Specialty Course
Increase your knowledge, Enhance your technique, Maximize the fun!
- Altitude Dive
- Deep Dive
- Night Diver
- Underwater Navigation
- Enriched Air Nitrox
- AWARE Fish Identification
- Underwater Photography
- Underwater Naturalist
- Peak Performance Buoyancy
- Search & Recovery Dive
- Wreck Diver
- Multi Diver
- Boat Diver
- Drift Diver
- National Geographic Diver Program
- National Geographic Open Water Diver Program
Specialty courses are a great way to experience and learn about the areas of diving that interest you most. As with all our courses, we emphasize in-water skills and practice. During these courses knowledge is not formally tested but applied on actual dives. And there’s no better way to learn than under the supervision of an Instructor with the same interests. Most courses include 2-4 dives and will take 1-4 days.
Altitude Dive
Any time you’re diving at 300 to 3000 metres/1000 to 10,000 feet above sea level, you’re altitude diving. If you want to explore the hidden world of a mountain lake, the Altitude Diver Specialty course is for you.
Dive more challenging dive sites while you satisfy your curiosity for “I wonder what’s down there?” The fun part about altitude diving is that you can explore places many people have never seen.
You’ll learn the effects of pressure at higher altitudes and how to adjust your dive plan accordingly. Whether you use a recreational dive planner table (RDPTM), an electronic eRDPTM or a dive computer, you’ll learn how plan and make a dive at high altitudes. You’ll learn:
- Altitude dive planning, organization, procedures, techniques, problems and hazards
- Recreational Dive PlannerTM procedures for diving at altitude
- Safety stops and emergency decompression procedures at altitude
Available at Atlantis Dumaguete! Learn all about the techniques and considerations of diving at altitude (~300 meters) in the stunning Twin Lakes. Extra Charges will be applicable, ask for details.
Deep Dive
After your first few scuba dives, you soon want to explore a bit deeper. There’s something exciting and mysterious about the depth that attracts dives.
Experience the mystery and thrill of the deep. Essential training on how to conduct safe, fun deep dives and an opportunity to try out new and exciting dive sites.
The fun part about this course is the opportunity to explore the deep. It’s exhilarating.
You will learn:
- Techniques for diving in the deeper range of 18-40 metres/ 60-130 feet Deep scuba diving equipment considerations
- Experience in planning, organizing and making at least four deep dives under the supervision of your Instructor
Night Diver
As the sun sets, you don your dive gear, slip on your scuba mask and bite down on your dive regulator. A deep breath and you step off the boat – into the underwater night. Although you’ve seen this reef many times before, this time you drop into a whole new world and watch it come to life under the glow of your dive light.
Introduce yourself to the whole new cast of critters that comes out after the sun goes down. See your favorite dive sites from a whole new perspective at night.
You will learn from this speciality are;
- Night dive planning, organization, procedures, techniques and potential problems.
- How to control your buoyancy at night.
- Entries, exits and underwater navigation at night.
- Nocturnal aquatic life, since many of the plants and animals you’ll see are different
Underwater Navigation
Be the diver everyone wants to follow and make your sense of direction legendary with the Underwater Navigator Specialty course.
Finding your way is not a matter of luck! When everyone’s buzzing about a reef or checking out a shipwreck, they’re having a great time – until it’s time to go. Then they turn to you, because as a Underwater Navigator, you know the way back to the boat.
Underwater navigation can be challenging, but in the Underwater Navigator Specialty course, you master the challenge. You learn the tools of the trade, including navigation via natural clues and by compass. You learn:
- Navigation patterns
- Natural navigation (without a compass)
- Compass navigation
- How to “mark” or relocate a submerged object or position from the surface
- Underwater map making
- How to follow irregular courses with the Nav-Finder
- Dive site relocation
- How to estimate distance underwater
You put this information into practice during your two open water dives.
Enriched Air Nitrox
The Enriched Air Diver course is ’s most popular specialty scuba diving course, and it’s easy to see why. Scuba diving with Enriched Air Nitrox gives you more no decompression dive time. This means more time underwater, especially on repetitive scuba dives.
