Isla Mar Research Expeditions How to Incorporate Diving in Your Field Course

DIVE

for your fiel d
course

pl ans

HOWTOINCORPORATEDIVINGIN
YOURFIELDCOURSE
Addin g scu ba divin g to you r fiel d
cou r se is an u n for gettabl e exper ien ce
for you r stu den ts an d a u n iqu e
oppor tu n ity to fu r th er expl or e th e
u n der water wor l d. Not su r pr isin gl y,
th er e is a h esitation to in cor por ate
divin g in to a fiel d cou r se pr ogr am . Th is
gu ide wil l pr ovide you th e basic
in for m ation you n eed to k n ow befor e
pl an n in g a dive-in ten sive fiel d cou r se.
Fir st, you n eed to k n ow you r fiel d site.
You m ay be pl an n in g a cou r se to a
l ocation you k n ow wel l . Use th is to you r
advan tage wh en pr esen tin g a dive
com pon en t to you r depar tm en t or
cu r r icu l u m com m ittee. W e wil l go over
detail s to in cl u de on th e n ext page.

If you ar e im pl em en tin g a
cou r se som epl ace you h ave
n ever visited, th en wor k with a
h ost or gan ization to pl an you r
divin g. Th is wil l r em ove th e
str ess of bein g fam il iar with
th e l ocation an d pl ace th e
pl an n in g on th e h ost. Be su r e
to in tr odu ce you r h ost to you r
depar tm en t.

To br in g stu den ts divin g on a fiel d cou r se, you n eed to be con fiden t in th eir divin g abil ities. Con sider
settin g a stan dar d of cer tification an d n u m ber of dives as a pr e-r equ isite for stu den ts. For exam pl e,
stu den ts sh ou l d be Advan ced Open W ater with over 25 dives. Cu r r en tl y,m ost stu den t diver s ar e
r equ ir ed to be Am er ican Academ y of Un der water Scien ces (AAUS) cer tified. Ch eck with you r h ost for
addition al r equ ir em en ts, especial l y if you wil l be divin g at a u n iver sity or in stitu tion .