Earn your
next level.

Essentials of Tech is a personal skills class that prepares you for technical diving by advancing your control of buoyancy, trim, and propulsion, while introducing you to more advanced air sharing procedures and decompression bottle handling protocols. The class also introduces you to more advanced gas planning and more complicated ascent strategies.

Techreational is the entry point into technical diving, introducing the theory, equipment, and in-water skills required for decompression diving. Despite the name and conservative limits, this is one of the most demanding courses in diving because the focus is not simply on depth, but on precision, awareness, and team performance under pressure. Training is built around critical skills dives where teams are given real objectives and unexpected failures that must be solved together in the water. The course develops advanced buoyancy, trim, propulsion, gas management, valve drills, ascent strategies, and decompression discipline while building the mindset and confidence required for safe technical diving. Students should already be comfortable with foundational technical skills such as frog kick, back kick, valve drills, and gas-switching procedures. Prerequisites include a minimum age of 21, 75 dives beyond open water, and Essentials of Tech plus a nitrox endorsement or equivalent. The course uses trimix 25/25 to 130 feet/39 meters and one oxygen decompression bottle, limited to one oxygen cycle. The instructor verifies the full prerequisites before training.

Tech 1 develops staged decompression diving to a maximum of 160 feet / 48 metres using appropriate UTD standard bottom gases, including Nitrox 32 and Trimix 25/25, 21/35 or 18/45. The course uses one decompression bottle of either oxygen or Nitrox 50. Decompression on oxygen is limited to one oxygen cycle, and on Nitrox 50 to 30 minutes. The optional stage bottle extension requires additional training. As depth and decompression obligations increase, so do the demands of gas planning, team awareness, gas analysis, and precise execution. Training uses the critical skills approach, treating dives as real dives with objectives and evolving failures to be solved together. Particular emphasis is placed on mid-water control, disciplined ascents, gas switching, valve drills, and management of failures away from the bottom. Prerequisites include minimum age 21, at least 75 dives beyond open water, and UTD Essentials of Tech, Recreational 2 with the Doubles MINI, Techreational, or equivalent with assessment, plus the swim, tow and rescue requirements. The instructor verifies eligibility and readiness before training.

The Purpose of the Doubles MINI is to introduce and train a diver in the use of either double tank back mount or side mount configurations. The course focuses on cultivating the practical, normal, and emergency skills required by all double tank divers, including buoyancy control, emergency procedures, and care and maintenance.

Essentials of Rec is a skills class for certified divers. It brings you into the UTD diving system training us in all the techniques we use – proper buoyancy control through breathing, horizontal trim in the water, propulsion techniques that give you precise control, and much more.

The Open Water Diver course is an entry level class designed to teach NON-certified divers to be safe and comfortable while enjoying the wonders of our oceans, lakes and other waters. This class is structured to prepare divers for recreational diving using proper equipment and proper diving techniques. Recreational 1 adds Nitrox as a breathing gas.

The Recreational 2 and Advanced Open Water Diver (Rec 2 and AOW) course is the next step for recreational divers to expand their diving to slightly deeper depths with more advanced gases. Rec 2/AOW is a modular class structured to prepare divers for a wider range of environmental conditions and more advanced recreational diving using proper equipment, diving techniques and breathing mixtures including a thorough knowledge of the use of Nitrox.

Rescue and Emergency Procedures may be one of the most valuable courses any diver can take. The Rescue Diver course is designed to prepare the student for a variety of emergency situations and is centered around both self-rescue and buddy-rescue. The Prerequisites for the UTD Rescue Diver course include First Aid/CPR/AED/Oxygen administration certifications.

This fundamental course prepares you to provide proper care for life-threatening illnesses or injuries until professional emergency medical care is available. The life-support skills taught in this course include one- and two-rescuer CPR for adults, children and infants. Use of automatic external defibrillators, bleeding management, assisting a choking victims and responding to a person in shock.

• Weekly foundational diving training program
• Access to all of the Recreational online course content
• Regular communication with your coach
• Video review and feedback