Dive courses and certification levels

What entry-level scuba training actually involves, and how to judge a course before you book it.

The entry-level certification that allows independent recreational diving to around 18 metres.

The short course with the biggest effect on how good a diver you actually are.

Five guided specialty dives that extend depth to 30 metres and introduce navigation and other skills.

Diving with current rather than against it — a necessary skill for many of Australia's best sites.

Using a drysuit as a second buoyancy system — essential for serious cold-water diving in southern Australia.

Diving with elevated oxygen to extend no-decompression limits — the most commonly taken specialty.

Diving after dark, where familiar sites become completely different and nocturnal life emerges.

Finding your way with a compass and natural references — essential for Australian shore diving.

Taking photographs that are worth keeping — which starts with buoyancy, not with a camera.

Extending recreational limits to 40 metres, with the gas planning and narcosis awareness that requires.

The course most divers describe as the hardest and the most genuinely useful they have taken.

Diving wrecks safely, and understanding where external touring ends and penetration begins.

Diving within the light zone of an overhead environment — the first genuine step into overhead training.

Carrying cylinders at your sides — redundancy, streamlining and access through restrictions.

High-oxygen decompression gases and oxygen-clean equipment — not ordinary recreational Nitrox.

Planning and executing dives with a mandatory decompression obligation.

Full overhead penetration diving, where direct ascent is not available at any point.

Recycling breathing gas to extend duration, reduce bubbles and optimise oxygen exposure.

Adding helium to manage narcosis, oxygen exposure and gas density at depth.

The first professional rating — guiding certified divers and assisting with training.

Teaching and certifying divers independently, after an instructor development course and examination.

Breath-hold diving as a trained discipline — a different sport that shares the water with scuba.