Scuba Diving Industry™ Magazine published by Cline Group, LLC. Printed and mailed to all dive retailers in the USA and digitally delivered to over 17,500 dive professionals in 165 countries. Published monthly, so "Start a Conversation" with your Business Customers!
SCUBA DIVING INDUSTRY
DECEMBER 2025 PUBLISHED BY CLINE GROUP
Photo by Lily Mak. Christmas Tree Worm, St. Croix, USVI
TRAVEL • INNOVATION RESEARCH • TRAINING RETAILING • ECO PRO SAFETY • BUSINESS EDU
digital version
TRENDS IN DIVE RETAILING, TRAVEL & TRAINING
TABLE OF CONTENTS SCUBA DIVING INDUSTRY™ MAGAZINE • DECEMBER 2025
FROM THE PUBLISHER 05 The True Power of a Dive Retailer: Community / William Cline SAFETY 06 Why Your Customers Need to Dive Their Experience, Not Their C-Card / Dan Orr 10 When Simple Mistakes Mean Everything / Al Hornsby TRAINING 12 Women in Diving: How Leadership Strengthens Safety & Growth / Burcu Mahmuto ğ lu 14 Rebreathers 102 – The Dive Instructor’s Perspective / Je ff rey Bozanic, Ph.D. 20 Part 1 – New Revenue Streams at Colleges and Universities / Tec Clark RETAILING 22 Dive Retailing – 50 Years Under Pressure / William Cline 24 The Power of Being a New Retailer / Michael & Rachael Conners 27 Time to Move On – Tips for Discontinuing with a Distributor or Manufacturer / Je ff Cinciripino 30 Why Investing in a Child’s Dive Gear Matters / Margo Peyton BUSINESS EDU 32 January DEMA Do-Over Schedule and More Books / Cathryn Castle Garcia 34 How Scuba Diving Captures the Hearts of Younger Travelers / Wayne B. Brown 35 From First Breath to Full Circle: My Journey to Owning a Dive Center in the Islands / Je ff McNutt INNOVATION 39 A New Approach to 2nd Stages: The Technology Behind PLANET 88X Regulator / Gil Zeimer ECO PRO 41 Why Biological Oceanography Matters to Dive Pros / Alex Brylske, Ph.D. TRAVEL 43 A Group Dive Guide to the Philippines / David Prichard & Lily Mak 46 Photo Pros Guide to Liveaboard Diving / Richard Aspinall 47 Florida’s Panhandle: Shipwrecks of the Emerald Coast / Michael Salvarezza & Christopher P. Weaver
ADVERTISERS 2 & 3 Aggressor Adventures 7 Shearwater Dive Computers 8 Aggressor Adventures 9 Books by Dan Orr/Best Publishing 10 Take our Subscriber Survey & Win 11 Divers Alert Network (DAN) 15 Bahamas Ministry of Tourism 16 Fort Young Hotel Dive Resort 18 ScubaRadio 19 Coltri Compressors 20 Campus Edge Training 21 The Dive Shop @ Cape Eleuthera 25 All Star Liveaboards 26 Barefoot Cay Resort, Roatan 28 Best Publishing Scuba Books 29 Blue Force Fleet Liveaboards 30 ScubaWeather.com 31 Beneath The Sea Dive Show 32 Deep Blue Adventures Travel 33 Wayne B. Brown Book 33 SSI/Scuba Schools International 34 Lita’s All Natural Insect Repellant 35 Fog-X Mask Defogging Film 36 Clear Story Coach 36 Make A Di ff erence Challenge 36 Scuba Show 2026 East & West 37 Sea Experience, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 38 Dive BVI’s 50th Anniversary 40 Dive Industry Young Professionals 42 Alex Brylske’s Book by Reef Smart 45 Neal Watson’s Bimini Scuba 47 NAUI’s 65th Anniversary 48 Visit Cayman Islands | ISDHF 49 Diveplanit Travel Planners 51 Explorer Ventures Liveaboards BACK COVER DEMA 53 Level Up, Marketing Minutes & From Behind the Counter Podcasts 54 Article Index
PAGE FOUR | SCUBA DIVING INDUSTRY
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Friday night was pizza night at the Aqua Lung Center in Fullerton, California. It was 1978, Southern California, and I was the dive store manager at the ripe old age of 16. I had been working there since I was 12, thanks to my father’s ingenious scheme of quietly paying the shop owner for my hours without telling me, until I was officially old enough to be hired. By 16, I was running the store. That dive shop was so much more than a business. It was an ecosystem, a community, a place where divers belonged . People didn’t just come in to buy gear. They hung around, told jokes, shared stories, and stayed well past closing time. It felt a lot like the old American TV show Cheers , everybody knew your name. I still remember Guy, Don, Pat, Brian, and countless others who passed through that shop in the late 1970s. JAWS had come out a few years earlier, and one of the most common questions we heard was, “Are there sharks in the water?” sometimes even referring to the swimming pool. One movie shifted public perception of the ocean overnight. After years of Jacques Cousteau showing us wonder and curiosity, Peter Benchley introduced fear . I’m not sure the industry has fully recovered from that even fifty years later. But this article isn’t about fear, it’s about community. The local dive store has always been a safe place for divers to reconnect with the feeling of diving, especially when they can’t get away or when local conditions don’t allow it. Recently, I heard about a shop near us in Dallas that hosts a monthly “island party” happy hour, open beer and wine, divers and non-divers welcome, just talking stories and talking diving. That’s brilliant. That’s diver community at its best. Research consistently shows that divers who have more diver friends stay active longer, spend more on equipment, and travel more often. The 2023 DEMA Consumer Survey reinforces what many retailers already know instinctively, community drives retention . Creating a sense of community at the local dive store isn’t just fun, it’s smart business . It’s also why dive retailers remain the heartbeat of this industry . Thank you to everyone who has read our issues over the past 24 months. And as always, thank you to the 986 dive retailers who continue to lead this industry forward in the U.S. If you have an innovative way your store has helped engage your local community, I’d love to hear about it. We would be happy to share your story with other retailers looking for ideas and inspiration. THE TRUE POWER OF A DIVE RETAILER: COMMUNITY
