Project Description
We are Boston's premier diving education center for Ice Diving Classes and other scuba lessons in Massachusetts and New England!
About The Course:
Overview
East Coast Divers was the very first dive center to teach Ice Diving under the excellent leadership of Todd Smith back in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Todd even authored a book on ice diving called "Beneath a Crystal Ceiling: the complete guide to ice diving" which can occasionally still be found on Amazon for a pretty penny. Our Ice Diving program builds on Todd's orignial work and is an exhilarating program that will keep even the most adventurous diver entertained and learning. The program consists of one classroom session, one pool session and two days of diving. You must be at least 18 years old and an advanced open water diver (4 specialty ratings and 24 logged dives) in order to participate in this program. We will cover topics such as appropriate equipment use and configuration, line and signaling techniques, proper ice cutting and dive site set up, tending to the site and diver as well as all the other essential safety requirements.
This course only runs from January - April. It all depends on ice thickness. A typical season gives us one or two courses in January/February and one or two courses in March/April depending on weather.
Please use the link in the right-side column to signup and schedule or you can sign up and schedule in-person, over the phone or via email.
Before Class
Before your Ice Diving Course, there is a bit of paperwork you’ll have to fill out. This program requires a minimum of 5 distinct forms. You can find the forms below and complete them ahead of your pool session, most important is the “SCUBA – MEDICAL FORM“. Go through the medical form now and check to see if you need to answer “YES” to any of the questions. If so no big deal – you’ll just need to get a doctors’ sign-off before we can let you in the water. The doctors’ note is in the additional “PHYSICIAN'S RELEASE” file – along with guidelines for your physician. Remember if you answer “YES” to anything in the medical it is NECESSARY to get a doctors’ note BEFORE getting in the water. It’s also important to note if a physician's signature is required, only a medical doctor's (MD) signature will be accepted.
Additional forms as required:
Schedule
The Ice Diving Course has 3 components - classroom, pool, and open water dives. There is one classroom session, one pool session and two days of open water diving. Please check the schedule before signing up to make sure you will be able to make the classes ahead of time.
Please use the link in the right-side column to signup or you can sign up and schedule in-person, over the phone or via email.
Location
The class training will take place at:
East Coast Divers, 213 Boylston Street, Brookline MA
and the pool training is located at the:
Brookline Town Pool – 60 Tappan St., Brookline MA
The location of the open water dives will be weather and situationally dependent. These dives will always happen in a pond, river, or lake. Lake Winnepesaukee, Hathaway Ponds, or the St. Lawrence Seaway have all been locations in previous years. Directions to the, most likely, meeting points can be found on our "DIRECTIONS" page. Otherwise contact us in-person, over the phone or via email for more details.
Equipment
The Ice Diving Course has an in-water portion that requires a full set of gear. If you have your own gear, we suggest making plans to carry all of that gear along with you. If not, rental equipment can be arranged but MUST be reserved ahead of time.
While this course can be completed in a wetsuit we STRONGLY RECOMMEND using a drysuit and being very familiar with it before taking the course.
Availability fills quickly and spots are not guaranteed! We recommend registering and reserving rental equipment at least 2 WEEKS IN ADVANCE!
*We require that students have their own specialty-specific gear for several of our courses. This equipment is necessary for the type of diving that you will be embarking upon during, and post-certification. Please refer to the prerequisites section below for a list of the gear you will need to own for this course. We offer a 10% discount to all of our students who purchase the required equipment for the class through us as well as our famed 60 day return policy that will ensure that you are happy with everything that you buy. We appreciate your support of your local dive shop, which allows us to continue operations and offer the services that we do today****
If you need to rent any gear other than that listed in the prerequisites, you can do so with us below! For anything else check out the our rental page
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Prerequisites:
- Students must be 18 years or older.
- Only available for certified advanced divers with 24 or more logged dives.
- Clear medical history or MD sign-off if necessary.
- Student must provide their own Mask, Fins, and Snorkel. All other equipment can be rented or is provided.
- All ICE DIVING specific equipment is provided.
- Drysuit experience in cold water is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED. If you plan to use a drysuit we require a minimum of 6 local (or similar environment) dives in a drysuit.
What's Included:
- One class session.
- One pool session
- Two days of diving operating as a support diver, tender and diver throughout the weekend.
- Internationally trained / certified instructor
- Agency approved on-line course work.
- Performance of skills with dedicated equipment such as equipment use and configuration, line and signaling techniques, proper ice cutting and dive site set up as well as all the other essential safety information and more.
