SSI – SCUBA Schools International

Website: www.divessi.com

SSI is represented in over 110 countries worldwide at over 2,400 locations, and trains divers in 25 different languages.

Scuba Schools International is one of the best globally recognized dive training organizations.

SSI’s philosophy is “comfort through repetition.” By doing something properly and repeatedly you are destined to master it. Diving is an adventure sport and when you are comfortable underwater, it brings your skills, enjoyment, and overall experience to a whole new level.

SSI trains people from day one all the way through the career level. You can start today for free with their online courses. How convenient is that? But let’s break SSI down and show you their steps to achieve scuba greatness.

The SSI Recreational Route

• Open Water Diver – You can start the online academics today. Then when you’re on vacation and ready to get wet, you can start diving!
• Advanced Adventurer – Explore 5 different specialty dives so you can learn what niche of diving is your favorite.
• Specialty Diver – Complete two specialty dives and 12 total dives to be a specialty diver. SSI’s specialties include: deep diving, navigation, enriched air nitrox, boat, night, search and recovery, perfect buoyancy, dry suit, wreck, photography, shark, computer, waves and currents, and equipment techniques.
• Advanced Open Water Diver – Once you’ve logged 24 dives and completed several specialty dives, you can earn this certification.
• Master Diver – This is a true accomplishment. To be a master diver, you must log 50 dives, complete a diver stress and rescue course, and have 4 specialty dives.
• TechXR – This course pushes the limits and introduces you to technical diving. This is your chance to dive deep and learn technical diving through courses like advanced nitrox, technical foundations, decompression procedures, normoxic trimix, and advanced decompression procedures.
• Stress and Rescue – Be prepared for any emergency that you might encounter on the surface and underwater.

The SSI Professional Route

• Dive Guide – The first step to being a dive professional allows you to guide other divers on your home reefs and wrecks.
• Divemaster – Lead dives and help instructors teach newbie divers.
• Dive Control Specialist (DCS) – This assistant instructor position allows you to teach certain dive material without supervision.
• Open Water Instructor – Now you’re the dive instructor. Your training and knowledge allows you to teach up to the open water diver level
• Advanced Open Water & Specialty Instructor – This certification allows you to teach at least 4 specialties and the open water diver.
• Dive Control Specialist Instructor – A step toward full instructor, teach future DCS’s the basics of teaching while reinforcing your own teaching skills.
• Master Instructor – This is a recognition award that can be any combination of certifications, years teaching for SSI, number of classes taught, and number of dives logged.
• Instructor Trainer – If you’ve gotten this far in the SSI program, you deserve to be able to teach the teachers.
• TechXR Instructor – If you like challenging yourself and your students both mentally and physically this is the place for you.

SSI has a very informative and easy to navigate website at www.divessi.com. There you can learn more about recreational and professional levels of diving, technical diving, the SSI philosophy, where the closest SSI dive center is, job searches, and much more. Plus, the site can be read in 22 different languages.

If you want to embark on an exciting journey to learn about sea caves, tropical fish, and other mysteries of the deep. SSI could be the group for you.