Advanced
An introduction to many of the skills in the courses below, a five dive, two day course. It is a great way to progress your diving skills.
Night & Limited Visibility
Night diving is one of the most enjoyable aspects of this sport. Just as on dry land, the night brings out a host of creatures that spend the days hiding & sleeping protected in inaccessible nooks & crannies.This course involves a little theory, and two night dives where you learn the practical skills of diving in the dark, or where visibility is reduced. Merimbula offers some of the best night diving experiences, both from shore and boat.
Diving with NITROX allows longer bottom times and increases safety. It also allows you to fly or drive to altitude sooner after diving. We have a NITROX compressor to allow rapid refills of tanks and can teach you all you need to know to use NITROX safely.
Stress & Rescue
Scuba diving is an adventure sport and entails accepting that there is a certain amount of risk. Therefore, there is an increased risk that you may be witness to, or even a participant in, a stressful or rescue situation at some stage in your diving life. This course teaches you to recognize problems, and how to assist & manage a stressful or rescue scenario. The Stress & Rescue course is a pre-requisite for the leadership level courses.
Navigation
Underwater, you don’t have the luxury of stopping to ask for directions. Navigation techniques are skills that anyone can learn. With the knowledge and practice gained on this course you need never get lost again!
Deep and Wreck Diving
Your Open Water course will have trained you in diving to depths of 18 to 20 meters. Over time, as you dive more & more, you will want to go deeper. Diving deeper, requires more knowledge & practice, as the various effects of the extra depth increase. This course is all about expanding your envelope of knowledge & training, so you can experience the world wide variety of diving adventures safely & with confidence.
Wrecks are among the most fascinating dive sites to visit. They all have a history, some more dramatic than others. Many form the basis for artificial reefs, with a huge bio diversity to see & marvel at. There are some wrecks in the world, that every diver should have on their ‘to do list’. Merimbula is the base for diving the Tugs at Eden which are among Australias best known wreck dives. However, there are risks involved, and no diver should undertake a wreck dive without proper training & guidance.
Search & Recovery
Finding that piece of dropped gear can save you or your dive buddy, a fortune in equipment replacement costs. This course at the Merimbula Divers Lodge will teach you the techniques of underwater search and, once you have found what you are looking for how to get it to the surface.
Underwater Photography
Underwater photography, while in many respects the same as photography anywhere else, does have it’s own intricacies. Most photographers will start taking lots of pictures in order to realize one or two good shots. You can get a head start with proper training and guidance. Digital underwater cameras are getting more affordable. Merimbula Divers Lodge can help you with your purchase.
Dry Suit
Once you try a Dry suit, you may never want to use a wetsuit again! No more climbing into wet, clammy, cold wetsuits. For colder water, just add layers of thermal underwear or fleecy clothing, and get out of the water dry! Dry suits do have their foibles though, and you need to know how to handle them. No-one should just jump into a dry suit & go diving. So, at Merimbula Divers Lodge, if you buy a dry suit, the course is part of the price.
Computer Diving
Using a dive computer has many important benefits. They can increase bottom times on repetitive dives, reduce accidents caused by human error using dive tables, and have many other advantages. However, there are limits and it is very important to understand and work within those limits. Any diver that has just bought, or is considering buying, a dive computer should do this course!
Buy an Uwatec dive computer from the Merimbula Divers Lodge, and do a course for free!
Equipment Specialist
Your dive gear is your underwater life support system. Equipment problems can mean having to abandon a dive & can be dangerous. Knowing how your equipment works, and how to fix problems can save your dive holiday. This course is a practical, hands on course in which you learn how your gear works, how to trouble shoot faults, and what goes into equipment service & repair.