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Options for Completing Your Certification Dives...

Introduction...

In order to become a certified SCUBA diver, you must complete an academic section where you learn about scuba diving and demonstrate your knowledge by passing a written test, a pool section where you learn about the equipment and skills needed to be a scuba diver, and a series of five open water dives to demonstrate that you can be a scuba diver. This document explains the options you have for completing the five open water dives to earn your certification. It is important to remember that you have SIX MONTHS from the time you pass your written exam to complete these open water dives. If you fail to do your open water dives in that time frame, you may have to repeat some or all of the academic and pool sessions in order to become certified and there can be additional costs involved with this. With that said, on to your options for certification dives.

Nittany Divers Certification Weekends...

The Nittany Divers offers a certification weekend every semester at the conclusion of our Scuba Diver course. To sign up for one of these Certification Weekends check our upcoming list of courses and enroll online. If you have taken a Nittany Divers class during a previous semester and still need to get certified, we will give you priority for a Certification Weekend, but don't wait until the last minute to sign up because you will be required to come back to one or more pool sessions and review your skills before you head out into the open water.

Penn State Continuing Education Florida Certification Trip...

PSU Continuing Ed sponsors a certification trip to Ginnie Springs in north-central Florida at the end of the Spring and Fall semesters provided they get enough people signed up for the trip. In addition to getting certified, you can also earn 1.5 KINES credits by going on this trip. In order to go on this trip, you will need a letter of referral from your Nittany Divers instructor (see the next section for more information). More information on this trip can be found at: http://www.outreach.psu.edu/proga/GinnieSprings/.

Referral to Another Dive Shop / Instructor...

You can also choose to do your certification dives with almost any scuba instructor or dive shop anywhere in the world. In order to do this, you must obtain some form of a referral from the instructor who taught your lecture and pool sessions. These referrals come in two forms and it is IMPORTANT to know which one you need beforehand. The options are a letter from the instructor or a Universal Referral Form. The letter is the simplest form of referral and can be e-mailed to you so you can print it out and take it to the dive shop or instructor who will be doing your dives. Not all dive shops will accept just a letter; some require a Universal Referral Form. For this form you obtain it from your lecture and pool instructor, present it to the instructor doing your open water dives and he/she will sign the form when you complete the dives, and you then bring the form back to the original instructor who will order your certification card and present it to you. There is a $20 up-front, non-refundable charge to get the Universal Referral Form and this covers the cost of the form and the certification card.

If you decide to go to another dive shop, follow these steps...

  1. Pick your dive shop well in advance and contact them. Ask them what kind of referral do you require from my confined water instructor?

  2. Once you know what kind of referral you need, contact the instructor who taught your lecture and pool sessions and ask for the appropriate referral. Please be kind to your instructor and allow at least one week for them to get you the referral letter and more if you need a Universal Referral Form. E-mail the current Nittany Divers instructor. Please include which semester you took the course when you ask for the referral and if you are over your six month period, don't ask! (see the section below on what to do if you are over your six months)

It's been more than six months sine I took my written test, can I still get certified?...

If you have waited more than six months from when you took your written test, you may not be able to do your certification dives without repeating the lecture and pool sessions. You should contact your original instructor to ask what options are available to you.

What was that e-mail address / web address again?...

Here are all the e-mail addresses and web site address that were mentioned above for easy reference.

REMEMBER...

You only have SIX MONTHS from when you pass your written test to get certified!