Island paradises, complete with lively coral reefs surrounded by dancing masses of fish, fine sand beaches lined with swaying palms, excited divers chatting in the hot sun-these are the images prospective dive instructors have in mind when they think of becoming part of the dive industry. These images are true, as a matter of fact, but there is a reality to the business of diving going far beyond these simple fantasies.

The key word here is business and it begins with your basic dive instructor training, each possessing its own distinctive qualifying factors. The correct choice is the school that fits an individuals personality and study habits and seems to satisfy his/her long term goals.If you want personal attention during your dive instructor training, check out the Florida Diving Institute in Orlando. This PADI Career Development Center is small in size but big in every other respect. And, personal training is at the heart of its reputation for graduating well prepared instructors. They teach the full range of courses from Openwater to Course director preparation, including an exclusive three part series called Dive Center Operations, which covers all aspects of dive shop and dive resort operations. The personal attention comes from matching the small class size, generally six to eight students, to a core of dedicated instructors.

Keith Mattson has owned the Florida Diving Institute for 25 years and is the principal dive instructor.

Keith’s dive instructor credentials start with PADI Course Director and extend through an impressive range of instructor trainer qualifications, to include Technical Nitrox, Advanced Deep Air, Advanced Wreck, Trimix, and Rebreather.

This could be the beginning of a new way of life for you, living the dream starts here at Florida Diving Institute. Our school is approved for veterans training.

Florida Diving Institute is a highly respected instructor training facility. We are rated as a PADI 5 Star Career Development Center. Our students enter their final exams feeling confident and fully prepared. This confidence also extends into life after the IE, when they start to run their own courses.

I have been in the business of training instructors for 35 years and I have conducted over 200 IDC's in the past 25 years. If you are looking for an experienced course director, come to the Florida Diving Institute. You will depart with a wealth of knowledge and experience that can be carried with you forever. Some of my students are now PADI Course Directors and they use the same techniques that I have developed over the years of my teaching career.

I look forward to having the opportunity of including you among my increasing number of successful CDC candidates and remember: "The dream starts here at the Florida Diving Institute."

You can enter an IDC through a Career Development Center as a PADI Divemaster or Assistant Instructor with 60 logged dives and have been certified for six months.

It’s the ‘post-graduate" training that gives you the edge in the dive instructor marketplace, though, and Florida Diving Institute offers a full spectrum of instructor courses. The first post graduate course is PADI’s Emergency First Response Instructor, a two day course that includes teaching CPR. Next you can choose from 16 PADI Specialty Instructor courses, including U/W Photographer, U/W Navigator, Night Diver, Deep Diver, Boat Diver, Equipment Specialist, Multilevel Diver, Drift Diver, Oxygen First Aid, U/W Naturalist, Nitrox, Wreck Diver, Rebreather Diver, Fish ID Diver, U/W Hunter and Dry Suit Diver.

New instructors seeking jobs in one of the top of the line resorts or live aboard boats can choose one or more of the three part Dive Center Operations Courses. These courses, offered exclusively at the Florida Diving Institute, will provide the training owners of dive operations and resorts look for when they are hiring instructors. Each segment of Dive Center Operations is nine days long and focuses on different aspects of working in a dive center, such as boat operations, equipment repair, compressor maintenance, retail training and coral reef ecology. The Florida diving Institute also offers training for students and instructors interested in expanding their knowledge of technical diving.

At many dive instructor schools, housing and transportation are extra. Not so at the Florida Diving Institute. In Orlando, lodging is provided at a three bedroom house, often called the Frat House because of the collage like atmosphere. Complete with full kitchen, washer and dryer and two bathrooms, , this facility can accommodate both male and female students in comfort and privacy. Transportation to and from the classroom is arranged by the Florida Diving Institute, as well as pickup at the airport , eliminating the need for a car during training.