Location and Facilities
The Academy of Live-Aboard Diving is conveniently located in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, just off of Interstate 95. The Academy is located just a stone's throw away from Ft. Lauderdale International Airport, which is served by all major airlines. Ft. Lauderdale is a flourishing cosmopolitan city that offers a temperate climate, beautiful beaches, convenient shopping, excellent restaurants and exciting night life. The Academy's state-of-the art facilities include a modern classroom equipped with E-6 processing lab, video editing lab, equipment repair workshop, compressor/ tank fill station, and nautical line/cleat workstation. The Academy also owns a fully equipped dive boat to provide basic vessel safety and operations training as well as "hands on", in-water training for U/W photography and video.
Where To Stay
Ft. Lauderdale offers various types of accommodations ranging from luxurious ocean front suites to small family run hotels to dormitory style crew houses. The academy will make every effort to provide roommate assistance to help defray lodging expenses, but cannot guarantee the availability of a roommate. Please call us for further lodging information.
Transportation In Ft. Lauderdale
Students are welcome to bring their own cars for their stay in Ft. Lauderdale. For students without their own vehicles, Ft. Lauderdale does offer inexpensive public transportation. Additionally, arrangements can be made to borrow one of the academy's loaner bicycles.
Application and Pre-requisites
Because the Academy of Live-aboard Diving is committed to offering personalized, "hands on" training, class size is limited. The application process is selective, and submission of an application does not guarantee admission into the program.
All candidates must be certified Scuba Instructors with current liability insurance. It is highly recommended that candidates posses a background in U/W photography, U/W Videography, U/W Naturalist, Nitrox Diver, Night Diver, Deep Diver, and Equipment Repair. As a minimum, it is suggested that candidates familiarize themselves with the knowledge reviews for the previously mentioned specialties found in PADI's Adventures In Diving manual. Candidates should also possess a complete set of instructor quality dive gear.
Cost
The price for the six week program is US $1 950 and includes all instruction and training, (including all necessary boat dives), two one- week internships upon a live-aboard dive vessel, United States Coast Guard approved fire fighting school, resume assistance and job placement service.
What to Pack
Your internship weeks aboard a live-aboard vessel will require some smart packing of the following items:
Required Gear
- Mask, snorkel and fins
- Buoyancy Compensation Device
- Regulator with First Stage and Primary Second Stage
- Octopus or Alternate Second Stage
- Dive Computer with Bottom Timer and Depth Guage
- Compass
- Wetsuit
- Knife or other Underwater Sound Producing Device
- Whistle
- Primary Dive Light and Separate Back-up Dive Light
- Suitable Clips to Prevent Reef Damage from dangling Hoses and Consoles
Clothing and Personal Items
- Seven (7) clean t-shirts l Several bathing suits
- Two (2) clean polo shirts with collar
- Four (4) pairs of shorts
- Toiletries
- Sunscreen
- Two (2) hats for sun protection
- Deck shoesWhen packing, keep in mind that storage space is extremely limited and you will need only the necessities.
Job Placement Service
Academy of Live-Aboard Diving offers a complete job placement service that is available exclusively to its graduates. Our placement service includes assistance in resume preparation and assistance in distribution of resumes to live-aboards around the world. The Academy will make every effort to place its graduates, but cannot guarantee job placement. Live-aboards seeking ALD graduates hail from ports including the Bahamas, Bay Islands, Belize, Hawaii, Palau, New Guinea, Truk Lagoon, Virgin Islands, Windward Islands, Cayman Islands, Fiji, Galapagos Islands, Turks and Caicos and the Red Sea. Traveling to most of these destinations requires a valid passport, so plan ahead if you do not already have one.
Affiliates
The Academy of Live-Aboard Diving is proud to be affiliated with the following enterprises: