Get Certified!
Be adventurous. Be amazed. Be a diver. The first step is achieving your Open Water Diver rating — what is commonly known as becoming a certified diver.
If you have already taken part in introductory scuba experiences (commonly known as “Discover Scuba”), you know that the most exciting opportunities await divers who are fully certified.
In this section, we answer all of the most common questions about learning to dive, including who can learn, what is involved, when can you learn and how much does becoming certified cost? Nevertheless, if you have a question this section doesn’t answer, just call or e-mail us. We will be happy to answer it.
What is Involved?
Where Do You Learn?
When Can You Start?
How Much Does it Cost?
What Equipment Will You Need?
Who Can Learn?
Just about anybody who is comfortable and relaxed in the water — and who has the desire — can learn to scuba dive. This includes children as young as ten and seniors well into their seventies.
- Do you have to be an athlete or a competitive swimmer? Hardly. The only requirement here is that you be able to swim 300 yards (no time limit) with mask, snorkel and fins. You also need to be able to tread water, drownproof or float in water too deep to stand for ten minutes. Rarely do we find anyone who has difficulty with this.
- What about kids? Children ages 10 to 14 can qualify for Junior certification, which requires they dive with an adult until age 15.
- Don’t certain medical conditions disqualify you from diving? Only very few. So long as you are in good cardiovascular and respiratory health, and not on any drugs that might cause complications under water, getting a physician’s approval to dive is generally easy. And, if you can honestly answer No to all of the questions on the Medical History form, you won’t even have to get your doctor’s okay.
You would be surprised at the range of people who dive. There are even special programs to help paraplegics and quadriplegics experience the underwater world. More than anything else, it just takes desire.
What is Involved?
- Orientation and Self Study
To get started, you’ll meet with one of our staff for your scuba orientation when we will answer questions about your training. We will also review your class schedule, and fit your equipment for class. If you choose to take advantage of PADI’s eLearning program, you can get started right now. - Academic Review/Confined-Water Training
Once you have completed your self study you join us for academic review and pool sessions.- In the classroom, your instructor will go over the information you’ve gained through self-study. The instructor will provide examples of how divers apply this information on dive vacations and here at home. Discussions with your instructor and fellow students help you learn and add to the enjoyment. (Note that while students taking advantage of PADI’s eLearning program are not required to attend classroom sessions, they are welcome to, if they choose.)
- In our own indoor, heated swimming pool, your instructor will have you practice diving’s fundamental skills. Like all course activities, pool sessions are fun and enjoyable. They increase your comfort level and make the transition to open water diving easier.
- Open Water Training
Your open water training involves four dives over two days. Each dive provides the opportunity to apply skills you mastered in the pool while enjoying a guided dive under the supervision of your instructor. To make these important dives, you have three options:- From late Spring through early Fall, you can join us at nearby Haigh Quarry in Kankakee for a weekend of open water training.
- Year round, Underwarter Safaris conducts weekend and week-long trips to some of diving’s most popular destinations. Many students complete their certification dives during the first two days of these trips and then continue diving for fun, or take part in further training.
- If you already have a vacation planned, we can provide you with referral paperwork so that you can complete your training at the dive destination of your choice.
Once you’ve completed your academic review, confined and open water training, you’ll be awarded Open Water Diver certification, your ticket to a lifetime of diving adventure.
Where Do You Learn?
Classroom/Pool Sessions
All classroom and pool sessions take place here at Underwater Safaris. Get directions.
Open Water Training Dives
Locally conducted open-water training dives take place a Haigh Quarry in Kankakee. Visit Haigh Quarry’s website
When Can You Start?
MW classes: Classroom and pool sessions take place Monday and Wednesday evenings, from 7:00 pm until 10:30 pm at Underwater Safaris. Classes last for two weeks, meaning you begin on a Monday and finish on the following Monday.
Starting dates for MW include:
2012:
- April 2, 2012
- April 16, 2012
- April 30, 2012
- May 14, 2012
- May 30, 2012
- June 11, 2012
- June 25, 2012
- July 9, 2012
- July 23, 2012
- August 6, 2012
- August 20, 2012
- September 5, 2012
- September 17, 2012
- October 1, 2012
- October 15, 2012
- October 29, 2012
TTh classes: Classroom and pool sessions take place Tuesday and Thursday evenings, from 7:00 pm until 10:30 pm at Underwater Safaris. Classes last for two weeks, meaning you begin on a Tuesday and finish on a Thursday.
Starting dates for TTh include:
2012:
- April 3, 2012
- April 17, 2012
- May 1, 2012
- May 15, 2012
- May 29, 2012
- June 12, 2012
- June 26, 2012
- July 17, 2012
- July 31, 2012
- August 14, 2012
- August 28, 2012
- September 11, 2012
- September 25, 2012
- October 9, 2012
- October 23, 2012
One-Weekend Courses: Classroom and pool sessions take place Saturday and Sunday, from 10:00 am until 6:00 pm at Underwater Safaris. Classes last just one weekend.
