SSI Altitude Diving Course
Diving at altitude changes your decompression calculations in ways your standard tables don’t account for.
Adjusted dive planning for elevations above 1,000 feet. SSI Altitude Diving teaches you the theoretical depth calculations that keep mountain and Hill Country dives within safe no-decompression limits, across 2 open water training dives.
Availability: Contact us for booking information
Diving at Altitude Changes Your Decompression Calculations in Ways Your Standard Tables Don’t Account For.
Every dive table and dive computer algorithm you have trained on assumes you are entering the water at sea level. Above 1,000 feet, that assumption quietly stops being true. Lower atmospheric pressure at altitude changes how nitrogen behaves in your body, which means a depth that looks routine on a standard table can carry more decompression risk than it appears to.
SSI Altitude Diving teaches you to calculate theoretical, sea-level-equivalent depths for any elevation between 1,000 and 10,000 feet and apply them correctly across 2 open water training dives. $249 per diver (group) or $349 (private). Prerequisites: Open Water Diver, minimum age 12.
Nobody Warns You That Your Dive Tables Have a Sea-Level Asterisk on Them
If you have only ever dived near sea level, there is no reason you would have run into this yet. It is not a gap in your training. It is a condition your Open Water course was never built to cover, because most divers never leave sea level.
This is exactly what continuing education is for. Not to prove you are advanced. To replace a blind spot in your dive planning with a skill you will actually use every time you dive somewhere higher than home.
Is this you?
This Course Is for the Diver Heading Somewhere Higher Than Austin
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This is usually the right next step if any of these sound familiar.
You are traveling to Colorado, the Rockies, or another mountain destination
High-elevation lakes and quarries are popular dive destinations. This course is what makes diving them within your certification, not a guess.
You want to dive higher-elevation lakes outside Austin
Some Texas Hill Country lakes sit above the 1,000-foot altitude threshold. This course is what lets you dive them correctly.
You want to actually understand what changes at altitude
Boyle’s Law, atmospheric pressure, and the math behind equivalent-depth tables, explained clearly, not just handed to you as a rule.
You want your dive computer to actually do this for you
Understanding the manual calculation makes trusting a computer’s automatic altitude compensation a lot more meaningful.
Not sure?
Choose Your Optimize-Lane Course
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You are heading somewhere above 1,000 feet elevation
Best for mountain lake trips and higher-elevation Hill Country sites your standard tables were never built for.
You want a dive computer to handle the math for you
Many computers auto-compensate for altitude. This course teaches you to use one properly, and pairs well with Altitude Diving.
You want more bottom time on every dive, everywhere
A different kind of dive-planning advantage. Recommended, not required, before this course.
Setting the record straight
What This Course Actually Covers
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"This is only for mountain climbers and extreme divers."
The certified range starts at just 1,000 feet elevation, which includes plenty of ordinary lake and quarry destinations, not only high mountain diving.
"I can just plan a shallower dive to be safe."
Guessing shallower is not the same as calculating the correct theoretical depth. This course teaches the actual equivalent-depth formula and reference tables so your dive plan is accurate, not approximate.
"I can do these training dives at Lake Travis."
Lake Travis and Spring Lake both sit below the 1,000-foot certification threshold. Your two open water training dives are scheduled at a qualifying higher-elevation site.
"This is the same as decompression or technical diving."
This is a recreational specialty within no-decompression limits. It adjusts how you calculate depth and time, it does not add decompression obligation.
What You’ll Train
Online academics followed by 2 open water training dives at a qualifying altitude site.
Boyle’s Law and how atmospheric pressure drops with elevation, the equivalent-depth formula, the Sea Level Equivalent Depth Table, and thermal and physiological considerations specific to altitude, including hydration and driving after diving.
Calculate the theoretical depth for your specific altitude and site using the Sea Level Equivalent Depth Table, then plan bottom time within the resulting no-decompression limits.
Apply your calculated dive plan in the water, with a focus on buoyancy control and holding an accurate safety stop at the adjusted depth.
