Ocean Diver

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HISAC OD Training Schedule

For training, you'll be required to attend six theory lessons (either in-person or online). You'll attend five sheltered (pool) lessons. Afterwards, four open water lessons. There'll be a theory and swimming assessment.

Skills you'll learn:

Learn how to use basic dive gear, including your mask and snorkel.
Control your buoyancy and underwater movements
Understand your basic scuba diving safety skills – you’ll find out the importance of time, depth and gas
Discover how to plan and manage your diving.

BSAC Training

Ocean Diver Training Manuals can be found on the MyBSAC website or app. (Available on Appstore)

Qualifications Awarded

Dive with another Ocean Diver or with a Sports Diver, within the restrictions of the conditions already encountered during their training and under the supervision of a Dive Manager or at a managed site.

● Dive with a Dive Leader, or higher grade diver, to expand their experience beyond the conditions encountered during their training, under the supervision of a Dive Manager.

● Dive to a depth initially limited to the maximum experienced during training, but which can subsequently be extended progressively, under the supervision of a Nationally Qualified Instructor, to a maximum of 20m.

● Use nitrox breathing gas mixes of up to 36 per cent oxygen.

● Dive under the on-site supervision of a Dive Manager with respect to site selection, conditions and dive plan.

● Dive where other divers capable of providing assistance and rescue are available at the surface.

● Dive within BSAC Safe Diving recommendations

Types of Diving you'll do

To ensure students receive experience of a range of conditions, the open-water modules must include four conditions from the following list, appropriate to the local waters in which they will subsequently be diving.

Dive in protective clothing (wetsuit or drysuit)
Shore dive (a dive beginning and ending on either a gently shelving shore or a deep water entry/exit.)
Low-visibility dive (a dive in visibility ranging between 2m and 4m.)
Sea dive (a dive conducted in salt water)
Others include wall, nitrox, small-boat, large-boat, drift dive.

The minimum of four Ocean Diver open-water modules specified in the syllabus should deliver a minimum of 120 minutes of underwater time.

Swimming Assessment

Swimming is evaluated through a 200m freestyle swim in basic swimwear. Students should complete this comfortably and with ease. This must be completed before progression onto open-water modules and dives.

Practical Assessments

By the end of the module, students should be able to replicate underwater skills confidently and without assistance.

Theory Assessment

This can be taken after completion of classroom modules, and must be completed before the final open-water module OO4. To pass, you must achieve 80%. These assessments can take the form of an oral assessment in place of a written test if English is not a student’s first language, or where a student has learning difficulties or difficulty with written English. Oral assessments should be based on the theory question papers provided. They are best done one to one with a Nationally Qualified Instructor. A written record of the student’s answers should always be made and treated as if written by the student.

Instructor Support & Requirements

Ocean Diver training is to be carried out by, or supervised by, a suitably qualified BSAC instructor as set out here.

● Assistant Diving Instructors qualified to Sports Diver– can teach classroom, sheltered-water modules under on-site (present at the venue) supervision and openwater modules under the direct (in-water) supervision of an instructor who holds the minimum qualification of BSAC Open Water Instructor.

● Assistant Diving Instructors qualified to Dive Leader – 20 can teach classroom, sheltered-water and open-water modules under the on-site (present at the venue) supervision of an instructor who holds the minimum qualification of BSAC Open Water Instructor.

● Assistant Open Water Instructors – can teach classroom, sheltered-water and open-water modules under on-site (present at the venue) supervision of an instructor who holds the minimum qualification of BSAC Open Water Instructor.

● Theory Instructors – can teach classroom modules unsupervised.

● Practical Instructors – can teach sheltered-water and open-water modules unsupervised.

● Open Water Instructors – can teach all elements of the Ocean Diver course.

Staff to Student Ratios:

Sheltered-water modules: Four to one.

Open-water modules: Two to one.

Where conditions permit, open-water groups may be increased to a maximum of four students per instructor providing the following conditions are met:

● All students can receive effective tuition within the time available.

● Underwater visibility allows all students to be seen at all times.

● The number of ascents/descents required remains within safe decompression limits.

It can also be extended up to six students per instructor, refer to BSAC OD Instructor Manual Introduction page for details.

Equipment configuration

For Ocean Diver Training, students should use a simple kit configuration requiring:

● Single cylinder

● Buoyancy compensator (BC)

● Regulator equipped with a main demand valve, alternative supply demand valve and cylinder contents gauge

● Mask, fins and snorkel

● Weight belt or integrated weights, where necessary

Below for Open Water:

● Depth gauge and watch/timer and/or dive computer

● Protective clothing, where appropriate

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