The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) is a recreational diving membership and diver training organization founded in 1966 by John Cronin and Ralph Erickson. PADI courses range from entry level to advanced recreational diver certification. Further, they provide several diving skills courses connected with specific equipment or conditions, some diving related informational courses and a range of recreational diving instructor certifications. They also offer various technical diving courses. As of 2020, PADI claims to have issued 28 million scuba certifications. The levels are not specified and may include minor specialisations. Some of the certifications align with WRSTC and ISO standards, and these are recognised worldwide. Some other certification is unique to PADI and has no equivalence anywhere, or may be part of other agencies' standards for certification for more general diving skill levels.
A divemaster (DM) is a role that includes organising and leading recreational dives, particularly in a professional capacity, and is a qualification used in many parts of the world in recreational scuba diving for a diver who has supervisory responsibility for a group of divers and as a dive guide. As well as being a generic term, 'Divemaster' is the title of the first professional rating of many training agencies, such as PADI, SSI, SDI, NASE, except NAUI, which rates a NAUI Divemaster under a NAUI Instructor but above a NAUI Assistant Instructor. The divemaster certification is generally equivalent to the requirements of ISO 24801-3 Dive Leader.
Recreational diver training is the process of developing knowledge and understanding of the basic principles, and the skills and procedures for the use of scuba equipment so that the diver is able to dive for recreational purposes with acceptable risk using the type of equipment and in similar conditions to those experienced during training.
Recreational diving or sport diving is diving for the purpose of leisure and enjoyment, usually when using scuba equipment. The term "recreational diving" may also be used in contradistinction to "technical diving", a more demanding aspect of recreational diving which requires more training and experience to develop the competence to reliably manage more complex equipment in the more hazardous conditions associated with the disciplines. Breath-hold diving for recreation also fits into the broader scope of the term, but this article covers the commonly used meaning of scuba diving for recreational purposes, where the diver is not constrained from making a direct near-vertical ascent to the surface at any point during the dive, and risk is considered low.
The British Sub-Aqua Club or BSAC has been recognised since 1954 by UK Sport as the national governing body of recreational diving in the United Kingdom.
Scuba Schools International (SSI) is a for-profit organization that teaches the skills involved in scuba diving and freediving, and supports dive businesses and resorts. SSI has over 3,500 authorized dealers, 35 regional centers, and offices all over the world.
Advanced Open Water Diver (AOWD) is a recreational scuba diving certification level provided by several diver training agencies. Agencies offering this level of training under this title include Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI), and Scuba Schools International (SSI). Other agencies offer similar training under different titles. Advanced Open Water Diver is one step up from entry level certification as a beginner autonomous scuba diver. A major difference between Autonomous diver equivalent Open Water Diver (OWD) certification and AOWD is that the depth limit is increased from 18 to 30 metres.
Scuba Diving International (SDI) is a Scuba training and certification agency. It is the recreational arm of Technical Diving International, a technical diver training organization.
Master Scuba Diver (MSD) is a scuba diving certification or recognition level offered by several North American diver training agencies, such as the National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI), the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI), Scuba Diving International (SDI), and Scuba Schools International (SSI). Other agencies offer similar programs under other names, such as "Elite Diver". Each of these agencies touts their program at this level as the highest, non-leadership program.
Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS) is an international federation that represents underwater activities in underwater sport and underwater sciences, and oversees an international system of recreational snorkel and scuba diver training and recognition. It is also known by its English name, the World Underwater Federation, and its Spanish name, Confederación Mundial De Actividades Subacuáticas. Its foundation in Monaco during January 1959 makes it one of the world's oldest underwater diving organisations.
A Diving certification or C-card is a document recognizing that an individual or organization authorized to do so, "certifies" that the bearer has completed a course of training as required by the agency issuing the card. This is assumed to represent a defined level of skill and knowledge in underwater diving. Divers carry a qualification record or certification card which may be required to prove their qualifications when booking a dive trip, hiring scuba equipment, having diving cylinders filled, or in the case of professional divers, seeking employment.
