By Jennifer Mayer
Crystal blue waters, schools of tropical fish and serene corral reef all await BYU students who have the desire to travel scuba certified throughout the world.
BYU has had a scuba diving certification program since Fall 2000, and now includes two advanced classes.
'When certified it is the tip of the iceberg,' said Craig Simons, scuba instructor. 'The big goal is the aquarium (the ocean) with the tropical fish.'
The new classes, advanced open water and rescue diving, give students an opportunity to enhance their current scuba abilities.
Once students have finished both classes, they are considered a master scuba diver, although they are 50 dives short of officially obtaining the title, said Simons, a certified Bronze scuba diver.
After master scuba diver certification, students can certify to be a divemaster and instructor.
'A master scuba diver is kind of like the black belt of diving,' Simons said.
The Advanced Open Water class lets a student determine a specialty in scuba diving, Simons said.
Specialties include altitude, buoyancy, navigation, deep (deeper than 60 feet) and night diving that allows students more experience in the field.
The rescue diving class allows students to focus on stress and self or buddy aid, Simons said. It includes some CPR training.
The beginner open water diving course certifies students to dive, Simons said. Academic requirements and pool experience are prerequisites for the course.
After studying the academics of diving, students actually have open water experience at a crater in Midway, he said. The crater drops to more than 60 feet under water.
'First students learn safety guidelines about depth, recovery and breathing,' said Brent Feland, director of the physical education department. 'Then they actually get to experience it.'
Feland enrolled in the course the first semester it was offered and has enjoyed scuba diving ever since.
At present the program has five sections for open water diving, the prerequisite course for Advanced Open Water and the Rescue Diving class.
The new classes only have one to two sections, since most students are unaware of them, Feland said. Students may take both advanced classes at the same time.
In the future, the program hopes to add scuba training for instructors and master divers, Feland said.
Students participate in classes at Simons'' scuba store called Waterworld in University Mall.