Plan and dive a second altitude profile, this time using a dive computer with automatic altitude compensation where available, to compare the computer method against your manual table calculation.
Course at a Glance
| Price | $249 per diver (group) · $349 per diver (private) |
| Format | Online academics via MySSI app · 2 open water training dives |
| Location | Scheduled trip to a qualifying high-altitude site (1,000+ feet elevation). Not available at Lake Travis or Spring Lake. |
| Depth limit | Up to 100 ffw sea-level-equivalent (SSI Deep Diver certified) · up to 60 ffw sea-level-equivalent (not Deep Diver certified) |
| Prerequisites | Open Water Diver (any agency) · SSI Nitrox recommended · minimum age 12 |
| Certification awarded | SSI Altitude Diving · lifetime certification, recognized worldwide · qualifies you to dive 1,000–10,000 feet elevation |
Ready to plan your next mountain dive correctly?
SSI Altitude Diving: $249 · Austin, TX
Online academics plus 2 open water training dives at a qualifying elevation site.
Register Here Call Tom’s Email Tom’sWhere this fits in your pathway
Altitude Diving Sits in the Optimize Pathway
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Optimize is about tools and efficiency. This course builds a specific piece of dive-planning judgment that only comes up once you leave sea level, and it pairs naturally with Computer Diving for divers who want their gear to handle the calculation going forward.
Control / Comfort
Buoyancy and confidence-building skills that make any altitude dive more comfortable.
Optimize
Nitrox, computers, equipment, and other tools that make diving more efficient, wherever you are diving.
Access
Wreck diving, deep diving, and other ways to reach new environments, several of which turn up at higher elevations too.
Why Tom’s Dive & Swim
We Build Divers We Would Trust With Our Own Families.
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The best divers don’t chase certifications. They build capabilities. Knowing how to correctly plan a dive above 1,000 feet is exactly that kind of capability: it is the judgment that protects every future trip to the mountains or the Hill Country, not a one-time card.
Most Austin divers eventually travel somewhere higher than home, and this course exists specifically to prepare you for that transition before you are standing at the water’s edge doing the math for the first time. Tom’s has been Austin’s only SSI Dive Center since 1982. We were teaching scuba in Austin before any of the other Austin dive shops opened. Over 18,000 certified divers and over 400 five-star Google reviews.
Built for Austin Divers Heading Somewhere Higher
This course exists specifically because most Austin divers eventually travel to elevations our local lakes don’t reach.
Open Longer Than Any Other Austin Dive Shop Still in Business
Four decades of preparing Austin divers for conditions they will only actually encounter while traveling.
You’ll Understand the Calculation, Not Just Follow It
Boyle’s Law and equivalent-depth planning explained clearly enough that you could teach it back.
One of Austin’s Largest Instructor Teams
Flexible scheduling to fit this course in before your next mountain or Hill Country trip.
We follow DAN dive safety protocols.
Tom’s follows Divers Alert Network (DAN) safety standards and recommends DAN dive accident insurance for every certified diver. Safety is not a checkbox on our website. It is the foundation of how Tom’s has operated since 1982.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Can the open water dives be done at Lake Travis?
No. Lake Travis and Spring Lake both sit below the 1,000-foot elevation this certification requires. Your two training dives are scheduled at a qualifying higher-elevation site.
Do I need a dive computer for this course?
No. Dive 1 is planned using dive tables and the Sea Level Equivalent Depth Table. Dive 2 can be planned with a dive computer that automatically compensates for altitude, if you have one; otherwise it is also planned on tables.
Do I need to be Nitrox certified first?
No. SSI Nitrox is recommended alongside Altitude Diving but is not a prerequisite for it.
What is the maximum depth?
Up to 100 feet sea-level-equivalent depth if you are also SSI Deep Diver certified, or up to 60 feet sea-level-equivalent depth if you are not.
Is there a medical screening required?
Yes. All students complete an SSI Medical Statement before any in-water activity.
Book online, call, or email, whichever is easiest for you.