William Cline, Publisher Patty Cline, Associate Publisher Amber Wagenknecht, Executive Editor Betty Orr, Senior Editor Neal Watson, Sr., Editor-at-Large Britain Cline, Advertising Sales Manager Carlos Lander, Latin America Ad Sales June Cline, Social & Podcast Producer Contributors: SCUBA DIVING INDUSTRY™ MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2025 VOL. 2, NO. 12
Gretchen M. Ashton, CA Richard Aspinall, Scotland Jeffrey Bozanic, CA
Diving Industry ™ Magazine: (Print: ISSN 2996-1416, Digital: ISSN 2996-1424) Published monthly by Cline Group LLC, 1740 Airpark Lane, Plano, TX 75093. Printed copies are mailed within the USA to select dive retailers & advertisers. Subscriptions are free to dive pro- fessionals & distributed digitally to 165 countries. POSTMASTER send address changes to Diving Indus- try Magazine, 1740 Airpark Ln., Plano, TX 75093. Any part of this publication may be reproduced, as long as the source is quoted “Diving Industry Magazine.” For editorial requests, email william@williamcline.com or 972-267-6700. The views and opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Cline Group LLC or any of its affiliates. © 2025, all rights reserved by Cline Group LLC. Wayne B. Brown, GA Alex Brylske, Ph.D., FL Cathryn Castle Garcia, Azores, Portugal Tec Clark, FL Jeff Cinciripino, CT Michael & Rachael Connors, MI Al Hornsby, Singapore Burcu Mahmutoğlu, Cyprus Jeff McNutt, BVIs Dan Orr, ID Margo Peyton, SC David Prichard & Lily Mak, TX Michael Salvarezza, NY Christopher P. Weaver, NY Gil Zeimer, CA
email Britain
email Carlos
email William
William Cline, Publisher
PAGE FIVE | SCUBA DIVING INDUSTRY
SAFETY
Why Your Customers Need to Dive Their Experience, Not Their C-Card by Dan Orr , President, Dan Orr Consulting
T HE PHRASE "dive your experience, not your C-card" is a critical piece of wisdom in scuba diving safety that pri- oritizes a diver's actual skills and recent practice over a formal certification card. A certification card, is evidence that divers have met a minimum standard of knowledge and skill at a specific point in time, but it does not indicate nor
the fundamental skills for safe and enjoyable recreational scuba diving. The phrase "dive your experience" reminds divers that diving skills, especially complex psychomotor skills such as exchange of breathing gas in an underwater emergency, can and do atrophy over time. Qualification, on the other hand, refers to a diver’s actual
guarantee their current level of diving proficiency. Having a cur- rent level of proficiency is ex- tremely important, not only to the divers themselves and to those they dive with but also to a dive operation that needs to know that a diver has the current
ability to safely perform diving activities in real-world scenarios. It goes beyond holding a C- card and encompasses a diver’s practical experience, competen- cy, and judgment. A diver may be certified but not necessarily qualified to dive under certain
level of skill proficiency to participate in dive charters and courses. In other words, just showing a certification when signing up for a course, dive charter or dive vacation may not be enough. We can all agree that scuba diving is an exhilarating activity that requires both knowledge and skill to ensure safety for divers and their diving companions underwater. Two terms frequently encountered in the diving community are certification and qualification. While they may seem interchangeable, they represent distinct concepts with important implications for diver safety. Certification in scuba diving refers to a formal process where an individual completes a structured training program provided by a recognized diver training agency and receives documentation in the form of a C-card. Your C-card is the wallet-sized document divers receive from a diver training agency after completing a structured course. For example, an Open Water Diver certification attests that the diver has suc- cessfully completed coursework, confined water exercises, and open water evaluation dives, demonstrating basic skills and knowledge to enjoy open water scuba diving consistent with their training. A certification earned in warm, calm Caribbean waters does not automatically prepare a diver for a cold-water dive with limited visibility. The C-card serves as a passport that allows divers to rent gear, get air fills, and book trips with a dive center or other professional operator. It proves that at the time of your certification, you possessed
