Specialty Courses
	NAUI Specialty Courses Whether you are interested in underwater phototgraphy, hunting &: collecting, search & recovery, or expanding your training to include advanced rescue skills or diving with Nitrox, NAUI has a specialty course for you! Below are just some of the more popular courses available to you as a certified scuba diver. Read on...there's bound to be a NAUI course that's just right for you! Deep Diver Does the thought of deep diving fascinate you? If you are at least 18 and have a NAUI Advanced Scuba Diver certification or the equivalent, you can enroll in a Deep Diver course where you'll gain the knowledge and skills to plan and make enjoyable deep dives while minimizing risks of deep diving. Although this is not a decompression techniques course, you will learn about decompression procedures including nitrogen narcosis and decompression sickness, and the use of dive computers including avoiding the need for stage decompression. Your course will also include teachings on the purpose, problems, hazards, planning, preparation, equipment, air supplies, personnel, techniques, gas management, emergency procedures, and depth limits for recreational diving. Deep diving is defined as dives made between 60 feet / 18 meters and 130 feet / 40 meters. Dry Suit Diver While dry suits were once used almost exclusively for situations such as ice diving or deep wreck diving, many sport divers are now using dry suits regularly for every day recreational dives all over the world. Perhaps you live in a cold-water climate or want to travel to one? If so, the Dry Suit Diver course is for you! The Dry Suit Diver course will give you a basic knowledge and skills needed to minimize risks and gain experience in dry suit diving, as well as train you to properly use and maintain your dry suit. NAUI Scuba Diver certification or the equivalent is required for enrollment - or your NAUI instructor can teach you both courses in combination so you can be comfortable and warm from your very first open water dive. Search & Recovery Diver At some point in your diving career, you or your buddy will either loose or find something underwater and the knowledge and skills you gain in the Search and Recovery Diver course will help you when you do! In your Search and Recovery Diver course you'll learn about underwater navigation using natural and compass techniques; the problems, methods, equipment, hazards, and safety procedures regarding limited visibility diving; proper search methods and techniques; and how to handle light salvage or recovery, including rigging and knot tying. Training Assistant If you possess the desire to assist in the training of other divers, a Training Assistant specialty course might be for you. This course will qualify you in the skills and knowledge necessary to perform as a training assistant during diver training courses overseen by an active-status NAUI Instructor. As a certified NAUI Training Assistant, you will be qualified to temporarily directly supervise students while an instructor conducts skills with other students; escort students on the surface or on underwater tours; and assist an active-status NAUI Instructor with other tasks, all under the direction of a NAUI instructor. Compass navigation; underwater communications; assisting divers with cramps, anxiety, breathing difficulties, and signs of pre-panic; escorting a diver to safety; escorting divers during an open water dive; and performing a scuba diver rescue are just some of the techniques and skills you will learn during your course. To enroll in a Training Assistant course, you must be at least 18 years old, have the training and experience equivalent to at least NAUI Advanced Diver, have certification in NAUI Scuba Rescue Diver or equivalent, and have current CPR and First Aid certifications. While certification as a Training Assistant does not confer any NAUI Leadership certification, the experience, knowledge and confidence you gain working as a Training Assistant can help you achieve your goal of becoming a NAUI member. Underwater Environment Want to learn more about the underwater environment in which you dive? Enroll in an Underwater Environment course and learn about the physical and biological aspects of the diving environment with emphasis on your local area. You'll study related sciences, such as oceanography, limnology, geology, biology, and ecology, and learn about various types of plant and animal life, conservation and pollution issues, the characteristics of water movement, shore, bottom and surface conditions, and how to plan dives in diverse diving locations. Your course may include trips to aquariums or oceanariums, exposing you to several diving environments such as lakes or the ocean, rocky reefs, and sand beaches. Whether you are a skin or scuba diver, an Underwater Environment course will catch your interest! Underwater Photography Our underwater environment presents divers with scenes of breathtaking beauty with wild and weird creatures that amaze and fascinate. How can you possibly remember each one unless you bring them back through photography? In the Underwater Photographer course you will be taught the skills, techniques, and tricks of underwater photography including lighting, use of photographic equipment, the fundamentals of photography, underwater camera techniques, and underwater photo problems. For added interest, you can combine other diving courses or activities to provide additional photographic opportunities Underwater Ecologist: Coral Reef Coral reefs are primarily found in three major biogeographic regions of the world: The tropical western Atlantic (Caribbean), the Red Sea, and the Indo-Pacific region. Coral colonies are composed of thousands of tiny polyps, each with its own protective skeleton. The Underwater Ecologist (Coral Reef) specialty course focuses on the vertebrates and invertebrates of the complex living reef. This course examines coral zonation, seagrass beds, lagoons, mangroves, and the common reef algae, invertebrates and reef fishes. Underwater Ecologist: Kelp Forest The Underwater Ecologist (Kelp Forest) specialty course focuses on the complex and productive ecosystem bordering much of the west coast of North America, from Alaska to Baja California. Kelp forests are also found in other cooler coastal waters of South America, Tasmania, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and many other locations. This course examines the kelp forests, their occupants such as mollusks, crustaceans, fish and marine mammals. Underwater Hunter And Collector If spearfishing or collecting underwater specimens interests you, the Underwater Hunter and Collector course may be just right for you. You'll learn about skin diving techniques, hazards and cautions, safety concerns, spear-fishing and collection equipment, and specific techniques on how to hunt and collect responsibly, while minimizing the diving risks of such activities. Your instructor will also teach you about conservation, fishing laws and regulations, sportsmanship, utilizing your catch, selecting specimens, preservation, shell collecting, aquaria, and hunting and collecting dive locations. Wreck Diver (External Survey) If you are at least 18 years old and have a NAUI Advanced Scuba Diver certification or the equivalent thereof, you can take a Wreck Diver (External Survey) course and start exploring sunken vessels, aircraft, and other amazing wrecks in the underwater world. Your NAUI Wreck Diver (External Survey) instructor will teach you about safety, hazards and cautions, special risks of overhead environments, entanglement, limited visibility, deep diving, equipment, location of wrecks, sources of information, search methods, underwater navigation, legal aspects, artifacts, treasure, salvage, archaeology, and much more. Get ready to start exploring! More... The courses listed above are only some of the more popular NAUI Specialty and Recognition courses available. Con