As a PAD, SSI and NAUI Pro Gold Dive Center, DIVEIndia offers a full array of dive training courses, ranging from beginner to professional.

We are excited to bring NAUI training to India - with the highest course standards in the industry, NAUI offers some of the best diver training possible, and is the only recognized agency for training to police and fire departments in the US and elsewhere. We run NAUI courses from Scuba Diver (Open Water) to Instructor Trainer.

We are also proud to be recognized as an SSI Diver Training Facility (another first in India), offering all SSI courses from Open Water to Dive Control Specialist. And of course, as the first PADI Dive Center in the Andamans, we also have a complete selection of courses from PADI, the world's largest diver training agency.

This means we offer the biggest array of rereational scuba training courses of any dive center in Asia.

What does this mean for you? Well, it means that we have options catering to all budgets and interests. Someone who wants to dive a few times a year will have different requirements from someone who wants to do lots of diving every year. Someone with 10 dives is going to need a different set of options to become a better diver than someone with 100. All agencies are good - however, one agency might be better than others in some areas.

If we only offer one agency, then what we do is try to make you fit what we have. By offering courses with 3 well-respected agencies, we make sure that we are able to find the course that fits what you want. And we price the courses in a way that we have no financial incentive to sell one over the other - so you will get a full and unbiased opinion of the pros and cons of each option.

Offering courses from 3 different agencies does lead to a lot of logistical and other challenges. But in the end, we feel that it is important that student divers have choices, and are able to select the best course that meets their interests and budget.

Our team of instructors is the largest and most experienced in the islands (and in India), with hundreds of certifications and thousands of dives each, in all sorts of conditions, to their credit. So you don't just get a freshly-minted instructor with no real-world experience.

The benefits of this start from the moment you sign up for a course and remain with you long after you have gotten your certification and gone elsewhere - our divers leave with better dive skills and a greater appreciation of the wonders of the underwater world (and we like to think that they've had lots of fun as well!).

Our classroom is filled with the latest training materials, designed to make learning easy, fun and quick. This minimzes time spent in the traditional "classroom" environment, meaning that you spend more time in the water (which is why you took up diving in the first place, right?) and at the same time, ensures that there are no compromises in the quality of your learning.

And we run our courses at your pace - as part of the training, you are entitled to as many training sessions as it takes in order to become confident in the water; we will even provide 1-on-1 instruction at no extra charge, if need be. We want you to leave feeling confident and safe. Our courses include all the training materials, books, videos, etc. that you will need - there are no hidden or extra charges. So all you need to bring is your swimsuit and a sunny smile.

Not all training courses are identical - try ours, and you'll see for yourself.

Introduction to Diving – the Discover Scuba Experience
 
Are you interested in trying diving but do not have the time or desire to take a certification course? Or maybe you are not sure if this whole diving this is for you? Consider the Discover Scuba Diving experience.

This is a half-day program, where an instructor teaches you some basic theory and then takes you out for a proper dive, to give you a taste of diving and a chance to participate in the underwater world. It's safe, it's easy and it's a lot of fun! If you like the experience (we are very certain you will!) you can go on to do the Open Water course. This dive (as well as the full fee for this program) can then be applied towards the Open Water course.

Certification Course for Beginners – the Open Water Course

Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to be an expert swimmer, a Navy SEAL or a triathlete to dive. Recreational diving is one of the safest sports around, and is suitable for everyone from the age of 10 to 65-plus. All you need is basic swimming capabilities, moderate fitness levels (ability to walk a kilometer or two without fatigue) and good health.

For those interested in learning to dive, we offer the Open Water Course.

The Open Water course consists of 3 sections:
- Academic development: Here, you learn the theory of diving. This is covered in a mix of video, self-study and instructor briefings
- Confined water training: here, you master the essential skills of scuba, starting from the simple (breathing underwater) and working your way up to complex (removing/replacing your equipment underwater)
- Open water dives: now you get a chance to apply everything that you have learned by actually diving. We do 4 (PADI or SSI) or 5 (NAUI) dives in the open water, where you repeat some of the skills that you learned earlier, and where you also get a chance to dive, enjoy yourself and soak in the wonders of the underwater world.

At the successful completion of this course, you receive a certification card from PADI, NAUI or SSI.

A quick word on these agencies: these certification cards are universally accepted by dive operators worldwide, all are interchangeable (you can start with one and switch to another) and all allow you to rent equipment and dive anywhere, so regardless of which option you choose, you get a high-quality course. There are some differences in curriculum and pricing, and these, rather than brand, should form the basis of your decision. Our instructors will be happy to work with you in selecting the course that is just right for you - contact us for more info.

Typically, the Open Water course lasts 4 full days. However, we recognize that different people learn at different speeds – besides, you are on vacation and may want to spread out your training. So, the time to certification can be more or less. Two things are for sure: we will not rush you, and we will not compromise on your training.