conditions, such as deep dives, coldwater or overhead envi- ronments such as wrecks, caves or under ice, if they lack relevant experience or recent practice. Critical knowledge and skills can easily deteriorate if divers don't dive and practice their skills regularly. For this reason, many dive centers and dive operators may require proof of recent diving activity in the form of a logbook, or they may require a refresher course if divers haven't been in the water for a year or two. Simply having a certification card does not qualify a diver for more difficult or advanced dives. Divers should be
Certification vs. Qualification: Key Differences:
Aspect
Certification
Qualification
Definition Formal recognition of diver training completion
Actual ability and competency to dive safely
Assessed By
Diver training agencies and instructors
Self-assessment, peers, and real-world perform- ance and capability Dynamic. Depends on current skill and experience Reflects true preparedness for open water dive conditions
Validity
Permanent. Certifica- tion cards have no expiration dates Indicates minimum training; not a guarantee of safety
Safety Implications
PAGE SIX | SCUBA DIVING INDUSTRY
PAGE SEVEN | SCUBA DIVING INDUSTRY
SAFETY continued
encouraged to increase their skill set gradually through regular diving activity and by taking specialty courses, such as rescue diver, buoyancy specialty courses and advanced diver training programs. Relying solely on certification can lead to a false sense of se- curity. While certification is essential for ensuring divers have received proper training to receive their certification card, it does not guarantee ongoing proficiency or suitability for all diving scenarios. It is merely a snapshot of their capabilities at that date and time. Qualification, however, is a continuous process. Divers must honestly assess their skills, keep their knowledge and skills up to date, and gain experience in varying conditions to remain qualified for safe diving. Dive operators and instructors often evaluate both certification and qualification when determining if a diver can participate in certain activities. For example, a diver with an advanced certification may not be allowed to join a technical dive if they have not recently used or practiced the required skills or demonstrated competency in relevant environments. We would hope that the divers we train and those who sign up for our dive charters and dive vacations would understand and appreciate the difference between certification and quali- fication. For that reason, we need to strongly emphasize in our training courses that receiving the certification card is not an end in itself. Certification is simply a gateway to gaining more experience. Just as critical as student’s reaching the ap- propriate level of skill proficiency in the courses we teach is instilling in them the understanding of how critical it is to: Maintain up-to-date qualifications through regular diving ▪ or through refresher courses and continuing education. Regularly assess your own qualifications based on recent ▪ experiences and comfort level in different dive conditions. Practice diving and emergency skills frequently. ▪ Seek supervised dives when exploring new environments ▪ or those requiring advanced skills or techniques. Communicate honestly with dive operators and buddies ▪ about your current skill and experience level. Never exceed your personal limits, regardless of your cer- ▪ tification level. Certification and qualification are both crucial for scuba diving safety, but they serve different purposes. Certification is the foundation, providing proof of training, while qualification is the ongoing measure of a diver’s real-world ability to dive safely. Understanding and respecting the difference is essential for every diver’s safety and enjoyment underwater. The reminder to "dive your experience, not your C-card" is truly a safety measure because in a real-life emergency or challenging
underwater situation, a diver’s certification level is far less im- portant than the diver’s practical competence and ability to handle the situation effectively. Making sure that the divers we engage with understand and appreciate the importance of being certified and qualified will help us create a culture of diving safety. By definition, a culture of diving safety is the enduring value and priority placed on safety by every diver from the diving professional all the way through to the student-diver. Every diver will commit to personal responsibility for safety; preserve, enhance and communicate safety concerns as soon as they are identified and actively learn from past mistakes and the mistakes of others, applying safe behaviors based upon lessons learned. After all, what we want from those we train, as well as those we dive with, is to safely enjoy the truly wonderful and trans- formational sport of scuba diving! Sources: Orr, D. and Douglas, E. Scuba Diving Safety. 2007. Best Publishing Company. Orr, D. and Orr, B. 101 Tips for
Recreational Scuba Divers. 2023. Wise Diver eBook Series and Best Publishing Company. Strauss, M. (with chapters by Dan Orr and others). 2023. Best Publishing Company.
email Dan Orr
World-Class Diver Education
AVAILABLE FOR DIVE BUSINESSES RESELLER DISCOUNTS
To Order Contact Best Publishing Company +1-561-776-6066 info@bestpub.com
PAGE NINE | SCUBA DIVING INDUSTRY
SAFETY
When Simple Mistakes Mean Everything by Al Hornsby , owner, Al Hornsby Productions, Singapore Al is regarded as one of the industry’s most experienced risk management litigation executives.
