Want details on in-water training courses? Just scroll down page
2022 was a very productive year with plenty of in-water training, you can see 11 end of course photo albums below, they show you what Steve and his students got up to on each course. Make sure to read all photos descriptions as Steve explains what was happening in each photo and shares many helpful tips and tricks.
Due to a new addition in the family and the fact Steve is working hard right now creating more online training and updates, this will mean he is running less in-water training courses in 2023. Towards the end of the year, look back here for updates on 2024 training opportunities with Steve, you can get in touch via social links at the top of this webpage. Don't worry we have a great team of instructors offering plenty of in-water training courses - see here
All course information and pricing is found further down on this page, just scroll and have a good look and read through of everything. All students must complete our online training prior to any in-water courses - see here
Thank you, to everyone who supports us with the online training it really does allow us to keep doing what we do. There is going be lots of amazing online content released in 2023 - details here
Make sure to read this.. then choose your training course below
Steve Martin, answers.. Can you really learn to scuba dive online using eLearning?
100% for sure you can.. The online training I have spend the last 8+ years creating is completely unique and unlike anything else you will find in the dive industry!
In a nutshell, I have produced "video based" instructor lead eLearning materials, that are based off what I teach to others during their live in-water training. Right now you can get up to 40 hours (262 individual lessons) which been professionally edited to include complete voiceover, slow motion and zoom effects, there in easily digestible chunks with the average lesson length being 9 minutes.
The online training videos are just like me being right there in front of you, they cover everything from step by step equipment setup to rescue work, dive planning and of course actual underwater skills demonstrations, that show extremely detailed breakdown so you can learn correctly, as well as how to solve all common problems from all my past students in training.
When I teach any in-water training course, I like many other people make mistakes and will miss to tell you certain things!, this is because believe it or not, I am only human! My online training took me thousands of hours to put together and all lessons were designed one by one from scratch. There are so good in fact, they now totally replace me needing to teach any theory, equipment setup or demonstrate in-water skills during my in-water courses.
Now, I require every student to fully complete my online training before I will get in the water with you. It's simple, I want to make you the best I can with the little contact time we get during a 3 or 4 day course. So you pre-studying my online materials, then we can focus 100% on your in-water skills and diving ability. What I say in a course you can easily forget afterwards, you never forgot my online training as it is yours to watch as many times as you want 24/7.
I fully stand behind both my online and in-water training, so much so I will guarantee your money back if you really did not find it the best investment in your diving career.
"Why every diver can benefit from my online training"
Explained by ..ex-student, sidemount instructor and online course user
Vas Proud I think that there is a miss-understood difference between a “traditional dive course” and this online video “course”. The products are quite different and it is not valid to compare them “like for like”.
With a traditional course, you are getting a certain amount of contact time with a dive professional and you are relying on them to give you training in the time available. If you have questions, you can ask – but are you taking notes? are you going to remember every word that was spoken? are you going to have a photographic memory for every skill you were shown or the equipment setup you used? If you now have other students on a course (which is the norm), then there is even less time for “you” and you will get a some diluted content and attention.
In my opinion, with the video “course” you are getting a different delivery method which solves a lot of the problems you would get if you only ever had done a traditional course. You can pause, rewind, re-watch and compare yourself over time as you progress. You also get a 1:1 delivery without distractions from other students.
So no one is saying these are a 100% substitute for actual in water training and they are not designed to be. They are designed to be a companion, to be a benchmark and also for you to see what top class instruction looks like so you can judge your own course and instructor!
If you genuinely do not want in water training, or can’t get it, then you can actually do a very good job of training yourself – I have met some people that actually did this very effectively – but this is not for everyone and not something I think that is the point of the video “course” – so you should not compare it like that.
I have taken in water training from Steve and also from some other (even more well-known!) names in diving – and the user experience is different vs. going with the online “course”. However, after four days of side mount essentials, did Steve actually transfer the same volume and quality of what is in these videos? - no way – that is just not possible. And how much did I take in, how much did I remember a year later and was I able to go from warm water, aluminium cylinders to UK, dry suit and steels with ease? - again, no way!
The cost of the video course is way less (around 15% in my case) than the water training for my entry level SM water training – and that is without factoring the costs to get to the UK sites, flying abroad & accommodation. If I then consider my tech SM training, it makes the videos a negligible cost overall.
So my opinion here is just that these are different products and that the value can’t be judged on the same ideas as we have been used to for say a four day training course. Buy the video course – Steve will no doubt refund you if you aren’t happy!