Why Train with us?

Why Train With Reef Encounters?
We get asked on a regular basis 'Isn't all dive training the same?" The answer is a resounding no. Who you choose to train with and what agency you choose will have a great effect on your future enjoyment of diving. Here at Reef Encounters your class will be small, so you will have lots of interaction with the instructor to ensure you understand all concepts and skills. Also our instructors are all constantly working on improving their dive skills and teaching techniques. This constant improvement in their personnel skills means you are getting the best training available anywhere on the planet. To further ensure you are getting expert instruction our team is lead by one of the most experienced trainers in the business with over 22 years experience in training divers at all levels. This level of expertise is not found everywhere. Also our lead trainers are readily available to consult with all clients about diving or equipment selection and freely share their expansive knowledge of diving and the underwater world.
There are also some fundamental differences you will find in your training at Reef Encounters compared to the competition:
1. All skills are conducted neutrally buoyant from the beginning. Many dive shops will overweight their students and put them on their knees to do skills- this is not diving. During a dive you should not be touching the bottom and definitely not kneeling on it. We ensure our students do not develop this bad habit. By instilling good buoyancy control from the beginning of your diving career you will find that you use less air and enjoy longer dives than many newly trained divers and even many experienced divers. This good buoyancy control will also allow you to safely enjoy a wider range of dive sites and conditions.

2. You learn to dive by diving- our dive classes average over 2.5 hours of open water dive time- this is over 2x the industry average. This means you have more time to practice your skills and get comfortable with them under the expert eyes of our instructional team who will be giving you pointers and tips, making you better all along the way.

3. All of our instructional team has been trained in all aspects of diving to include basic technical diving, sidemount diving and more. Our team can use this exposure to new techniques and cutting edge training to ensure that you get the best training possible while here on Okinawa. Our lead instructor is a very accomplished technical diver and also a Course Director Trainer with over 22 years of international diving experience that can help you guide your diving development and reach your training goals.

4. All of our students starting from open water are trained in basic rescue techniques. This element is missing from many of the most popular dive classes these days. One of the basic tenets of diving is the buddy system and at Reef Encounters we whole heartily adhere to this tenet and believe all divers should be able to render aid to the buddy even in a worse case scenario.

5. We use elearning at no extra charge for many of our courses allowing you to spend your time in Okinawa concentrating on dive skills in the water and less time in the classroom. Having grasped the basics using the books and elearning before arriving on Okinawa this also allows us to further enhance the class by expanding more on vital concepts that need it while just reviewing the concepts you have already grasped. Also our elearning does not expire so that you can go back and review concepts even years after taking the course to review before you go on that next dive vacation.

So before booking that diving class make sure you ask your instructor:
1. Will I be kneeling on the bottom learning skills? The answer should be no! When diving we do not kneel we float effortlessly above the coral and glide with the fish. You should be doing this from the first time you are on scuba. The pros at Reef Encounters will show you how.
2. Will I learn to perform a rescue of an unconscious diver in my open water class or will that be skill I have to pay more for later in another course? As diving is a buddy sport and many time our buddy is one of our loved ones we believe that this is a key skill for every diver to know. At Reef Encounters every course covers the what ifs and worst case scenarios so you can deal with whatever the ocean throws at you.
3.Will I be competent at buoyancy control when I graduate the open water course or will I need another course for that? You will have control of your buoyancy and be hovering effortlessly by the time you graduate your course at Reef Encounters.
4. How many hours of open water dive time will my course entail? Many entry level courses only have 80 minutes or less of actual dive time in the course. At Reef Encounters we average over 160 minutes of open water dive time and supplement this with confined water on scuba on skin diving skills to further round out your diving education.
5. How many people will be in my class? At Reef Encounters we keep our classes small with usually 4 people or less per instructor. You can also book a special one on one class with the instructor of your choice if you like- see our executive course schedules.

See our full range of recreational classes from Open Water to Master Scuba Diver including specilaties like Nitrox, Deep, Night and more...

Our full technical program includes Intro to Tech, Decompression Techniqes, Sidemount, Trimix and more...

Our professional level courses for those wanting to work in the industry include Divemaster, Instructor, Instructor Trainer and Course Director.