I N WRITING THIS COLUMN, most of the scenarios I end up describing come out of some of the worst accidents (and lawsuits) that I can recall from my many years of in- volvement with creating, enforcing, and defending the dive standards and practices adopted and utilized by the industry,
agreed to let the man proceed with the dive. The dive site was a popular, well-suited place for intros, with no surf and protected from the prevailing winds by Oahu’s interior mountains. After the briefing, the divers were kitted up, then followed the instructor out through the calm,
both at PADI and as a longtime founding board member of the Recreational Scuba Training Council (RSTC). Throughout, the critical role played by the thoughtful, informed creation – and broad usage of dive standards and
clear water to learn the water skills. However, rather than stopping in the shallows (“in water shallow enough in which to stand”), the instructor took them a bit farther, to an area about 8 feet deep, where they submerged and
practices has been paramount, and the value to dive safety immeasurable. And, conversely, there is no debate that historically many of the most tragic and indefensible dive ac- cidents have occurred when standards have been ignored. And, even worse, the reasoning (or lack thereof) for the violations has so often been completely senseless and unnec- essary. One such incident that comes to mind occurred in Hawaii, not that many years ago. It involved an established, busy dive center, which also was well-regarded for being a valuable launching point for military vets becoming dive instructors. In this particular incident, a vacationing father and college- aged son had always wanted to try diving and finally had their chance, with the mom accompanying but not diving herself. At the dive center before the dive, the intro students filled out their paperwork, including their medical history forms. The father ticked the history of heart problems item, then gave the form to the instructor, who correctly indicated that this medical issue would not allow the man to dive without a doctor’s approval. After going into the store to begin the son’s gear setup, the instructor came out to find the form on the table, with the heart problems item scratched out; the man said that he “had made a mistake.” Unfortunately, the instructor ignored the obvious and
were taught the basic skills. At some point, the father became anxious and indicated he needed to ascend. Leaving the son on the bottom alone, the instructor took the father to the surface, where they talked “for a few minutes,” and the instructor then began swimming with the gentleman toward shore. The son, watching from below, followed them, and at some point noticed that his father had slumped and was being towed by the instructor. The man’s wife, on the beach near the water's edge, soon re- alized it was her husband being towed, and had additional fear from not knowing where her son was, who was following but still submerged and out of sight. In the lawsuit that followed, all these elements came together to create a theory of liability that was difficult and expensive to defend against. The obvious standards violations were easily argued as negligent conduct, leaving the medical cause of the death itself, which took place in plain view of both the son and the wife, the only issue up for debate. Regardless of the outcome of the litigation, the end result was tragic and
heart-rending for the family. That the instructor was a military vet who had served his country and had seen diving as a future way forward, yet immediately lost that opportunity, was another loss in itself.
email Al
PAGE TEN | SCUBA DIVING INDUSTRY
TRAINING
Women in Diving: How Leadership Strengthens Safety & Growth By Burcu Mahmutoğlu , PADI IDC Staff Instructor, Dive Cypria, Cyprus
R EDEFINING LEADERSHIP UNDERWATER Under the surface of our blue planet, leadership matters just as much as buoyancy control. When we talk about women in diving leadership, we are not asking for a quota. We are calling for a transformation. Representation is not a trend. It is safety, belonging, and excellence. Leadership underwater is not only about who holds the in- structor tag. It is about who sets the tone on the boat, who creates the safe space, who reassures the nervous diver, and who designs programs that fit every body, not just one kind. My Story: When I Was Told “That’s Enough for You.” After earning my instructor rating, I was told: “You should stay in the ▪ office, not teach in the water.” “If you dive, stay in the confined waters of Green Bay. ▪ That is more than enough for you.” “Your body is ruined now that you have given birth. It ages you ten years and it is irreversible.” Younger male instructors, some with less experience, were allowed to lead dives I was deemed unfit for. Owners listened to their ideas, even when those ideas were mine. But I turned it into fuel. I retrained myself, reread dive medicine papers, and studied how diving affects women’s phys- iology at different life stages. I watched women and men I admired, and one truth surfaced: misogyny might be incurable, but lack of knowledge and skill can be fixed. So I kept showing up. I kept getting better. Quality became my signature, and when your signature is strong, it becomes impossible to ignore. The Data Beneath the Surface Of course, I doubted myself. When the people we see as masters tell us we are not enough, the doubt does not stay at the surface. It sinks in.
The numbers tell the same story across continents: progress, but painfully slow. Globally, women make up about 39 to 40 percent of recre- ational divers, yet only 20 percent of instructors hold teaching status ( PADI Ten-Year Impact Report, 2025 ). In Europe, women represent 37 percent of new certifications but less than 18 percent of professionals, a lower ratio than in Asia or Oceania ( PADI Women in Diving Initiative, 2025 ). The Girls That Scuba Diversity Survey (2024) found that 44 percent of women divers considered going pro but decided “it was not for them,” citing lack of mentorship, unequal pay, and poorly designed gear. promotions despite identical safety and performance records. The Council of Europe Gender Equality in Sport Report (2023) showed women hold only 14 percent of leadership roles in European sport federations, a pattern mirrored in diving’s instructor hierarchies. Whether in Norway, Cyprus, or California, the deeper you go into leadership, the fewer women you find . Why Representation Matters Representation is not symbolic. It is a safety feature. A Norwegian study in the Undersea and Hyperbaric Med- icine Journal (2017) found fe- male professional divers report- ed more exclusion and fewer
Families report greater trust when a female instructor is present during youth scuba programs. Research by the Council of Europe (2023) shows that mixed- gender supervision in sports significantly reduces anxiety among minors and par- ents. For solo female travelers, the presence of women in professional roles directly
influences booking decisions. PADI’s Business of Women in Diving Report (2024) found that 68 percent of women divers prefer dive centers with at least one female instructor on staff. Inclusivity is not niche. It is an untapped market. What Works: Practical Inclusion Inclusivity in diving does not happen by accident. It takes
PAGE TWELVE | SCUBA DIVING INDUSTRY
TRAINING continued
deliberate decisions and sometimes going against well-meaning advice. 1. Invest in fit and comfort When I set up my dive center, I decided that comfort and
Inclusivity is also about how we speak, during briefings, in the classroom, and on the boat. Calm, respectful communication can transform a nervous diver’s experience. Using people’s chosen names, checking comfort before depth, and treating every diver as an equal are not small details.
dignity would not be op- tional. I invested in women- cut wetsuits and carried sizes from 3XS to 4XL, even when others said it was unnecessary. Three years later, the re- sults speak for themselves.
