Aren’t all IDC’s the same? The PADI curriculum is the same; it’s the “real world” applications that set us ahead of the rest. The training you receive from the Sea Experience staff is arguably the best you can find! Our professional scuba programs are conducted by some of the most experienced and qualified instructors in the industry. Combined, the Course Directors have over 100 years of scuba industry experience and over 30,000 dives between them. Amongst them they have owned or managed dive centers, owned dive boats, worked in dive resorts, on cruise ships, and live-aboard, have military dive experience and have overall lived the dive dream! You will receive your training from people who work in the industry. Staff of Sea Experience wrote and copyrighted the first PADI Resort Specialist program, which was designed for the industry by the requests of the industry. When you attend your PADI Instructor Development Course with Sea Experience, the entire program is conducted by one of 4 PADI Platinum Course Directors! The scuba industry knowledge that you absorb, along with the experience and expertise you gain from your professional scuba courses will set you on the road to a fun, fulfilling and most of all, a successful career in the scuba diving industry.

Sea Experience is located at the Bahia Mar Resort in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and is on the beach in the heart of all the action. There are over 30 restaurants as well as convenience stores and numerous activities all within walking distance of the resort. We dive a large variety of shipwrecks and reefs just off our shores. In fact, this is where PADI professional instructor training as we know it began! There has been career instructor training taking place here for over 35 years. The Bahia Mar Resort is just minutes and a short taxi ride from the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport. We do not offer free housing or meals. Keep in mind that “nothing is free” and that you may end up in a dorm-style arrangement with up to 8 people sharing a room and meals provided with an extremely limited budget. The resort gives us special pricing for our Instructor Candidates, and you will have a private room with a refrigerator, microwave, and maid service. This provides you with your own space for privacy, quiet study, and preparation. We also have numerous other accommodation options for you ranging from budget friendly to luxurious to meet all needs.You also have an endless choice of restaurants and a grocery store nearby if you prefer to eat in.

A personal visit will go a long way in helping you make this important decision. You are making an investment in your future, and the best investment you can make in your professional scuba training is at Sea Experience in sunny Fort Lauderdale. We are very proud of our facilities and would welcome the chance to show you around, get to know more about you and your goals in the scuba industry. We want you to be 100% comfortable with your decision on where to take your training. After the tour, please accept a complimentary dive trip on our boat; do not forget your c-card! We want you to have some fun while you are with us, and you get to see the boat and perhaps talk to current students as to their training experiences. Call us to set up a time to visit or if you cannot visit but have questions or need further information, please give us a call at 954-770-3483.

Here are a few things you may want to look for, or ask about when selecting a PADI Career Development Center:

Staff Experience – How many Course Directors are there, and will they be doing the teaching? Some schools use IDC Staff Instructors for most of the program! Is the Course Director experienced in all aspects of the scuba industry?

Location – Is it on the beach? How far are the boat(s), classroom, pool, airport, and other facilities spread out? Do I need a car while I am there? Are there a variety of restaurants nearby?

Alumni – Will you become part of the largest group of instructor graduates in the world?