As with our diving, we believe in small groups and personalized attention for training. With our large staff of instructors, we are able to keep our classes small – usually 4:1 or better student:professional ratio – ensuring that you get all the personal attention that you need.

If you have any health-related concerns about learning to dive, please download the Medical Statement form[right click or CTRL-click and save], which goes over a medical checklist. If you answer "yes" to any of the questions there, please get medical clearance from your doctor prior to reaching Havelock. You will need one separate clearance for every question to which you answer "yes."

Continued Education Diving Courses

For certified divers, we have a VERY exciting array of options - the biggest choice of courses in Asia, as mentioned above.

This includes all PADI, NAUI & SSI continued-education courses – Advanced Open Water, Rescue Diver, Specialties as well as some special combination of specialties.

The Advanced Open Water course (also called Advanced Adventurer by SSI and Advanced Diver by NAUI)- This consists of 5 (PADI/SSI) / 6 (NAUI) dives- two are mandatory (Deep Dive and Underwater Navigation - Night is also required for NAUI). For the remainder, you can choose from 15 options, including Night, Multilevel & Computer, Underwater Naturalist, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Wreck, Boat, Underwater Photography and lots more.

This is a practical course (emphasis on in-water training) and is meant to give you experience in diving under different conditions, as well as provide you with a deeper understanding of dive theory, planning and techniques.

It is also a good course to combine with the Open Water course, as it has the following benefits:
- you learn more and become a significantly better diver when you do both the OW and the Advanced
- you retain your skills longer, as you are better able to internalize the diving skills
- you are able to dive to 30m and thereby visit some of the best sites of the Andamans
- our Open + Advanced combo works out to be very good value

The Rescue Diver course is rated by most divers as the single most useful course they've taken since Open Water. In this course, you start to expand your horizons by learning more about diver safety - both yours and others. You learn about common causes of accidents, how to anticipate them as well as how to respond to them. This greatly improves not only your skills, but also your confidence in the water. This course takes 3 days, and also requires certification in general CPR and First Aid (with we offer in the form of NAUI CPR/First Aid Training and the Emergency First Responder or EFR program)

Our Specialties allow you to increase your skill base in a particular area of interest - we offer specialties in Deep Diving, Wreck Diving, Underwater Photography, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Underwater Search and Recovery, Underwater Naturalist, Nitrox and lots more.

For those with interests in specific areas, we offer packages that bundle a group of related specialties.

For those interested in moving on to the more challenging and disciplined field of technical diving, or simply improving their own dive skills to the highest possible level, we offer what we call the Tech Fundamentals package - 6 dives, including Deep Specialty, Nitrox Specialty and Wreck Specialty. This course builds the fundamentals that you'll need to do eventually get into technical diving, and is taught by an instructor who is a very experienced trimix/deep wreck diver.Even if you do not plan to strap on a twinset and start exploring the fun world of DIR vs strokes, this course is an excellent way to develop and refine your diving skills. We will improve your kicking technique, air consumption and practical diving knowledge to an extent that few other courses anywhere in the world can match - that is guaranteed!

The Master Diver Program

If you are an experienced diver and interested in taking your dive skills to the next level, consider our NAUI Master Diver program. As part of this course, you will complete a buoyancy boot camp, where you really work on precise buoyancy and trim. You will also do 9 different dives - deep, wreck, navigation and more, continuing where you left off after the Advanced course. And you will also complete NAUI's industry-leading academic curriculum, thereby ensuring that you have a thorough grounding in both theory and practical diving skills.

This is one of the best Master Diver programs in the industry and is for serious divers who want to become better and take their diving to the next level.

Go Pro - Divemaster, Assistant Instructor or Instructor

Interested in becoming a dive professional? DIVEIndia is proud to present a variety of options to suit your needs.

We offer Divemaster courses with PADI, SSI and NAUI, where you get to work with our team of instructors and learn all the skills needed to take a successful first step as a dive pro. Unlike most dive schools, we don't treat our divemaster candidates as a source of cheap labor - at the end of the course, you will be responsible for other people. It is an important, and highly rewarding, responsibility and we take it as seriously as you.

Along with the standard Divemaster course, we also offer a “Go Pro” training internship, which takes you beyond the typical Divemaster curriculum and gives you experience on the practical side of being a dive professional, as well as counseling on career choices. Thus, you go into the dive industry both qualified and experienced. The benefits of this program become clear when you look at the fact that all our divemasters to date are now working successfully in the dive industry.

The DM/Go Pro programs typically takes anywhere from 2 weeks to 40 days, depending on your experience level. To enroll, you need to have an Advanced Open Water degree and around 20 dives.

We also offer NAUI Instructor Courses - the first instructor training program in India.

Please visit the Go Pro section for more information on professional scuba certification.