That is professionalism at its most human, and it is where true safety begins. A Message to Women in Diving Keep improving. Keep
Many of my repeat guests, particularly women who had pre- viously felt excluded from diving because of their body size, now recommend both me and the brands I stock. Plus-size women’s dive communities share these experiences widely. That kind of endorsement cannot be bought. It came because I chose to be inclusive, not performative. The CBI EU Dive Tourism Report (2023) confirms what I see every day: dive centers that invest in fit and accessibility see 12 to 17 percent higher repeat bookings. 2. Be visible and clear about your values From the start, every listing and advertisement for Dive Cypria proudly states: Women-owned. Women-led. LGBTQ+ and trans safe. Neu- rodivergent friendly. Trauma-informed. Those words reflect who I am and what I stand for. Some
showing up. You cannot always change bias, but you can become so competent that bias collapses under its own weight. Never apologize for being a woman. It gives you a unique lens to understand half of humanity. Families, solo divers, and younger students often trust female leadership because it signals empathy and safety. Every body deserves gear that fits. Every diver deserves to be seen. A Call to the Industry To dive center owners, course directors, and training agencies: if you are serious about safety, retention, and growth, you must be serious about diversity. Inclusive leadership is not a moral luxury. It is operational excellence. As Divernet reported in 2024, the rise in female participation
warned that it might deter male clients. It did not. Instead, it attracted first-time divers, repeat guests from abroad, and people who said they chose us because we were authen- tically different. When guests tell me why they booked, they often say, “Because you looked like a safe space, and you said it out loud.” 3. Support flexible leadership
directly correlates with better diver re- tention, safety, and community devel- opment. The ocean itself does not discriminate. The industry should not either. Buoyancy works through balance, our leadership should too. Final Thoughts If you are a woman diver doubting your place, trust me, I have been there. I heard, “That is enough for you.”
Inclusivity also means removing invisible barriers. I introduced paid child-care options for single-parent families, allowing them to train or dive without worry. The outcome? Families who return year after year. Divers who can focus on their experience knowing their children are safe. A reputation that extends far beyond our coastline. It brought more revenue and more loyalty than any campaign about “how good our diving is,” because while skills bring people in, safety and belonging bring them back. 4. Train for inclusive communication
I made it not enough for me. Now, every time I descend, I carry that sentence with me, not as a wound but as ballast turned into buoyancy. Let us reimagine leadership. Let us make excellence the standard, inclusion the culture, and representation the norm.
The next generation of divers is already watching. Let us show them what leadership looks like when everybody belongs.
email Burcu
PAGE THIRTEEN | SCUBA DIVING INDUSTRY
TRAINING
Part 4: Rebreathers 102 – The Dive Instructor’s Perspective by Jeffrey Bozanic, Ph.D. , JeffBozanic.com
S O YOU WANT TO BECOME a rebreather instructor? What exactly does that entail? Will my instructional agency allow it? What are the economics of teaching re- breathers? Are there different levels of certification? This article will address these issues, and more. In the previous three articles in this series, we examined the use of rebreathers from the individual diver’s perspective (June ‘24), the diver retailer’s perspective (August ‘24), and the liveaboard and resort perspective (November ‘24). This article will build on that information. How Do I Start? This may sound obvious, but the first step is to be certified as an instructor. There is no agency that I am aware of that will allow you to certify as a rebreather instructor without first being certified as an open circuit, open water in- structor. In fact, most of them also require you to be trained as either a Nitrox or Advanced Nitrox instructor, and possibly also a Decompression Procedures instructor or equivalent. Obviously, you must be certified on the rebreather on which you wish to train others. And just as your diver certifi- cation has a type rating, your instructor qualifications will also have a type rating. Different types of rebreathers have different prerequisites to become an instructor. All agencies will require you to have a minimum number of hours or dives on the unit. That number may vary from as few as 10 hours, to as many as 100 hours, depending on the agency and the re- breather.
instructor. This evaluation often includes confined and open water skill evaluation, written or oral exams to assess theoretical knowledge, appraisal of teaching basics and emergency skills, evaluation of practical aspects of rebreather assembly and basic maintenance, and the ability to recognize typical student problems and demonstrate appropriate intervention. Some agencies require that instructor candidates submit videotaped evidence of their ability to perform specified skills as part of the qualification process. Which Agency Should I Use? The obvious place to start is the agency with which you are certified to teach open water scuba. While not all agencies certify rebreather divers, most of the larger ones do. You also want to examine which rebreathers your agency supports with training programs. There is no agency of which I am aware that supports every rebreather that has ever been manufactured. Many support a large selection of rebreathers, others only support one or two. Several agencies have been established to support only a single model or manufacturer. In some cases, the training agency and the manufacturer are the same entity, or share common ownership. If you find that your rebreather of choice is not supported by your current training agency, then you will need to cross over to another training agency if you wish to teach on that unit. Most training agencies have streamlined pathways to
join their agency if you are currently qualified as an instructor with another organization. Many have prerequisites, such as having taught a minimum num- ber of students or classes, a minimum time served as a qualified instructor, and usually having no current pending instructional or ethical violations or in- stances under review. Contact the agency under whose auspices you are interested in teaching directly for details on what
There may also be a requirement to have issued a minimum number of certi- fications. For example, PADI requires demonstrated experience teaching PADI open water and continuing education courses, generally interpreted as a minimum of 25 certifications issued at different levels. To advance from teaching no-de- compression air diluent on a given re-
Start with What You Know
breather to teaching mixed gas CCR, TDI requires that in- structor candidates must have taught 15 students on the specific unit and also have one year teaching experience on the unit-specific CCR. All of the agencies incorporate some type of evaluation of the instructor candidate prior to certifying them as a rebreather
they require for crossing over. Agencies which support a wide variety of rebreather manu- facturers and units include: TDI, IANTD, PADI, and RAID. Others which support a more modest range of units include NAUI, SSI, and BSAC, DiveTalk Go, GUE, Akuana, and others generally only support a single or few manufacturers.
