Log in or Register now! Instructor candidates can perfect their dry suit and shore diving skills while making friends with Dungeness crabs, giant Pacific octopuses, and learning to spot Pacific spiny lumpsuckers and wolf eels. Do you plan to teach scuba near where you live? Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. So in July of 1999 we moved to our current location on Clinton Court. In 1996, we purchased the Underwater Phantaseas DTC store located on Belleview Avenue. Home to the Puget Sound, the second-largest estuary in the US, Washington state is one of the most productive marine environments in North America and a great place for critter-loving divers to level-up to instructors. Y-Kiki Divers St. Louis, MO They also offer rebreather training. We spent our days enjoying some of the best diving the Caribbean has to offer and our evenings looking for the Green Flash. There are many places to do your IDC course across the United States. Basic Open Water Scuba Diver - Learn to Dive. Scuba Center Temecula Temecula, CA One World Dive & Travel is a full service diving center loaded with one of the largest selections of industry leading scuba and snorkeling equipment in Colorado. Each IDC Center has its own areas of specialization and benefits. Ohio offers opportunities to hone your wreck diving, dry suit and technical diving skills. When choosing where to do your PADI Instructor Development Course (IDC), there are a few things to consider: What is your dream scuba diving job? Flatirons is a self-described global adventure center offering training in both recreational and technical scuba diving. The Florida Keys are a popular destination for aspiring dive professionals. They offer a massive gear selection and a variety of class options to fit any schedule. After figuring in travel time, youll need at least two weeks to complete the IDC and IE (instructor examination). We really got in on the ground floor on this one. Featured IDC Centers During this time, we completed thousands of dives, certified hundreds of students, and learned about the dive industry from the front lines. IDC candidates at Underwater Phantaseas benefit from an on-site, heated, indoor pool and the opportunity to learn from two course directors. Serving Houston, Katy and the surrounding area, Sugar Land has two platinum-honored PADI Course Directors and offers flexible scheduling options (including completing your IDC and IE in the Caribbean). After you become an instructor, you can team teach with other local IDC candidates from your class and enjoy support from the local diving community. Horizon Divers offers small, personalized courses and flexible scheduling in addition to a full range of pro courses including technical diving. We were in it to stay. Visit the dive shop locator on PADI.com to find these and other PADI IDC Centers in the United States or wherever you live. Florida Keys Dive Center boasts a 100 percent success rate for instructor candidates and is a VA-approved PADI Career Development Center with two course directors. How much time can you take off from work? Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions. JavaScript is disabled. Underwater Phantaseas Lakewood, CO All this is to say, scuba instructors who train in California come away with a broad skill set. You must log in or register to reply here. They offer year-round instructor training, rebreather instructor training and Public Safety Diving courses. Divers also must learn how to deal with current, surf and surge. In Missouri, theres the famous Bonne Terre Mine (with 18C/56F water temp and great visibility year-round). It may not display this or other websites correctly. Rainbow Reef Key Largo, FL Some divers travel thousands of miles to complete instructor training in a resort destination, but divers in North America have plenty of great options closer to home. Find out where to look for local marine life, how to set up a navigation exercise in surge-y conditions, or other essential logistics specific to your area. The shop is family-owned and operated with a large retail and training facility in the heart of L.A., close to local beaches and dive boats. Full time dive shop manager - Madison, WI. Located on the south side of Denver in Greenwood Village, we specialize in arranging and escorting diving trips around the world, along with offering the highest level of customer service available anywhere in the industry. To find a PADI IDC course in your area, visit the PADI Dive Shop locator and filter for Instructor Development Center or Career Development Center. Florida Keys Dive Center Islamorada, FL Scuba Center Temecula offers year-round training and is VA-approved. Y-kiki Divers certifies hundreds of divers every year. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. With two PADI Course Directors on staff, Gigglin Marlin offers year-round PADI Pro training. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions. The dive shop works closely with environmental organizations and local communities to foster sustainability and ocean health. Level-up your skills and become a dive professional at family-oriented Columbus Scuba. The second-largest US state offers a variety of diving opportunities including clear-blue springs, wrecks and a national marine sanctuary. Nautilus Aquatics Sterling and Vienna, VA. Nautilus Aquatics has a full-time course director and puts a strong focus on real-life skills needed to work as a dive professional. You are using an out of date browser. Full face mask and DPV instructor training available. Ocean Enterprises San Diego, CA Ocean Enterprises has two PADI Course Directors and is an approved MyCAA school. If you need to schedule instructor training in colder months, you can start your training in Virginia and road trip or fly to Florida for your instructor examination. We returned to Colorado to check out state-side dive centers. Learn more about becoming a scuba instructor. Our passion and enthusiasm for the sport deepened. Call them at 303-986-5122. We've been in the dive industry for 15 years, traveling and living in some of the best dive locations in the world. Flatirons Scuba & Travel Broomfield, CO Ocean Enterprises large retail and training facility is located close to some of the industrys largest equipment manufacturers. In addition to brand name diving products of exceptional quality, our state of the art facility also features a training pool, scuba certification classes, qualified repair services, and scuba rental gear. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register. Theres a saying among California divers, if you learn to dive here, you can dive anywhere. The golden state has diverse diving opportunities including: boat, shore, wreck, technical/deep, dry suit, altitude and diving in kelp forests. With locations in Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, Edmonds, Federal Way and Olympia, Underwater Sports is the largest PADI dive center in the Pacific Northwest. If youd rather use this vacation time for something else, perhaps a celebratory dive trip, scheduling your IDC and IE over a few weekends closer to home may be a better option. Many people are surprised to learn landlocked Colorado has one of the largest populations of scuba divers in the United States. We even outgrew our space. Alternately, if you want to work as a dive instructor in a resort area, choose a destination where you can get experience working on a dive boat. Eco Dive Center Los Angeles, CA They have a convenient, on-site pool and offer a low-price guarantee on dive equipment. Technical dive training opportunities available. Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. We couldnt leave out the passionate diving communities in the midwest. Learn more about becoming a scuba instructor, The Science Behind the Healing Powers of the Salty Sea, 6 Images that will Inspire You to Become a Mermaid, The Scuba Alternative: 5 Unforgettable Underwater Adventures, 7 Things You Should Never Do Immediately After Diving, Scuba Certification: Everything You Need to Know, Shark Bite Survivor Paul de Gelder on Conservation & Diving. Their course linking philosophy means divers move through the ranks quickly and helps new instructors gain certs and diverse teaching experience. Small classes, flexible scheduling and a commitment to conservation are a few of the reasons to choose Blue Planet Scuba. Warm, clear water and frequently-scheduled IDCs and IEs are two of the main reasons hundreds of divers choose Florida for their PADI Instructor training. Below is a small cross section of PADI IDC centers in the United States to illustrate the similarities and differences among different locations and dive shops. Divers in Texas are also just a short flight away from some of the Caribbeans best diving. A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world. Horizon Divers Key Largo, FL Columbus Scuba Columbus, OH Learn priceless local tricks and tips by completing your scuba instructor training in the area where you plan to teach. If you are looking to start diving or to do some continuing dive education, Underwater Phantaseas - Lakewood is offering half price classes if you sign up before the end of September. Sign up to get the latest updates, offers and more. The Mid-Atlantic offers varied diving opportunities including wreck and boat dives, lakes and quarries. This VA-approved PADI Career Development Center has three course directors and a deep water SCUBA training pool. We dug the hole for the pool first and then they built the shopping center up around us. Sugar Land offers housing, job placement assistance and the option to complete your training in Chinese, English or Spanish. The Open Water portion of the IDC can be completed in Florida or Puerto Aventuras, Mexico. Joining is quick and easy. Best instructor/dive shop nearest Guatemala? We worked hard and the business grew and grew and grew. Seattle Scuba Schools has two full-time Course Directors and offers year-round IDC training including: evenings and weekends, a two-week intensive and an IDC program that starts in Seattle and finishes in Bonaire. Underwater Sports Locations throughout the Seattle metro area After trading in our business suits for bathing suits, we called Cayman, St. John and Turks and Caicos home for several years. Featured IDC Centers: Gigglin Marlin Houston, TX One World Dive & Travel Greenwood Village, CO. One World Dive & Travel has two fully-digitized classrooms and extensive kids scuba programs. Their program focuses on having fun while gaining confidence and teaching students in a learning style that fits their needs. Diver Dans in Santa Clara has a 24-year history of excellence in instructor-level training with a focus on personalized attention. As the name suggests Eco Dive Center emphasizes eco-friendly business operations. Their experienced instructor development staff can prepare you for a variety of scuba careers. If youre interested in public safety diving or scientific diving, completing your IDC in an area where visibility is mixed and dry suits are common will help you hone these skills. As a result, there are an abundance of PADI IDC Centers with experienced dive staff who help aspiring dive professionals chart a path to a part-time or full-time scuba career.