Starting dates for weekend include:
2012:
- March 31 & April 1, 2012
- April 14 & 15, 2012
- April 28 & 29, 2012
- May 12 & 13, 2012
- June 2 & 3, 2012
- June 16 & 17, 2012
- June 30 & July 1, 2012
- July 14 & 15, 2012
- July 28 & 29, 2012
- August 11 & 12, 2012
- August 25 & 26, 2012
- September 15 & 16, 2012
- September 29 & 30, 2012
- October 13 & 14, 2012
- October 27 & 28, 2012
Private Courses
If none of our regularly scheduled course formats meets your needs, there is a good possibility (because we have our own pool) that we will be able to arrange for private instruction on a one-on-one basis with one of our instructors. Contact us for more information.
Open Water Training Dives
Local open-water training dives take place Saturday and Sunday, from 9:00 am until approximately 5:00 pm, at Haigh Quarry.
Available dates:
- May 19 & 20, 2012
- June 9 & 10, 2012
- June 23 & 24, 2012
- July 7 & 8, 2012
- July 21 & 22, 2012
- August 4 & 5, 2012
- August 18 & 19, 2012
- September 8 & 9, 2012
- September 22 & 23, 2012
- October 6 & 7, 2012
- October 20 & 21, 2012
*** Open Water available on our Cozumel 2012 trips! : Memorial Day Weekend, May 25-29,2012
You can also complete your open-water training requirements on our trips! Top
How Much Does it Cost?
The course fees for academic review/skill development (pool) sessions are as follows:
- Weeknight classes: $235 per person.
- Weekend classes: $285 per person.
- Private classes: $425 per person (see below).
All prices include applicable sales taxes on materials and equipment use. Course fees for locally conducted open-water training dives are:
- Weekend group sessions at Haigh Quarry: $200.
- Private open-water training at Haigh Quarry: $450.
›IN ORDER TO KEEP OUR CLASSES SMALL AND OUR PRICES LOW, THERE ARE NO REFUNDS ON CLASSES OR OPEN WATER DIVES. THERE IS A $50 TRANSFER FEE WHICH MUST BE PREPAID.
Ask us about special pricing for Lake Michigan open-water training dives (your boat or ours).
What’s Included?
Underwater Safaris’ beginning scuba courses include:
- All instruction.
- A comprehensive package of self-study materials, including a textbook, dive tables and dive log.
- Pool admission.
- Use of wetsuits, BCs, regulators, tanks and weights.
- Certification card processing fees.
Students are responsible for providing:
- Transportation to and from the classroom, pool and open water training sites.
- The personal equipment listed under “What Equipment do you need?”
- Swim suit, towel and other personal items as needed.
- Admission to our local open-water training site or the costs associated with any group trips or any other dive destination.
Please Note:
- Be aware that, if you elect to complete your open water training at a destination of your own choosing, you will be responsible for paying any fees the dive operator at that destination charges for this service. These will vary by dive operator and destination. You can avoid paying what may be substantially higher fees by completing all of your training with us.
- For certification students with prior diving experience and severe time constraints, we offer a special “slam” private course for $475, in which we complete all academic review and in-water training in a single day. Do not consider this program, however, unless you are extremely comfortable and relaxed in the water.
- Course fees do not include the cost of the PADI eLearning program ($130), which is payable directly to PADI. Nevertheless, if you do elect to take advantage of eLearning, you get to deduct $25 from the weekend and private class prices listed above (the weeknight course price remains the same). Private students (who frequently have time constraints) should think seriously about taking advantage of this program.
What Equipment Will You Need?
Diving is an equipment-intensive activity. This means that the quality of the equipment you use, and its suitability for specific diving activities has a tremendous bearing on your overall comfort, safety and enjoyment. Few things can ruin the investment you make in learning to dive safely than having the wrong equipment.
The good news is, we supply most of the equipment you need for your pool and open-water training dives, including wet suits, cylinders, regulators and weights. This is top quality equipment that we would not only be happy to use ourselves, but have our friends and loved ones use as well.
Required Equipment for All Course Activities
Students in our beginning scuba courses are required to provide the following items:
- Mask and snorkel.
- Scuba quality, adjustable strap fins and wetsuit boots.
These personal equipment items are ones for which comfort and fit are not only important, they’re critical. They are also items that, as a certified diver, dive operators expect you to own. In other words, you do not want to go anywhere as a diver without them.
It’s also important to understand that, to be suitable for scuba diving, masks, snorkels and fins must meet a very different set of requirements than they might for casual snorkeling. Therefore, it’s important you not purchase any equipment items without talking to us first.
Please note:
- Whether you supply your own equipment or use ours, bear in mind that our insurance policy requires all life-support equipment used in training to have been assembled, tested, maintained and tagged by us.
- You will be expected to use the same BC and regulator system during open water training that you did in the pool (this is no time to be coping with unfamiliar equipment).