PAGE FOURTEEN | SCUBA DIVING INDUSTRY
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TRAINING continued
Note that in addition to being approved by your training agency, many rebreather manufacturers also mandate that you must meet their approval as instructors. They often work with the training agencies to help vet and qualify the persons that they wish to have teaching on their units. In some cases, manufacturers prefer instructors who are brand loyal to their units. Most require that the instructors own their own unit, or have unlimited access to the same, through their dive shop, as an example. Some manufacturers also limit the number of instructors in a given geographic area, helping ensure that the instructors have the ability to remain profitable without a great deal of com- petitive stress in attracting local students. Instructional Economics: These few paragraphs cannot adequately explain all aspects of what you must consider when teaching rebreathers. As with open water scuba instruction, economic factors in- clude both fixed and variable costs, mul- tiple revenue streams, and limitations imposed by instructional channels. Rather than a comprehensive discussion on the topic, I am going to focus on a few key items. Additional fixed costs include owning your rebreather and the associated maintenance. Rebreathers are significant in- vestments. New units average over $10,000, and minimum annual maintenance generally involves replacing one to several sensors at about $100 each. Even used units typically run into
model or various configuration options to address this re- quirement. A future article will address this topic in more de- tail. Instructional liability insurance is another concern. Not all professional liability policies will cover rebreather instruction. Some underwriters offer rebreather coverage as a supplemental policy, increasing your annual insurance cost. DAN will include rebreather instruction at no additional fee, so long as you disclose your activity and the units upon which you instruct when you apply for the policy. They then issue a rider
providing such coverage. However, if you allow students to use your personally owned rebreathers, an additional insurance fee is required to cover such use. Increased variable costs include the cost of supplies, like absorbent and oxygen fills. Batteries may represent another cost that increases directly with use. The more the rebreather is used, the higher main- tenance costs are likely to be. Income streams are similar to open
Multiple Units are Ideal
circuit scuba instruction, but often magnified. As one example, tuition for a beginner scuba class may range from $99 to about $350 per student. A beginner rebreather student may pay $1,500 to $3,000, roughly ten times more than for open circuit training. Thus, a single student may offer the same income as 8-10 beginner scuba students. This is obviously an attractive proposition.
the several thousands of dollars, on top of the general open circuit equipment that you must own. Manufacturers (through RESA, the Re- breather Education and Sales Association) generally mandate that instructors use the exact same unit as their students during in- struction. The justification provided is that they want the instructor to be able to demon- strate skills during instruction, allowing the students to see exactly what it is they are sup- posed to do. Unfortunately, from an economic perspective, that means that if you wish to teach on multiple platforms, you must own multiple rebreathers. Even if you are using
Student divers need the rebreathers they will be using. If they purchase them through the instructor, or through a dive store with the instructor’s guidance and support, the instructor often earns a commission or profit on the sale. The same may be true of open circuit gear, but with rebreathers the revenue to the instructor may exceed $1,000 per student, eclipsing the commission amount of a typical equipment sale to an entry-level open circuit student. Due to the high purchase cost of re- breathers, some students opt to rent rather than buy units. In many cases,
Rebreather Type Rating Limitations
the same rebreather, it may not be configured identically (front versus back mounted counterlungs, for example, or BOV (bailout valve) versus DSV (dive/surface valve)), meaning that you may be required to have multiple units of the same
students will rent a rebreather for the duration of training, often paying $500 or more for the 5-7 days that training entails. This revenue stream may accrue to the dive store, the instructor, or be shared between them.
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Staying Current: One final consideration is your personal activity level. It is far more challenging to find rebreather students than it is to find open circuit students. Almost all agencies mandate some form of currency requirements, either a minimum number of dives annually, or a minimum number of students certified over a one to two-year period. Agencies may require you to certify at least one student at your highest
Advanced Training Opportunities and Other Income Possibilities: Some agencies differentiate their training between “recreational” and “technical” levels. Others regard all rebreather training as “technical.” Many agencies support a variety of advanced courses. These may include decompression procedures, helitrox (small percentage helium with 21% oxygen as diluent), normoxic trimix (diluent containing
some fraction of oxygen and nitrogen and 16-21% oxygen), and hypoxic trimix (diluent containing increased helium fractions and oxygen fractions less than 0.16 atm). Courses may also be defined not by the diluent gas permitted, but by the maximum depth to which the student is qualified to dive (for example, PADI’s Tec 40 CCR, Tec 60 CCR, and Tec 100 CCR). These two factors are closely correlated.
