Deep Diving

Book Now!

Once you book your course, our team will register you for class materials. You will receive an email with a link to your materials from the agency (SSI or SDI/TDI). Our training team can be reached at training@ecdivers.com if you have any questions about the course.

Many exciting dive sites are located in deeper water. Without proper training, this kind of diving puts you at risk. The SSI Deep Diving Specialty will give you the ability to safely and comfortably plan and conduct dives beyond 60 feet. It is required training for many charter and liveaboard operations and is a prerequisite for some advanced training.

Why learn deep diving?

There are endless reasons for a diver to want to push their boundaries and venture deeper. There are amazing wrecks and reefs just waiting for you down there to explore what they have to offer. The deep diver course gives you the experience, techniques, and ability to be prepared for the new challenges you’ll face by going deeper. The underwater world is very different once you start going deeper than 60ft. Nitrogen narcosis, decompression planning, and air consumption have more rigid requirements at depth. These are just a few of the reasons why diving deeper is much safer with the proper training. The Deep Diving class includes one class session, one pool session, and a minimum of 3 open water dives. These dives can be completed from some select shore diving sites.

Our deep diving course is unlike ANY OTHER and trains you not only to experience added depth in a safe environment but also how to plan for and mitigate potential added risks. Our deep diving program teaches both new equipment techniques and skills that other deep-diving courses don’t even address.

“The ECD Deep class fully prepared me to explore the amazing New England deep water wrecks and made me feel comfortable with diving beyond the OW limits given the knowledge and skills we acquired during the class” -Bing Shui, Deep Diver certified in 2020

ADVANCED SKILLS INCLUDE:

Delayed Surface Marker Buoy (DSMB) Deployment – A DSMB is a brightly colored inflatable tube that can be inflated and deployed while at depth. This tube is attached to a line and spool you hold at depth so that you can maintain contact and control of it while it is at the surface. This tool and the technique are paramount for deep divers to master so in the event they get separated from their team or the ascent line to their surface support (i.e. a dive boat) they can quickly mark their location without having to quickly ascend. A skill that takes practice to master but is of the utmost importance to deep divers.

Redundant Gas Supply Orientation and Use – As depth increases so does pressure. This added pressure causes a diver to consume more gas the deeper they go. At 66 feet a diver will consume 3x the amount of gas they do at the surface and 4x in 99 feet of water. This added gas consumption can create a big problem if you need to share air at depth. The added depth can also cause a regulator to have a drastic reduction in performance if more than one diver is breathing hard on it, such as in a real-world gas sharing scenario. Lastly, it is also very reassuring to have a completely redundant supply of gas in case yours fails so you still can ascend at a controlled rate and perform a proper safety stop

A Halcyon Backplate & Wing with a back-mounted pony bottle

This is why we equip and teach all of our deep-diving students to use pony bottles. A pony bottle is a small cylinder (1/3 to 1/2 the size of your primary tank) that has an independent regulator system. This additional bottle can take a bit of getting used to but adds a tremendous amount of safety to deeper dives and we recommend it to any of our divers venturing deeper or in poor visibility conditions that could lead to team separation such as scallop diving.

Advanced Dive Planning – The days of jumping into the water without a well-vetted dive plan are over. How much gas do I need to have left in my tank to have a realistic chance of getting myself and my team to the surface in an out of gas scenario? Does my team have enough gas to help me should I have a lost gas failure? What is our emergency plan should the team get separated at depth. How will redundant dives affect my decompression limits based on previous dive times and depth? How can I plan for a multilevel dive with my team? What likely failure scenarios does this deeper dive introduce and how can my team better prepare for them? These are not hard questions to answer but they do require some thinking and know-how which is all addressed during our deep diving program.

This course only runs from May – October.

Please use the “Book Now!” link to signup. You can schedule your class dates with our staff in-person, over the phone, or via email.

Before Class

Before attending your class you will need to complete some paperwork. The forms will be emailed to you for your review and can be completed by DocuSign prior to your class.