The Nederlandse Onderwatersport Bond, (NOB) is the national governing body for recreational diving and underwater sports in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962. In 2008 there were 290 scuba diving clubs and schools with a total of 20.000 members. The NOB is a member of CMAS Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques. The aim of the NOB is to develop recreational scuba diving in the Netherlands.
Diver training is the set of processes through which a person learns the necessary and desirable skills to safely dive underwater within the scope of the diver training standard relevant to the specific training programme. Most diver training follows procedures and schedules laid down in the associated training standard, in a formal training programme, and includes relevant foundational knowledge of the underlying theory, including some basic physics, physiology and environmental information, practical skills training in the selection and safe use of the associated equipment in the specified underwater environment, and assessment of the required skills and knowledge deemed necessary by the certification agency to allow the newly certified diver to dive within the specified range of conditions at an acceptable level of risk. Recognition of prior learning is allowed in some training standards.
A diving instructor is a person who trains, and usually also assesses competence, of underwater divers. This includes freedivers, recreational divers including the subcategory technical divers, and professional divers which includes military, commercial, public safety and scientific divers.
Autonomous diver is an international minimum standard for entry-level recreational scuba diver certification. It describes the minimum requirements for basic training and certification for recreational scuba divers in international standard ISO 24801-2 and the equivalent European Standard EN 14153-2. Various organizations offer training that meets the requirements of the Autonomous Diver standard. A certification which corresponds to Autonomous Diver allows for independent diving with a dive buddy in open water. Most training organizations do not recommend exceeding a depth of 18 or 20 meters at this level of certification. After completion of this certification the training can be extended to a dive leader to ISO 24801-3 or an intermediate not defined by international standards.
Supervised diver specifies the training and certification for recreational scuba divers in international standard ISO 24801-1 and the equivalent European Standard EN 14153-1. Various diving organizations offer diving training that meets the requirements of the Supervised Diver. A diving certification which corresponds to the Supervised Diver allows for recreational diving under the direct supervision of a divemaster or recreational diving instructor in open water. Most diving organizations recommend not to exceed a diving depth of 10 to 12 metres. After the successful completion of a training equivalent to the Supervised diver, training can be extended to the Autonomous diver certification level.
Introductory diving, also known as introductory scuba experience, trial diving and resort diving are dives where people without diver training or certification can experience scuba diving under the guidance of a recreational diving instructor. Introductory diving is an opportunity for interested people to find out by practical experience at a relatively low cost if they would be interested in greater involvement in scuba diving. For scuba instructors and diving schools is it an opportunity to acquire new customers. An introductory diving experience is much less time-consuming and costly than the completion of autonomous diver training, but has little lasting value, as it is an experience program only, for which no certification is issued. Introductory scuba diving experiences are intended to introduce people to recreational diving, and increase the potential client base of dive shops to include people who do not have the time or inclination to complete an entry-level certification program.
Recreational diver course referral is a system intended to facilitate completion of training for open water recreational scuba diving students who intend to do their training dives at a place different from the venue for the theory and confined water training. Referral systems within a specific training agency were the original format, but as more universally recognised training standard such as those of the recreational Scuba Training Council, and more recently the ISO and EUF standards have been adopted by most training agencies, it has become possible to expand the system to function across agencies. Referrals within a certification agency are relatively uncontroversial as the agency training standards are expected to be fairly uniform. Cross-agency referrals can occasionally raise problems where the standards differ significantly, as the instructor completing the training may not be entirely familiar with the relevant s requirements.
Recreational scuba certification levels are the levels of skill represented by recreational scuba certification. Each certification level is associated with a specific training standard published by the certification agency, and a training programme associated with the standard., though in some cases recognition of prior learning can apply. These levels of skill can be categorised in several ways:
