SSI Dive Guide
SSI Dive Guide is the non-professional leadership designation for divers who want to organize and lead groups of certified divers without pursuing professional certification. Builds site planning, group management, navigation, and emergency response skills. Not a substitute for Divemaster, but the right choice for divers whose goal is leadership skills, not a career change. Contact Tom’s to discuss which path is right for you.
Availability: Contact us for booking information
You Want to Lead. You Are Not Looking for a Career. Dive Guide Is the Right Starting Point.
Not every diver who wants to lead wants a professional certification. Dive Guide is the SSI non-professional leadership designation: it gives you the skills, knowledge, and SSI recognition to organize and lead dives for groups of certified divers without crossing into professional territory.
Dive Guide is the entry point into the Lead / Pro pathway for divers who want leadership skills, not a career change. It is also an honest prerequisite conversation: Divemaster and above are assessed and gated. Dive Guide is not. Speak with Tom’s to discuss whether Dive Guide, Divemaster, or something else is the right next step. Contact us to discuss.
Dive Guide at a Glance
| Certification | SSI Dive Guide (non-professional) |
| Price | Contact Tom’s for pricing |
| Format | Knowledge development plus in-water leadership skills training |
| Pool | Tom’s 90°F heated indoor pool · 5909 Burnet Rd, Austin TX |
| Prerequisites | Open Water Diver certification (any agency). Diver Stress & Rescue strongly recommended. Comfortable leading dives in familiar conditions. |
| Professional status | Non-professional. Dive Guide does not authorize you to receive compensation for leading dives or to work as a dive professional. See Divemaster for professional certification. |
| Next step | Divemaster is the Step 1 professional certification in the Lead / Pro pathway. Dive Guide is the non-professional alternative for those who want leadership skills without the full professional track. |
Who Dive Guide Is For
You already lead your buddy group informally.
You plan the dives, orient the group to the site, and keep an eye on everyone underwater. Dive Guide formalizes what you are already doing and gives you a recognized credential behind it.
You want leadership skills, not a professional certification.
Divemaster is the professional starting point. If you want the skills and the SSI recognition without pursuing a professional career, Dive Guide is the appropriate path.
Considering Divemaster eventually but not yet.
Dive Guide can serve as a stepping stone toward professional certification for divers who want to build leadership experience before committing to the full Divemaster curriculum.
You coordinate group travel and want the background to do it well.
Planning dive trips for a group involves site selection, briefings, buddy pairing, and managing conditions. Dive Guide provides the knowledge framework behind organized group diving.
Dive Guide Skills and Knowledge
Reading and briefing a dive site
How to assess a site before a dive, identify entry and exit points, read conditions, and deliver a clear, useful pre-dive briefing that prepares a group to dive safely and enjoyably.
Keeping a group together and safe
Communication underwater, recognizing stress signals, buddy team management, and the leadership responsibilities that come with being the most experienced diver in a group.
Finding your way and bringing your group home
Natural navigation, compass use in a group context, and the judgment to orient a group to a new site without a guide to follow. Relevant for local lake diving as well as travel.
First response for a group leader
Situational awareness for a group leader, recognizing and responding to emergencies in a group setting, and coordinating with surface support. Builds directly on Diver Stress & Rescue skills.
Where Dive Guide Fits in the Lead / Pro Pathway
Dive Guide is the non-professional entry point into the Lead / Pro pathway. The professional track begins with Divemaster.
Dive Guide
Non-professional leadership. Lead certified diver groups without professional compensation.
Divemaster
First professional certification. Lead certified divers commercially. Prerequisite: assessment required.
Asst. Instructor
Begin teaching under a certified instructor. ITC preparation begins here.
OW Instructor
Full teaching authority. Certify Open Water and continuing education students.
See the Lead / Pro pathway for the full picture.
Tom’s has been building divers into leaders since 1982. The Dive Guide program gives non-professional divers the knowledge and skills to lead responsibly, and Tom’s provides the depth of instructor experience to deliver it properly. With 30 or more active SSI-certified instructors, professional candidates work alongside a genuine teaching team, not a single instructor with a course catalog.
Austin’s original SSI Dive Center.
Over forty years of diver development in Austin. The Dive Guide program at Tom’s is not a new offering: it is part of a long-term investment in building capable, responsible divers.
A real teaching team, not a solo instructor.
With 30 or more active SSI-certified instructors on our team, Dive Guide candidates train in an environment where leadership is practiced daily, not just taught theoretically.
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
Dive Guide is a non-professional designation. It gives you SSI recognition as a capable group leader for recreational diving, but does not authorize you to receive payment for leading dives or to work as a dive professional. Divemaster is Step 1 of the SSI professional track, is gated by assessment, and requires additional prerequisites including Science of Diving and Diver Stress & Rescue. If you want a professional career in diving, Divemaster is the starting point. If you want leadership skills and recognition without a professional commitment, Dive Guide is right.
Dive Guide can provide a foundation of leadership experience that prepares you for Divemaster, but it is not a formal prerequisite or credit toward DM certification. If your goal is Divemaster, it is worth discussing the most direct path with Tom’s before enrolling in Dive Guide.
Strongly recommended. A group leader needs to recognize stress early, respond effectively, and manage emergencies. The skills from Diver Stress & Rescue are directly applicable to the Dive Guide role and reflect the standard Tom’s expects of divers who lead others.
Call Tom’s at (512) 451-3425 or email sales@tomsscuba.com to discuss your diving background and whether Dive Guide or another path is the right fit.