When you first became interested in diving, your primary focus was most likely on getting your Open Water Diver certification. You soon realized, however, that trying to be a “real” scuba diver with nothing more than a beginning diver certification is like trying to compete in the job market with an elementary school education. It is just plain not enough. That’s why your continuing education through Specialty Courses earns you higher ratings, including Advanced Specialty Diver and Master Diver.

• Students gain additional experience under the guidance of a knowledgeable instructor.
• They receive training for a variety of specialty diving activities.
• Their recommended depth rating goes from 60 to 100 feet.
• Further, completion qualifies divers to participate in several diving activities that are limited to “Advanced Divers Only.”

As soon as you complete your four Specialties and have logged at least 24 dives into the SSI site, you will be issued your digital Advanced Specialty Diver card.  Review our website for a listing of Specialty options or call us for more information.

Please note that the Advanced Specialty Diver recognition was previously known as the Advanced Open Water Diver certification.  In 2025, SSI introduced a new Advanced Open Water Diver certification that requires five dives, including Deep Diving and Navigation, plus 3 additional specialty areas of choice.

The training dives for some specialties are conducted at Wazee Lake, near Black River Falls.  We have Wazee weekends scheduled for June 4-7, June 25-28, July 30-August 2 & September.  For other specialties, you can start working on some of the dives on a Tuesday Night Adventure Dive starting in June, or on wreck charters in July or September.