The Fun Part, you can typically stay down longer and get back the water sooner. No wonder many divers choose this as their very first specialty.
You may be able to earn college credit for the Enriched Air Diver course.
You will learn:
- Techniques for getting more dive time by using
- Enriched Air Nitrox
- Enriched air scuba diving equipment considerations
- Enriched air considerations, including managing oxygen exposure, how to tell what’s in your scuba tank and how to set your dive computer
AWARE Fish Identification
Have you ever been scuba diving and asked yourself, “What was that?”
The Project AWARE Fish Identification Specialty course provides you with the fish identification basics so that next time, you know the answer.
You’ll find you enjoy your dives even more when you recognize the creatures that you see. The fun part about this course is you can use the skills you learn on every scuba diving vacation because once you learn the main fish families and characteristics it will help you decipher the species you see all over the world.
For example, a butterfly fish in the Caribbean has a similar shape to a butterfly fish in Southeast Asia, but their colors and markings maybe wildly different. If you know what fish family it belongs to, it becomes much easier to look up the local name or at least be able to intelligently ask the local scuba instructor what you saw. That works better than asking about a “yellow thingy with a funny tail fin.”
During two dives you gain hands-on (okay, eyes-on) experience in looking for and identifying the fascinating fish you see underwater. You’ll learn:
- How to identify characteristics of local fish families and species
- Fish survey techniques and strategies
- How to practice fish identification dive planning, organization and procedures
Underwater Photography
Underwater photography is one of the most popular diving specialties, and the rise of digital underwater photography has made it easier and more fun than ever. This is why there are actually two underwater photography courses. The Digital Underwater Photographer course gets you going quickly with today modern digital equipment, whether you use a point-and-shoot snap camera or a sophisticated DSLR like the pros. The Underwater Photographer course is a more traditional photography course designed for conventional film equipment.
It’s a great way to relive the adventures you’ve had. Plus capture images to share with your friends and family.
What You Learn:
- How to choose the right underwater camera system for you
- The SEA method for getting great shots quickly
- The three primary principles for good underwater photos
Underwater Naturalist
Look closer to see more on your next dive. Look for symbioses, predator/prey and other relationships between aquatic plant and animal life. Learn not just what fish and animals are, but how they interact with each other and the environment.
Learn about why some creatures behave the way they do and what their role is in the aquatic ecosystem.
What you will you learn from this:
- The major aquatic life groupings, interactions and factual information that dispels negative myths
- The role of aquatic plants, food chains and predator prey relationships
- Responsible interactions with aquatic life
- The underwater naturalist’s view of organisms and their roles in the environment
You put this information into practice during your two open water dives.
Peak Performance Bouyancy
What is neutral buoyancy? Scuba divers like to be neutrally buoyant so they neither sink nor float. It can be a tricky thing. Divers who’ve mastered the highest performance levels in buoyancy stand apart. You’ve seen them underwater. They glide effortlessly, use less air and ascend, descend or hover, almost as if by thought. They interact gently with aquatic life and affect their surroundings minimally. The Peak Performance Buoyancy course refines the basic skills you learned as a Open Water Diver and elevates them to the next level.
The fun part of this course is giving your dive skills a polish you may not have thought possible.
- How to trim your scuba gear so you’re perfectly balanced in the water
- Nuances in determining weight so you’re not too light nor too heavy by even a slight degree
- How to streamline to save air and move smoothly through the water
- How to hover effortlessly in both a vertical position and a horizontal position
Search & Recovery Dive
Have you ever dropped something in the water? Are you looking for lost “treasure”? The Search and Recovery Diver Specialty course will teach you effective ways to find objects underwater and bring them to the surface. Small, large or just awkward, there is a way to bring them up.
Find lost items and lift them to the surface. It’s fun to use the lift bag. Not only are these skills fun, but very practical and ultimately useful because eventually, you’ll lose something in the water. As a Search and Recovery Diver, you’ll know how to search for and recover it.
