LEARN TO DIVE

RESORT COURSE

One of the most popular ways to learn to dive is by enrolling in a course at one of the many resorts in the Cayman Islands. After just a few hours of instruction in a pool – learning diving basics, water safety and conservation – you'll be ready to experience some of the Caribbean's best-known and legendary dive sites with your instructor.

OPEN WATER CERTIFICATION REFRESHER COURSES

If you don't complete a at home, you can still save time and complete the theory online. Once you arrive, your open water certification can be completed in as little as two days (E-Learning) or three days (full OW course). Quick, easy refresher courses are also available almost everywhere.

Refresher courses are recommended if you haven’t been diving for a while or don’t feel comfortable that you remember all of the processes and procedures. If this is the case, it would be best to complete the Refresher or Re-Activation Course. This could be started prior to your visit and completed with an instructor while you are vacationing! Contact your dive operator prior to arriving to ensure you are ready to dive.

If you’re ready to take the plunge and join the ranks of the professional dive community, the Cayman Islands provides the best training available.

Contact a local dive operator to determine if you meet the requirements. The Islands support both Divemaster and Instructor training. Many operators provide PADI certification for Instructor Development as well as Divemaster certification.

Instructor training lasts for ten days of instruction and practice and is followed by two days of testing by a PADI Instructor-Examiner. To become a Divemaster, it takes 60 logged dives, and 10-14 days to complete the course covering twelve topics.

The speciality training options in the Cayman Islands are almost unlimited – from underwater photography and wreck diving to navigation and night diving. 

Advanced technical courses such as Nitrox and Trimix diving, Rebreather and Extended Range Diving are also available when on your Caribbean dive vacation in the Cayman Islands. For more information on these technical diving technique courses, contact a dive operator in the Cayman Islands.

Technical diving found its home in the Cayman Islands. Pioneers like Nancy Easterbrook (an International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame inductee) brought tech diving to the forefront of accessibility. Experience closed circuit or a semi-closed circuit rebreathing by enrolling in a Rebreather Diving program. If you are an experienced rebreather, be sure to visit the Cayman Islands during the annual Inner Space event, where, amongst other things, all the latest ‘toys’ in the industry are showcased.

INNER SPACE is a dedicated week of Closed Circuit Rebreather Diving and CCR training, lectures, technology conference and more! It's an all-inclusive week bringing together divers, Instructors, dive shops, manufacturers, training agencies and more.

For little ones and teens, there are lots of educational and fun water-based activities like scuba diving and snorkeling in which to participate while parents are out diving and exploring the more advanced walls and dive sites of the Cayman Islands. Programs range from half-day to full week-long activities, including SASY and BubbleMakers (from age five), Rangers or Seals (from age eight), Junior Open Water Diver (from age ten) and, of course, guided diving excursions to the shallow reefs, Stingray City (shore dive) and the Kittiwake (wreck dive).

Programs range from pool sessions to ocean adventures and missions, with kids learning about marine life, fish identification, coral reefs, underwater photography, shipwrecks – or even cruising on an underwater scooter. With Cayman's shallow reefs close to shore, there's no better way to make new ambassadors for the ocean than having the kids join you on your Caribbean diving adventures. Make it a family affair.

Divers with disabilities can experience psychological rehabilitation as they realize the freedom experienced upon entering the water. Many Cayman Islands operators cater to all types of disability with custom built dive boats and staff on hand to accommodate their various needs.

Since 1999, dive instructors representing various operators on Grand Cayman have been undergoing rigorous training to update and refresh their instructor skills to be able to address the needs of special needs divers, to teach handicapped persons to scuba dive the Cayman Islands.

Under the guidance of recognized disabled instructor Fraser Bathgate of the United Kingdom a group of eight instructors participated in a 4-day certification seminar. Fraser who is a member of the following scuba associations – PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors); IAHD (the International Association of Handicapped Divers ); IANTD (International Associations of Nitrox & Technical Divers) and a founding member of the National Disabled Diving Centre in the United Kingdom – is himself a paraplegic.

Divetech and Cobalt Coast Resort in Grand Cayman were the hosts for the Diveheart Week in September 2006. The intensive 5-day course resulted in seven Divetech staff being certified as Scuba Instructors. The course entailed a history of psychological adjustment to disabilities, disability due to spinal injury, traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, amputations, hearing and impairment, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, diabetes, cancer, asthma, seizure disorders, certification to standards, special training considerations, lifting techniques, wetsuit donning and paraplegic and quadriplegic training.

Whether you are a certified scuba diver or wish to become one, Divetech can now offer training through the Handicapped Scuba Association for Disabled People. Buddy training is also available for friends of disabled divers, to help their buddies in the exploration of the underwater world.

DIVEHEART FOUNDATION

The Diveheart Foundation was founded in early 2001 and is a non-profit tax-exempt national organization, providing and supporting educational SCUBA diving and snorkeling experience programs that are open to any physically impaired child or adult in the hope of providing both physical and psychological therapeutic assistance to that person. It is the can do spirit that the Diveheart Foundation hopes to instill in all its participants, giving them the confidence and independence that allows them to face their own life challenges and overcome barriers that before might have seemed insurmountable.

The courses have enabled instructors to be IAHD or HSA certified to train both mentally and physically handicapped individuals to dive. Some of the conditions that instructors have been trained to work with include autism, cerebella ataxia, emotionally disturbed individuals, paraplegic and quadriplegics, persons with Downs Syndrome and some forms of mental deficiency.

The courses are designed to give the participants specialized instruction in all types of disability relating to Scuba Diving. Initially, they are made familiar with the various problems associated with disabilities in everyday life, followed by confined and open water training. Scenarios are built into the course so that once qualified, the instructors are capable of teaching the blind and deaf, quadriplegics, tetraplegics and people of various forms of mental and physical disablement.

The participants on the course represented the following dive operations on the island:

• Red Sail Sports
• Divetech
• Sunset Divers

In addition to this list there are a number of other operators that have instructors familiar with and certified to teach the disabled to dive.

All dive boats carry oxygen and have staff fully trained in emergency first response and oxygen provision.

Safety also is the responsibility of the diver. Know your limits and listen to your instructor. Following the basic rules of diving is the first step to many successful dives.

Take the pre dive safety check to help you get ready for a day or night of fun and adventure under the water.