SCUBA Diving Certification - Analog Astronaut Training Center

What diving certifications you can get?

Matt is a PADI Staff instructor and has many speciality instructor ratings. You can do:

Certification:

Open Water Diver
Advanced Water Diver
Rescue Diver
Dive Master
Assistant Instructor

Specializations:

Aware Coral Reef
Emergency First Response with CPR and Care for Children
Deep Diver
Diver Propulsion Vehicle
Dry Suit
Emergency Oxygen Provider
Enriched Air Diver (Nitrox)
Ice Diver
Equipment Specialist
Full Face Mask
Night Diver
Peak Performance Buoyancy
Project Aware
Search and Recovery
Self Reliant
Underwater Photography
Wreck Diver
Tec 40/45/50 (since 2023-04)
Trimix (Normoxic) Diver (since 2023-11)
Full Trimix (Hypoxic) Diver (since 2023-11)

All certifications are PADI only!
We do not certify in any other organization.

Where will be the training course held?

DeepSpot in Mszczonow, Poland. Around 30 min drive west from Warsaw.

More information at: https://www.deepspot.com/

Do I need to have a PADI certification before applying?

No. All recognized organizations are based on ISO 11121:2017 standard. This mean, that if you have a lower level certification in one organization then you can apply for an advanced level certificate at another. You don’t have to re-do your course. Certificates can have different names and procedures, but skills mastered during the training course are standardized and essentially the same. If you have any questions, ask Matt.

Who will be teaching you?

Matt is a PADI IDC Staff Instructor and Full Trimix Technical Diver. Awarded PADI certificate of excellence for outstanding customer service and professionalism (Sep 2022). Lead instructor of EVA105 “fundamentals of underwater analog EVA” and EVA106 – “engineering for underwater environments” for International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (formerly known as Project PoSSUM). Currently involved in development, neutral buoyancy and parabolic flight tests of Advanced Crew Medical Restraint System for commercial astronaut ACLS and CPR procedures. First/Secondary adult and child care Emergency First Responder instructor.

2023 Nov (expected), PADI Full Trimix Instructor
2023 Aug (expected), PADI Tec 40/45/50 Instructor
2022 Oct, PADI Full Trimix Diver
2022 Aug, PADI IDC Staff Instructor (#446562)
2022 Feb, PADI Ice Diver Instructor
2022 Jan, PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer (#446562)
2021 Nov, PADI Self-Reliant Diver Instructor, Search and Recovery Instructor
2021 Oct, PADI Full Face Mask instructor, Diver Propulsion Vehicle Instructor, Underwater Photography Instructor
2021 Sep, PADI, TEC 50 (2109UL2898)
2021 Sep, PADI TEC 45 (2109UL2897)
2021 Aug, PADI TEC 40 (2108UF0078)
2021 Jul, PADI Wreck Instructor, Deep Diver Instructor, Enriched Air Instructor, Dry Suit Instructor
2021 Jul, PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor (#446562), Emergency First Responder Instructor, Care for Children Instructor
2021 Feb, PADI Ice Diver (2103UG7843)
2020 Oct, PADI Assistant Instructor (#446562), Full Face Mask Diver (2103UK3935), Peak Performance Buoyancy Instructor
2020 Oct, Emergency Oxygen Provider (2010UI8676), Emergency First Responder (446562)
2020 Sep, PADI Enriched Air Diver (2010UI8675)
2020 Aug, PADI Wreck Diver (2010UI8673), PADI Diver Propulsion Vehicle (2010UI8674)
2020 Jun, PADI Self-Reliant Diver (2010UI8671)
2019 Sep, PADI Divemaster (#446562)
2018 Sep, PADI Rescue Diver (1811US8489)
2017 May, Dry Suit Diver (1705UJ1398), Peak Performance Buoyancy (1705UA3273), Night Diver (1705UA3271)
2017 May, PADI Advanced Open Water Diver (1705UA3267), PADI Deep Diver (1705UA3264)
2016 Jun, PADI Open Water Diver (1607UK5070)

More about Matt’s credentials (not only related to diving):
https://www.astronaut.center/contact/matt-harasymczuk/

Matt at Blue Hole, Dahab, Egypt (Oct 2022).
Image taken during decompression after 91.4m / 300ft hypoxic trimix dive.

How much it will cost me?