What you will you learn from this:
- Search and recovery dive planning, organization, procedures, techniques and how to deal with potential problems
- How to locate large and small objects using search patterns
- How to use a lift bag and other recovery methods
Limited visibility search techniques
Wreck Diver
Whether sunk on purpose as an artificial reef or the result of mishap, wrecks open fascinating windows to the past. Most divers find wrecked ships, airplanes and even automobiles nearly irresistible because they’re intriguing to explore, exciting avenues of discovery, and usually teeming with aquatic life. The Wreck Diver course teaches you the ins and outs of rewarding, responsible wreck diving.
The fun part of the Wreck Diver course is visiting wrecks, unlocking mysteries and starting to gain the knowledge and experience that allows you to see things that others overlook. Sometimes, only the trained, experienced eye recognizes that a small hole or open door likely caused the vessel’s demise.
What You Learn:
- Techniques for diving exploring shipwrecks, and how to avoid common hazards
- How to research and learn the background of your favorite wrecks
- Wreck scuba diving equipment considerations
Considerations and techniques for entering intact wrecks
Experience in planning, organizing and making at least four wreck dives under the supervision of your Instructor
Multi Diver
Extend your bottom time and explore deeper dive sites for longer! Learn about the benefits and considerations of diving with enriched air Nitrox.
Learn to plan and carry out safe multi-level dives and extend your bottom time! With a focus on diving with computers.
Boat Diver
Whether you’ve never made a boat dive or you’ve logged dozens, the Boat Diver Specialty course can benefit almost every diver because different boats in different parts of the world do things differently.
Diving from a boat is fun, especially when you look at ease when maneuvering around on it. It’s fun to know what you’re doing.
Learn the tips, tricks and ways to:
- Dive from boats ranging from small inflatables to giant liveaboards:
- How they differ from place to place
- Gain experience and training from diving on boats in your local area
- Safely enter and exit the water –
- Sometimes it’s better to hand your gear up to the crew and then climb in the boat
- Sometimes you just take off your fins and weights and walk up the ladder
- Stow your gear in the most appropriate areas
- Use surface lines to initiate or conclude your dives
- Locate basic boat safety equipment
- Safely enter and exit the water –
Drift Diver
The Drift Diver Specialty course introduces you to the coolest magic carpet ride you’ll ever experience. This course shows you how to enjoy rivers and ocean currents by “going with the flow,” staying with your dive partner, communicating with the dive boat and knowing where you are the whole time.
Drift Diving is nearly effortless and relaxing. You simply glide along and enjoy the rush of flying underwater while the current does the work.
During your Drift Diver certification course, you learn about:
- Planning, organization, procedures, techniques, problems and hazards of drift diving
- An introduction to drift diving equipment — floats, lines, reels
- Buoyancy-control, navigation and communication for drift diving
- Site selection and overview of aquatic currents – causes and effects
- Techniques for staying close to a buddy or together as a group
National Geographic Diver Program
National Geographic Divers are adventurers, explorers, and conservationists. They have an interest in scuba diving and underwater science that goes beyond that of the average diver. They have an understanding of the importance of the aquatic realm and their role in preserving the resource for current and future generations.
Through Atlantis you can now attain the coveted National Geographic Diver rating. You will study the NG almanac to enhance your knowledge of the underwater world. Then through a series of exercises in the water you will learn to truly master buoyancy, allowing you to better interact with the environment, and progress to skills like photography and videography.
You will also take part in exploration dives, involving information gathering, navigation, and marine identification. These skills will all lead to you having a greater awareness, and ability to take critical note of the dive sites you visit.
As a National Geographic Diver you will be a true ambassador for the underwater world.
National Geographic Open Water Diver Program
In addition to the Open Water course you will complete:
The National Geographic knowledge review based on information gained from the NG Almanac and DVD. Hovering in three different positions – horizontal, head slightly elevated, feet slightly elevated. Either – Navigate a square pattern using compass and/or natural features OR Locate and identify various marine life.
One additional dive involving an exploration project that includes gathering information and/or images. Course includes special NG logbook binder and DVD.
