Upcoming Courses 2010

Email the Training Officer (Kathryn) as soon as possible if you are interested in a course, training@akunidive.com. As with all of AUUC’s training and trips, it’s first in first served and your place isn’t confirmed until we receive your money. See ‘Ways To Pay‘. You can deposit the money straight into the club account, either by electronic transfer or by visiting any National Bank (there’s one in the Kate Edgar Information Commons at university). Account Number: 06 0158 0352081 000.

Read here to find out How To Get Certified.

PADI Open Water Training

Want to learn to dive? We run PADI Open Water courses that certify you to dive and are recognised all over the world. The courses involve two theory sessions, two pool sessions and two days of open water check out dives (a full weekend). The course costs around $400, and includes all equipment except mask, snorkel, fins and booties. You can borrow these items from friends if you wish, however we do recommend you invest in these as soon as possible – mask, snorkel fins and booties are like your diving underwear and you often can’t hire them from shops whereas all of the other gear is readily available to hire. Your instructor will give you really good discount on these items if you let them know you’re a club member and that you’re doing the course with them.

You also need to get yourself a dive medical certifying you as “fit to dive” obtainable from any trained general practitioner.

Any questions? Contact AUUC Training – training@akunidive.com

PADI Advanced Open Water

The next step up the chain. This course builds on the skills learnt at Open Water level but has lots less emphasis on skill sets and more on diving. A very good course to build self confidence and experience under the watchful eye of an instructor. 5 dives in the open water (no pool). You will do a Deep dive (30 metres) a Night dive (awesome!), a Navigation dive (learn how to use that damn compass properly!) a Wreck dive on the HMSNZ Canterbury and a Search & Recovery dive. We run courses on demand so let us know if you’re interested. As a guide we do around three or four courses a year, and the entire course is done over a weekend of diving.

The Advanced Open Water course is a great way to get more dives under your belt while continuing to learn under the supervision of an instructor. You don’t need to be “advanced” to  take the course – in fact it’s designed so you can go straight into it after the Open Water course. It will help you increase your confidence and build your scuba skills so you can become more comfortable in the water. It also certifies you to dive to 30m (compared with the 18m you are certified to with your Open Water).

The course is run through Northland Dive and will cost $530 (including gear), or $480 (excluding gear). If there are 8 people, accommodation and food will be provided by the wonderful people at the Cowshed Backpackers.

The course is run as follows:

Drive up to Northland Dive (Bay of Islands, see directions here) the night before the course starts.

Day 1

• Out on the boat for the 1st dive (wreck dive).
• Picnic lunch on the beach.
• 2nd dive (navigation dive).
• 3rd dive (night dive).
• Back to the Cowshed (Northland Dive) for gear washing, theory, dinner, drinks and bed.

Day 2

• Out on the boat for the 4th dive of the course (deep dive).
• Picnic lunch on the beach.
• 5th and final dive (search & recovery).
• Back to the Cowshed for gear washing and last theory session.
• Drive back to Auckland.

The course costs $530 and includes:

• Two nights accommodation with hot showers, fire place, sky tv! (bunk beds in a dorm, BYO sleeping bag).
• Full set of dive gear to use for the course (if you have all your own gear the course will cost $480).
• Five dives at the spectacular Bay of Islands including at least one on the Canterbury wreck.
• PADI fees (course book and actual certification).
• And they will throw in food if we get enough people (breakfast and picnic lunch both days as well as a roast dinner on the night of Day 1).

Please note, you must already have your Open Water certification (PADI or other) to do this course. You also need a current (no older than one year) recreational dive medical.

Rescue Course

A very worthwhile course which starts you thinking about other divers and not just yourself, and gives you a real appreciation of just how important prevention can be. Learn the basics of diver stress, problem solving and diver rescue. This one will improve your confidence no-end and give you a better sense of awareness while diving. Same deal as Advanced – dates set by your enthusiasm, prices vary on where and when you want the course, and what you need (hire gear, etc) but we keep it very low cost, around half shop prices. Minimum of 4 people, and you will also need a current first aid course and an Advanced Open Water ticket before you’re certified.

Specialties

As a rule the AUUC club philosophy on PADI specialties is that they are a bit of a waste of time and represent what PADI stands for (Put Another Dollar In)!! There is an exception:

Nitrox

Learn the basics of diving Enriched Air. Become qualified on mixes of 22-40% oxygen. This allows you to stay at moderate depths longer than on air and/or decreases surface interval times and makes for much safer ascents. Becoming much more popular and available in New Zealand. The first step into the world of technical diving! Cost for this one is $150. Includes the gas you need but not the tanks it comes in. This course is great if you want to learn a little more about diving physiology – what happens in your body as you breath air at depth, and gives you an insight into how you get narked!

Technical Diving

Would you like to go deeper for longer? Have you ever wondered if people dive those reefs on the charts in the middle of the ocean that rise from 80 metres and only come up to 40 metres? Want to get wasted on narcosis? Then technical diving is probably for you! Some things can only be found deeper – like black/red coral (Fiordland is cheating!), trumpet sponges and some species of fish like Hapuka. These and more are rare to see unless you go to more advanced and deeper sites, which will most likely take you into decompression. To repeat this type of experience, you will probably have to learn how to dive safely…the first step we take is a very good TDI course called “Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures”. This course is run over three days with Northland Dive (in the Bay of Islands) and Shane, our TDI instructor (home of the Canterbury!!!). You’ll learn how to use up to 100% oxygen mixes for your decompression gas, how to use an SMB and reel in conducting blue-water ascents and all about what decompression is and how to dive with it. More advanced courses like Extended Range and Solo Diver are also available. To gain entry to this course you need abut 100 dives.