200 EUR per certificate for elearning (same price for certification and specialization)
60 EUR per hour at DeepSpot (maximum 3 hours a day)
50 EUR per night at hotel (breakfast included)
20 EUR per day for food (lunch and dinner)

Matt do not take any money for teaching, but all students together pay for his costs:

hotel (Matt can share room with students)
food (the same food as other students)
DeepSpot cost (instructor dives for 0.25 EUR per hour)
Travel from Cracow to Warsaw (own car, rental car or train)
(optionally) renting a car (this will be used to transport all group members)

Car rental is only needed if AATC car was unavailable at the time of a course. Matt’s cost is hard to estimate and it is based on the number of people. The more students, the lower the cost.

Can you issue an invoice?

Yes. Both B2C and B2B invoice.
Note, that additional 23% VAT tax charge will apply.

Do I need to have an insurance?

Matt has DAN Pro Insurance which covers all students during training course with him. On your own you can have additional extreme sport insurance, but this is absolutely optional.

More information about DAN Pro insurance:
https://www.daneurope.org/en/professional-diving-insurance

Do I need to know how to swim?

Diving is not about swimming and in order to dive strong swimming skills are not required. However in order to complete your course and to be certified you must complete a non-stop swim for 300 meters with mask, snorkel and fins.

What are medical qualification I must met?

PADI standard defines health criteria you must met. In case of any problems, you need a doctors written approval to dive. No exception to those rules!

Make sure you comply (or have written approval from doctor) before traveling to Poland.

Divers Medical Questionnaire and Medical Statement form available at:

Before you enter the water

At the beginning of the course (and before any inwater activities), student divers must:

pass the elearning course
complete successfully a quick review
sign PADI Release of Liability/Assumption of Risk Acknowledgment Form
sign PADI Standard Safe Diving Practices Statement of Understanding
sign PADI Medical Statement

No signature, no diving. No exceptions to this!

How the training day will be organized?

The more time we will have, the more we can do. We start as soon as they open DeepSpot, and finish one hour prior closing.

DeepSpot has maximum limit of 4 people at a time per instructor. Matt is teaching alone and there won’t be any additional instructors. Group will rotate every hour, but Matt will be in the water all the time. Group can plan their launch break right after dives, but only if there are three or more groups (the time between is at least two hours). For two rotating groups 1 hour break is not enough to dry, dress, eat, undress, prepare equipment and buddy check.

Don’t worry, Matt already did tens of such whole day trainings and it is proven that he can handle this.

How it is possible to squeeze so many things in such short time?

All equipment needed is waiting for you at the pool side. There is plenty of it, which eliminates wait time between dives. All tanks are always full, and if you are low on air, just take another tank and dive.

The water is clean and has 100m visibility rate. DeepSpot has 32 Celsius (90 Fahrenheit) degrees water – so no dry suit or even wetsuit needed. You can stay much longer in a warm pool than in an open water anywhere else.

Is this according to PADI standards?

Absolutely! We DON’T do anything which even remotely stresses PADI limits.
No exceptions to that. Period.

PADI defines training dive as:

During open water dives, have divers spend the majority of time at 5 metres/15 feet or greater, and breathe at least 1400 litres or 50 cubic feet of compressed gas or remain submerged for at least 20 minutes.
PADI Instructor Manual 2022, General Standards and Procedures, page 25

This mean, that if well organized we can do two, and in extreme cases three training dives during one DeepSpot hour. Mind that PADI’s has also maximum limit for a day, which is three open water dives. Note, that it does not apply to confined water dives (first training dives for OWD). Therefore it means that we can complete the whole PADI OWD course in two days at DeepSpot. Even more, we can have some additional practice to that. If you stay for three or four days, we can do AOWD and some specializations too.

Where I will stay during the course?

There are several places to stay around DeepSpot. Hotel Panorama is our favourite. It’s not the cheapest out there, but have large rooms and breakfast in the price. With larger rooms you can share among students and split costs of accommodation. Panorama Hotel is also in a walking distance from DeepSpot.

Hotel Panorama
https://www.booking.com/hotel/pl/panorama-mszczonow.en-gb.html

Are there any other things to do?

Warsaw (capital of Poland) is 30 min car drive.
Suntago (the largest aquapark in Poland) is 10 min car drive from DeepSpot.
Mszczonow Aquapark is 2 minutes walk from DeepSpot.