--- DOWNLOADABLE (PDF) FULL 2025 CLASS & LOCAL DIVE SCHEDULE ---

Learning to dive in a basic Open-Water class just barely scratches the surface (no pun intended) of what you need to know. We've long said that getting your certification card is like getting a license to learn. And no matter how many dives you've done or how long it's been since you were originally certified, there's always something new to think about. We've tried to narrow things down to what seem to be the eight that people are not only most interested in learning, but which can be the most immediately useful:

PLEASE NOTE THAT SOME OF THESE CLASSES
(FISH, TABLES PHOTO, NITROX) ARE DONE VIA ZOOM
WHILE THE OTHERS TAKE PLACE AT VETS PARK IN REDONDO BEACH

ALSO NOTE THAT WE FEEL SO STRONGLY THAT THESE CLASSES
TEACH ESSENTIAL SKILLS, MANY (except nitrox)
ARE OFFERED FREE DURING THE YEAR
(and the Squid Dive is ALWAYS free)

BEACH
DIVING
MADE
EASY

Beach diving is a big part of the SoCal diving scene. But not everyone necessarily got a beach dive during their basic class or maybe your training consisted of the instructor saying "Go!" This non-certification class will take you on one beach dive at Redondo's Veterans Park and will give you the ins and outs of "reading" the waves and the beach, make the entry, make the dive, and get out without embarrassing yourself. This can also be  taken if what you simply want is an escort for your beach dive experience. Always on a Saturday at 9AM.

SCHEDULE FOR 2025: February 8, 11, July 12, September 6, and December 13

NIGHT
DIVING

Similar to the thought behind the Beach Diving class, you may simply want an escort when you do your first night dive. You've come to the right place.  We also do these at Redondo's Veterans Park and the experience consists of a single-tank dive. It's recommended you have a few post-certification dives under your belt and it's helpful if you've done a couple of beach dives prior to trying one at night. Always on a Thursday, meeting some time around sunset.

SCHEDULE FOR 2025: April 24, June 12, August 14, and October 30

SURF
ENTRIES
MADE
EASY

Chances are that your "training" for surf entries in your basic class consisted of your instructor yelling "Let's go!!" while waves that you swore were 10-feet tall bore down upon you. Most people are either not very good at surf entries, terrified of them, or both. But the reality is that we've got lots of good shore diving here in SoCal, so it's a useful skill. This class is taught as skin-dive-gear only (so no tanks) and will start with a short lecture on how to "read" a beach and what to watch out for. Then we'll go play in the surf, showing you not only the right things to do but the wrong things to do as well and how to recover from those.

SCHEDULE FOR 2025: January 11, May 17, August 39, and November 8

NAUI NITROX

Although we were one of the last stores in the world the accept the concept of recreational divers using nitrox as a breathing gas, we're the best store to learn how to use it because we've thoroughly investigated all the ins and outs of diving nitrox, and didn't just succumb to the hype. We'll teach you all about PPO2s, proper and improper uses of nitrox, the dangers of oxygen toxicity, how to analyze tanks, and a whole lot more. At the end of the classroom session you'll be qualified to dive nitrox. Course fee covers instruction only. You will to purchase some other materials.

SCHEDULE FOR 2025: May 14 and October 15

NAVIGATION
MADE EASY

There's a great peace of mind to be had knowing that when you enter the water, you have the ability to return pretty close to the spot where you started. And that's what our Navigation class is all about. We teach it in two parts: Dry and Wet. "Dry" is actually done on land (much easier to see and correct mistakes) and requires no dive gear whatsoever, other than a compass. We will cover the basics of what the compass is telling you, show you how to run a reciprocal (out and back), as well as how to start to get fancy with triangles, squares, etc. And we'll give you some easy tips as how to estimate distances traveled.  If you like, you could just do the "dry" version and get a very good feel for how to use a compass along with natural aids to navigation.

SCHEDULE FOR 2025: April 5, August 9, and October 18

SECRETS OF
FISH ID

The question we hear most often after a dive is, "What was that fish?" This class aims to help you discover those answers on your own. We'll start with some basics of fish identification, learning common shapes, behaviors, habitats, and other things that help ID fish. Then we'll follow that up with some practical applications of actually figuring out the IDs of some fish pix. Because people travel so much nowadays, we'll cover California fish, Caribbean fish, and Indo-Pacific fish. But you'll also learn, in addition to some specific names, that there are common characteristics that work in each ecosystem and once you get comfortable with some of the basics, the techniques work anywhere in the world.

SCHEDULE FOR 2025: January 9, June 18, and November 12

PHOTO
WORKSHOP

With the proliferation of cameras nowadays, from small point-and-shoots to big housed DSLRs to small video/still cameras like the GoPro, it seems like everyone is taking pictures or shooting video. And - as many of you probably already know - it's easy to take crappy shots. But to take ones you're proud of takes a little bit of work and thinking about what you're doing. This 2-3 hour workshop aims to help you in those areas. We'll cover some of the basic things to remember when shooting, go over ways you can "fix" shots with things like Photoshop and Lightroom, and we can even look at things you've already shot and see if we can spot what the problems are. It's very free-form, and very hands on. The goal is for you to walk away with some skills and perspective that you didn't have when you walked in. And whether you're a new shooter or a veteran, we're willing to bet that you can become a better shooter after spending an evening with us.

SCHEDULE FOR 2025: March 26 and August 20

EASY
TABLES & COMPUTERS

With more and more diving "education" on-line these days, it seems there's less and less emphasis on some of the science and math behind our sport. This class is designed to simply that for you and make the process easier to understand. We'll start with the basic gas laws and physics: Boyle, Dalton, and Henry. Then we'll look at Haldane's research into decompression sickness which will take us into a simplified explanation of how (and why) dive tables work. After we've cleared the mental cobwebs about that, we go into computers, which essentially tell you the same thing as dive tables do, but on a much more sophisticated level.

SCHEDULE FOR 2025: February 19, July 16, and December 3