qualification level over the same period, or else lose your authorization to teach at that level. Being aware of and meeting these requirements is necessary to main- tain your teaching status. Conclusion: As can be seen, income opportunities with closed circuit in- struction can far exceed that of open water instruction. However, the challenges can be significant, with student recruit- ment hurdles, increased fixed and variable
Rebreather Instructor Certification Includes
Open Water Enviroments
Leadership training may include rebreather divemasters or instructors. Most training agencies require that you must have personally certified a minimum number of students on a given system before being allowed to teach leadership levels. And as with closed circuit instructors, some manufacturers may also need to approve the instructor trainers for their units. Offering guided rebreather dives, rebreather refresher courses, introductory rebreather experiences, and hosting dive travel tailored to rebreather clients offer other income potential.
costs, and the need to validate your personal skills and in- structional competency by certifying students on a regular basis. Selecting a rebreather with a limited instructor pool but strong growth potential may ameliorate some of these difficulties, but that may be difficult to identify and or predict. Ultimately, many variables must be evaluated, matched
with your personal development goals and ob- jectives, and properly weighed prior to making the decision to jump into the instruction of re- breathers.
email Jeffrey
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TRAINING
Part 1: New Revenue Streams at Colleges and Universities by Tec Clark , owner, ScubaGuru Academy & The Campus Edge Training for Pros
D id you know that there are over 4,000 colleges and uni- versities in the United States? And did you know that 87% of them have at least one swimming pool? In fact, colleges and universities have state- of-the-art facilities including pools, classrooms, recreation centers and food courts. But they also have some- thing extremely special – college stu- dents! College students are young, healthy, adventurous and eager to learn. They are also incredibly social and bond with their peers by doing new things together. This makes diving courses and trips one of the most popular activities on college campuses worldwide. That means your services as a dive professional are extremely needed at colleges and universities. But how do you get your foot in the door, where do you start? That’s where I come in. After running two of the largest university diving programs
in the world, I am giving my experience and expertise to dive professionals through my new online course The Campus Edge: Your Guide to Developing College and University Diving Programs. In The Campus Edge course you will learn how to design, propose, operate and promote three major programming areas at colleges and universities: Scuba Clubs, Recreational Courses and Ac- ademic Courses. Plus, I include three bonus chapters with even more strate- gies to get into a college or university. They are Scientific Diving Support, Assisting Professors with Field Trips and Leasing Pools on Campuses. You even get two customizable templates for a Scuba Club Policies and Procedures Manual and a course syllabus for a 15 week academic open water diver course. And if that wasn’t enough, one of the highlights of this online course is that when you purchase this course, you also receive a free one- hour consultation with me. One on one, via Zoom, I research the colleges and universities you want to work with, then I help you strategize the right departments and people to propose to. I’ll even help with your proposal, or prep you for your meetings with various administrators. In The Campus Edge , I help you navigate the complexities of colleges and universities and avoid terminology or strategies that will close doors. In fact, I help you understand the way university administrators think, what their hot-button issues are, and what would be in line with institutional and educational objectives. And, most importantly, understand how things get done on college campuses. The online course, the templates and the one-hour consultation with Tec Clark are only $297. I’m confident that when you use the strategies in this course, you will earn multiple times the price of this course. If you begin now, there’s a solid chance to have a field trip or scuba club dive over Spring Break, a set of recreational courses over summer semester, or
even an academic course in Fall semester. Click or scan the QR code to learn more and start your journey today into the many opportunities and revenue streams at colleges and universities.
contact Tec
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RETAILING
Dive Retailing: 50 Years Under Pressure by William Cline , Publisher & President for 35 years of Cline Group, a marketing, research and advertising consultancy specializing the scuba diving industry.
W HAT CHANGED? 1976 – 2026. What Didn’t? And why the dive shop still matters? In 1976, I walked into a dive shop for the first time with my father. It was the long-gone Aqua Lung Center in Fullerton, CA that smelled of neoprene and salt. Regulators hung like trophies behind glass. Dive flags lined the walls. A handwritten flyer advertised a weekend trip to Catalina, and the owner, Don Himes, was the manager and the only employee. Don became an older brother, friend, dive buddy, and business mentor. That shop was more than a store – it was a clubhouse, a travel agency, and a classroom rolled into one. Divers just hung out on a Friday night, telling stories, and someone would ultimately bring a pizza, while jokes and stories were told until the owner kicked us all out and went home. It’s 2026 now, and while much has changed, the best dive shops still feel that way. The gear is smarter, the marketing is digital, and the travel is global – but at the heart of it all is something that no algorithm or e-commerce platform has managed to replace: human connection. This is the story of how dive retailing has transformed over the last 50 years – from beach huts and typewriters to TikTok and text-to-chat AI. And why, despite everything, the local dive shop still matters more than ever. The Analog Era: Dive Shops as Gatekeepers (1976 – 1995) If you wanted to learn to dive in the late 1970s and 1980s, you went to your local dive store. Period. They were the gate- keepers of the underwater world. There was no online training, no big-box scuba sections, and no Amazon reviews. If you were curious about diving, the shop was your oracle. And if they didn’t like you? Well, good luck. Most stores were run by passionate, hands-on owners – often instructors or former military divers – who knew their customers’ names and the serial numbers on their regulators. Certification cards were printed on cardstock. Dive computers were rare and expensive. And gear decisions were based on what the shop stocked, not what someone read in a forum (because there were no forums). Booking a trip meant visiting the shop, reading brochures, and mailing in a deposit. Travel agents or niche wholesalers managed reservations. The idea of booking a trip yourself was almost laughable.