Before enrolling in a class, you should take time to read and review the Diver Medical Statement Participant Questionnaire. The first page has If you have any YES answers on that page, review the associated section on the Diver Medical Statement | Participant Questionnaire Continued. If you have any YES responses on this form – you’ll just need to get a doctors’ sign-off on the Physicians Approval to Dive form before you can participate in ANY in-water activities. It’s important to note if a physician’s signature is required, only a medical doctor’s (MD) signature will be accepted.

This class also has a helpful online training component hosted by SSI. Please complete your online training prior to your classroom session. If you have not already registered with SSI, look for an email from divessi.com. You can access online training materials, certification cards, and more at my.divessi.com or the MySSI app on your iPhone or Android.

Click here to register:SSI - Scuba Schools International - my.divessi.com - Register Now

If you have any questions give us a call at the store on 617-277-2216 or shoot us an email training@ecdivers.com.

  • Students must be at least 15 years.
  • This course is only available for certified divers.
  • A clear medical history or MD sign-off form.
  • The student must provide their own Mask, Fins, Snorkel, DSMB, Finger Spool, and WetNotes. All other equipment can be rented or is provided.

Interested in a private? We got you covered! Sign-up today!

Private courses are set up slightly differently than regular deep diving courses. The beginning process is the same – you’ll still be required to fill out the same paperwork but you won’t be tethered to our schedule. Instead, you can find out whenever works best for you and let us know so we can get the sessions scheduled – we can even schedule your pool training outside our normal pool hours*. Make sure to let us know in advance, as we have to rent the pool, and make sure it doesn’t conflict with any other activities going on that day. If you do use the pool when we have it rented that’s perfect! There will be other people in the pool but you (or your group) will be working privately with your instructor.

*Additional fees (such as pool rental fees) may apply

Private Scheduling is done through our training department at Training@ecdivers.com. They will be in contact within 24 hours of any inquiries. If you need to contact us sooner please call us at 617-277-2217.

Private Pricing:

1 Person $780 per person | $780 total3 People $500 per person | $1500 total
2 People $600 per person | $1200 total4 People $420 per person | $1680 total

 

The Deep 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.

Required Gear:

  • Scuba quality Mask, Fins and Snorkel
  • A well-maintained regulator appropriate for use in New England*
  • Buoyancy Compensator /Backplate and Wing*
  • Dive Computer*
  • Tank with adequate gas capacity (100CF+ recommended for most men, 80CF+ recommended for most women)*
  • Exposure protection appropriate to the temperates at Depth in New England*/**
  • Pony Bottle Complete Setup (the pony rental is included in course fees)*
  • Deployable Surface Marker Buoy (DSMB) with overpressurization valve
  • Spool (min 150') with double-ended bolt snap

*You can rent these items through ECD. 

**A Drysuit is HIGHLY RECCOMENDED for participation in this course as the water temperatures at depth can remain in the high 30ºF - low 40ºF range well into the New England Summer. If you do not have a Drysuit Certification, consider enrolling in that course (and diving the new platform at least ten times) before you start a Deep Diving class.

We offer a 10% discount to all of our students who purchase the required equipment for the class through the East Coast Divers Shop 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

 

The week-long program runs monthly, from May-November, starting on the third Monday of the month. It includes

  • One webinar-based class session including review of academic components and skill prep (Zoom Session - Mon 6:00pm - 9:00pm).
  • One in-person equipment workshop to be scheduled at the Shop during the week.
  • One pool / confined water session for skill development (Sat 9:00am - 11:00am at the Pond).
  • Two open water dives for skill evaluation (Sat 11:00am - 4:00pm at the Pond).
  • One day of deep dives, from shore or off of a charter boat (Sunday off Cape Ann) -- Note that courses that include boat dives are priced higher to include the charter fees
  • Internationally trained/certified instructor.
  • Agency approved online coursework and exam (through MySSI).

Class Forms

Below you will find links to REQUIRED class forms. These forms must be reviewed in their entirety before participating in any ECDivers in-water program. Arrival to class with incomplete documents may result in a forfeiture of that class date. If you have any questions or need assistance in completing the class forms please email our training department at training@ecdivers.com.