification Fees would also apply if you do certification dives using the referral program. Though you would not need to pay the $325 to Underwater World, there is a Referral Packet fee of $50 and please remember, we have no control nor way of knowing what the dive shop on your vacation is going to charge for Certification Dives. We do have a general idea what fair market pricing and we suggest you speak with a sales team member to make sure you aren't being taken advantage of as a new diver.

So in essence, yes, there are other fees that will be associated with your Certification, but none that are collected by us. We are transparent with our pricing structure because we want to earn your trust and prove that we don't play games with your fun.

There are some important differences between other agencies and NAUI. NAUI is a Not-For-Profit Worldwide Education Association. NAUI's purpose is to enable people to enjoy underwater activities as safely as possible by providing the highest quality practical education, and to actively promote the preservation and protection of the world's underwater environments. To accomplish this, NAUI trains, qualifies, and certifies leaders and instructors, establishes minimum standards for various levels of diver training, and provides various programs, products, and support materials to assist NAUI leaders and instructors with their diving supervising and teaching.

NAUI's primary purpose is also reflected in the association's motto, "Dive Safety Through Education". The quality of training provided by NAUI Instructors is of great importance to the Association, so NAUI employs various methods of evaluation to ensure that NAUI standards are met when NAUI instruction is conducted. As a pioneer in diving education, NAUI has developed many of the programs and concepts accepted throughout the diving industry. NAUI constantly strives to increase the safety of diving by upgrading the Association's standards and programs.

NAUI Instructors are qualified, professional educators who are granted academic freedom to teach diving in any reasonable manner as long as NAUI standards and policies are met. NAUI training support materials are designed for flexibility in teaching. NAUI Instructors may exceed NAUI standards in ways that do not jeopardize student safety. Examples include exceeding the number of required open water dives or increasing the academic content. One of the things the NAUI Credo states is that it is more important to train a few students well than to certify many marginally trained divers.

We further believe that educational quality must never be sacrificed for economic reasons. Also, NAUI believes that divers should not be totally dependent upon their equipment or others for their safety. NAUI members emphasize the skills of diving, and anyone certified as a diver should be able to perform the basics of a rescue of a buddy diver.