Yet business was booming. Thanks to a true visionary, Dr. Alex Brylske, who wrote the first modular scuba course, training took a global jump start. Now, anyone could start locally and finish their courses on vacation. It was truly revo- lutionary and soon every major training agency followed suit. The sport was growing. The Caribbean was being discovered. And the dive store was the hub for it all. The Growth Years: Standardization and Specialization (1995 – 2005) As the 90s progressed, the dive industry professionalized. Training agencies matured and proliferated. Specialty courses exploded – Nitrox, Rescue, Tech, and DPV. Retailers began to standardize their sales floors, using point-of-sale systems
and membership cards. Multi-location chains started to ap- pear. The big shift was looming: the Internet. It started slow – just brochure websites and basic product listings. A few retailers experimented with online gear sales, but margins were still protected by MAP pricing and the difficulty of nav- igating digital payment systems. Still, whispers of change were everywhere. I remember sitting on a plane in 2005, writing a piece titled “Dive Retailing: A 20-Year Perspective.” I realized then, as I typed on a laptop connected to GPS at 35,000 feet, that the tools we used to sell and serve customers were about to evolve at warp speed. And they did. The Shockwave: E-commerce and the Rise of the Web (2005 – 2015) By the mid-2000s, e-commerce had entered the dive world
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with full force. Web-only retailers began undercutting brick- and-mortar shops. Drop-shipping became common. Google Ads appeared next to every product name. Suddenly, local dive shops weren’t just competing with the shop across town – they were competing with warehouses a thousand miles away. Margins shrank. Customer loyalty wavered. Some shops closed. Others scrambled to adapt. But out of that chaos came reinvention. Smart retailers leaned into what online couldn’t offer: local diving, personal instruction, real-time service, and group ex- periences. They stopped seeing themselves as just equipment sellers and began positioning as community centers, travel The Social Era: Divers Become Influencers (2015 – 2020) Facebook and Instagram transformed how divers commu- nicated. Suddenly, every dive shop was also a media company. Dive photos were no longer confined to a customer bulletin leaders, and lifestyle brands. And then came social media.
They turned their instructors into video hosts. They offered eLearning bundles with home-delivered gear. They sold “future dive credits” and ran webinars with industry legends. And something amazing happened: divers showed up. They stuck with their shops. They donated. They shared. They rallied. That’s when I realized that the value of a dive shop isn’t just in its product – it’s in its people. The Modern Dive Shop: Hybrid, Human, and Here to Stay (2023 – 2025) Today’s best dive retailers are hybrid models. They’re part e- commerce, part event host, part education provider, part local guide, part travel agent and part equipment repair shop. They’re using AI to analyze customer data, text marketing to drive loyalty, video content to build brand, and apps to manage bookings and certifications. But none of that works without a beating heart behind it. They’re also focusing more than ever on local relevance. Instead of competing globally, they’re creating irreplaceable local experiences: Sunset dives with group dinners ▪ Women’s Dive Day events ▪ Coral restoration trips ▪ Dive & Dine nights with visiting manufacturers ▪ Youth camps and adaptive diving clinics ▪ These experiences build something no online retailer can touch: community. What Endures After 50 Years? We’ve gone from handwritten waivers to digital apps. From bulletin boards to branded In- stagram pages. From once-a-year postcards to twice-a-day push notifications. And yet, the things that matter haven’t changed: Divers still want to belong. They still want to be taught, guided, and inspired. They still want a tribe. If you walk into a dive shop today and hear laughter, shared stories, and someone being gently nudged to book their first trip – you’ll know that retailing in diving is alive and well. What’s Next? Will the next 20 years bring AI-powered gear advisors? Virtual dive training via headset? Fully automated dive travel planning? Probably. But I don’t believe the essence of this business will ever change. Diving is about transformation. So is retailing. And when the two come together with integrity and purpose, the result is something more than a sale – it’s a memory, a lifestyle, a lifelong connection. Here’s to the next 50 years of pressure, passion, and purpose.
board – they were hashtags, stories, reels, and live videos. Product demos became unboxings. Trip debriefs became blog posts. “Customer referrals” became user-generated content. Dive professionals started building their own audiences, and retailers began hiring not just instructors, but creators – people who could teach, inspire, and connect in the digital space. Shops that embraced this shift flourished. They didn’t resist change. They humanized it. They hosted fun dives with GoPro giveaways. They started newsletters and YouTube series. They leaned into emotion and storytelling – tools that Amazon simply can’t replicate. Pandemic & Pivot: The Great Reset (2020 – 2022) Then, everything stopped. The COVID-19 pandemic closed borders, grounded group trips, and forced dive shops, like every business, to adapt or close. Some shuttered. Many struggled. But others pivoted fast. They launched online gear fittings.
email William
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