• Location, location, location – pool, boat, store, and classroom on the beach inside the luxurious Bahia Mar Resort, Ft Lauderdale, FL.
• Close to international airport – 10-minute easy Uber ride to the store. No hour plus taxi rides to and from the airport here!
• Housing – your choice from crew house up to luxury resorts – NO bunk houses here!!
• Food – multiple grocery stores, restaurants, and convenience stores. No resort pricing here!
• Consistency – there has been career instructor training at this location for over 35 years.
• Course Directors – We have over 100 years of SCUBA career instructor training experience – many of the books you will use were written, consulted, or contributed to, by them. You may even get the opportunity to learn from “the man who wrote the book” on instructor training. Another one has been a PADI Instructor Examiner too- no rookies hired here!
• Classes – real world SCUBA career training/qualification that the industry is requesting – no internships here vailed as a resort program that uses you for cheap labor (I am sure there are some Department of Labor issues here). We were the first to write a copyrighted, Resort Operations Specialist – all others are mere copies of this.
• Job placement – we have a full-time job placement person. We only hire our students. Other career centers are constantly advertising for staff – why is that? We currently have more career jobs than students. With over 35 years of training instructors, our alumni network is second to none. Qualifications are the key to success – we see candidates from all our competitors who did not get a job and wants to work here.
• SCUBA instructor qualifications – The number of certifications you receive in the career program are second to none. Make sure you compare this!
• SCUBA Career Training – you will leave here with over 20 diver certifications and 25+ instructor qualifications, depending on when you start. This will make you way more marketable than any other store out there. This is the reason we hire our students only – compare this to any other store!
• SCUBA industry experience – our instructors have over 100 years of solid experience in dive store, boat charter, resort, and training – a lot of other schools have instructors with less than 6 years diving experience – you will never have buyer’s remorse if you are getting the best quality training out there!
• Free Housing and food – NO. Nothing is ever free. There is a cost to that and therefore the quality of the program, instructor and certification will have to be significantly reduced. But the main reason we do not offer bunk house accommodations is the consistent interruptions by non-focused students when you are trying to study for that important exam or presentation. If you are serious about your training, a conducive learning environment is paramount.

• Most of your training is done in the ocean, not a lake.
• Training is completed in a few months rather than years as is typical with a traditional college.
• Train in an environment that you will be working in.
• Real World experience and training by those who live the dive life every day. Our staff are divers with scuba certifications ranging from Dive Master, Master Scuba Diver Trainer, Master Instructor thru Course Director.
• Sea Experience is a full-service dive center and training facility with everything located in one place including the scuba school, pool, and boats. We are located at the Bahia Mar resort and Marina, at the heart of Ft. Lauderdale Beach.
• This training is for those serious about a professional experience. There are no interns doing the training on crowded boats and you will not be staying in noisy, barrack style housing.
• Resume and job placement assistance is included in all professional level courses.

Because we are licensed with the State of Florida thru the Commission for Independent Education (CIE) the SAA has approved the classes listed on our license by the CIE. Those classes are our phase programming. Total Immersion Program (TIP), Phase 1; Specialty Diver, Phase 2; Professional Divemaster, Divemaster as a stand-alone course, Phase 3; Open Water Scuba Instructor. Phase 4; MSDT Resort Specialist and IDC Staff Instructor. If you are using the Post 9/11 Bill (Chapter 33) that is tuition based educational benefits. The Post 9/11 will fund your tuition based on your percentage of eligibility. If you don’t already have that information the paperwork can be accessed thru the VA website. The VA will issue you a Certificate of Eligibility. Please be aware that we are a Non-College Degree school and as such your benefit time reduction is not based on time in school but on the cost of our courses. You would also receive a monthly stipend while you are in class that you can use toward your accommodations or equipment if needed. That stipend is pro-rated based on time at school and is paid 30 days in arrears. You must also file a 22-1995 form with the Veterans administration electronically at www.vets.gov and we will need a copy of this form for our files. That is a “change of program” form. If you cannot print this form from the VA website, you can fill out a copy at our office for your file or we can send you a blank so you can fill it out manually and scan it to send to us via email.

Because you are not a certified diver the Total Immersion Program is the curriculum that you should be considering taking. Total Immersion Program will take you from Open Water through Divemaster in approximately 6 weeks. This program will deduct approximately 6 months off your VA Benefit. I highly suggest that you ring a VA benefit counselor at 888-442-4551 for more details and clarifications.

Also please be aware that you will be required to produce original transcripts from any schooling, university, college, or post-secondary schools that you have attended after high school before your classes begin. You should contact the registrar’s office to request these documents. They can be mailed directly to us from the school’s office, electronically sent by the school or you can mail the sealed envelope to us. Please make sure that the school sends the transcripts to Sea Experience, 801 Seabreeze Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316.

Please read the synopsis carefully as there are specific paperwork obligations outlined that you must take care of to the satisfaction of VA rules and regulations.

Please ring a VA Benefit Counselor for any questions you may have as to how your benefits can work best for you. Their number is 888-442-4551.

The above information is an overview of how your VA educational benefits can work for you. There are more details about our courses and how you can proceed forward to become a PADI diving Instructor and further your diving education beyond that.