SCUBA Diving

Learn to SCUBA dive!

If you have always wanted to learn how to SCUBA dive, then Penn State is the place.

Two ways to learn to SCUBA dive

• KINES 45

  KINES 45 is a University course offered every fall and spring semester. It is a 1.5 credit course that meets twice a week for 15 weeks.

  The course is taught by NAUI instructors: Craig Brown and Tim White.

• Adventure Rec's Beginner SCUBA course

  Our Beginner SCUBA course is offered every spring semester. It meets twice a week for 8 weeks.

  Students can earn the same 1.5 credits of KINES 45 by taking this course.

  The course is taught by NAUI instructor: Paul Rentschler.

Getting certified

The KINES 45 and Beginner SCUBA course do not include the open water dives required to earn your SCUBA certification card.

Adventure Rec offers certification weekends in the summer and fall semesters to provide anyone who has completed the KINES 45 or Beginner SCUBA course the opportunity to do their open water dives in a local quarry and join the ranks of certified SCUBA divers.

Upcoming courses

Spring 2013

• Scuba Diver course — learn to dive!
• Nitrox Diver course — Advanced Scuba Diver certification required
• Dry Suit Diver course — tentative
• Training Assistant — assist with scuba courses!

Summer 2013

• Open-water certification dives

Expand your SCUBA knowledge

The two best ways to improve your diving abilities are to dive and take additional courses. To the second end, Adventure Rec offers several courses to expand your knowledge and improve your SCUBA abilities.

Courses offered

• Advanced Scuba Diver

  Intended for people who just completed their certification dives but open to any certified diver who wants to expand their SCUBA experience. The course consists of doing 6 dives with an instructor while performing various activities such as deep diving, night diving, and navigation.

• Scuba Rescue Diver

  We hope they don't, but accidents happen and when they do trained SCUBA rescue divers are there to help. This course teaches you how to recognize signs of problems before they become accidents. It also teaches you how to render assistance or completely rescue another diver.

• Nitrox Diver

  Wouldn't you like to stay underwater and enjoy the aquatic life just a little longer? Well nitrox or oxygen-enriched air allows you to do just that. This course teaches you the differences and safety precautions necessary to use nitrox instead of air in your scuba tank.

• Dry Suit Diver

  Central Pennsylvania has some great diving, but it tends to be cold. A dry suit allows you to stay dry and thus warmer while diving in PA's cold waters. This course teaches you how to use, care for, and dive a dry suit instead of a wetsuit.

• Training Assistant

  Help other's experience the wonders of breathing underwater. The training assistant program provides instruction and the opportunity to assist with beginner SCUBA courses. Your participation allows our courses to be safer and more fun and you get to reinforce your SCUBA skills through regular practice and observing what others do right and wrong.

Course announcements

To be notified about beginner SCUBA courses and/or certification dive opportunities, please sign up on the Learn to Scuba notification list by sending a blank email to: L-SCUBA-LEARN-SUBSCRIBE-REQUEST@lists.psu.edu

To be notified about additional scuba courses offered through the Adventure Rec program send a blank email to: L-SCUBA-BEYOND-SUBSCRIBE-REQUEST@lists.psu.edu

Equipment rentals

Adventure Rec maintains complete sets of scuba gear for approximately 16 divers.

This equipment is available for rent at reasonable rates for University-sponsored diving activities. These activities include:

• Adventure Rec SCUBA courses
• Nittany Divers trips and skills nights
• Penn State Science Diving activities

Contact Paul Rentschler to arrange to rent equipment if you are part of one of these activities.

SCUBA trips

Currently SCUBA trips are organized through the Nittany Divers student club.

History of SCUBA at Penn State

SCUBA has been present on the University Park campus of Penn State since around 1963 with the formation of the Nittany Divers SCUBA Club. The student run club provides a regular place for student divers to get together and talk about diving. They organize trips to local and far-off destinations and bring speakers to campus to talk about the underwater world.

Up until 2010 the Nittany Divers arranged a variety of courses and maintained a well stocked locker of SCUBA gear available for rent. These tasks are now taken care of by the Adventure Recreation program.