Sergio Smith & IDI receive Navy Award

On December 4, 2009

Us Navy divers from the Trident Refit Facility presented Sergio Smith & the staff of International Diving Institute with an award plaque for assisting in treatment of a Navy Diver from the unit on October 7, 2009. International Diving Institute provided emergency equipment and one of the school's recompression chambers to the Navy for use in treatment of the diver.

Main Wet Tank retrofit nears completion

January 20, 2010



Very soon the main wet tank at International Diving Institute will be filled again with approximately 48000 gallons of filtered water. For returning alumni the tank may appear very different with its new retrofit.


The tank has been stripped down, cleaned , and is now being re-coated with an epoxy paint. But along with this obvious facelift there are many improvements that have been made to the interior of the tank. These include:

- a new improved ladder
- multiple mounting hardware for projects
- 3 fixed flange projects
- a new observation window
- an overhead crane system to hoist objects into and out of the tank.
The most notable addition is a horizontal tube which is approximately 4' diameter X 13' long which is attached to the side of the Main Wet Tank with a 24" bolted flange. Divers will use this for advanced practice for penetration dives. The "penetration tube" has its own observation window.

After this retrofit International Diving Institute will no doubt have the largest Wet Tank Complex of any dive school in the US. The facility is comprised of 3 distinct Wet tanks

1. The new 9300 gallon Welding Tank dedicated to underwater welding
2. A 3336 Gallonn Confined Space Tank that is 22 feet tall
3. The newly retrofitted Main Wet Tank with over 48000 gallons of water at approximately 20 feet of depth.

Post & Courier Article on International Diving Institute

SUNDAY, January 10, 2009

International Diving Institute has made the front page of the business section of the Charleston Post & Courier for Sunday, January 10, 2009. The article talks about increased interest in the school now that the economy is in a slump. IDI's enrollment has steadily grown over the past year with workers now looking for new careers and the necessary training to acquire these jobs. Check ouyt the article and accompanying video at the following link

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2010/jan/10/taking-the-plunge/

American Welding Society at IDI - Sept 17, 2009

On September 17, 2009 International Diving Institute hosted the South Carolina Section of the American Welding Society with the debut of our brand new underwater welding facility which includes a 20 foot deep, 9,330 gallon wet tank. The society event included a cookout with over 100 members in attendance. Highlights of the evening included an informative lecture on Underwater Wet Welding by Instructor, David Sharpe as well as an in water demonstration of wet welding by Steve Mattson, the Southeast Regional Director for American Welding Society

Facelift for our Wet Tank Facility

August 01, 2009 Today IDI wet tank facilities have begun to receive a face lift with fresh new paint. Along with this the newly added welding tank is being completed and readied for painting. The facility now includes 3 distinct wet tanks with additional facilities planned. With this quality commercial diver training facility it's no wonder that International Diving Institute has been used for training by many government agencies, law enforcement agencies, corporate entities and film production groups such as Disney, Discovery, and others.

New welding Tank Arrives !

July 10, 2009

Friday morning was an exciting one with the delivery of a 10" X 16" steel tank that will be fabricated into a 9300 gallon wet welding tank.
With this newest addition, wet welding exercises can be performed at any time without interference with other activities in the other wet tank facilities. This brings the total to 3 wet training tanks now. The main wet tank is 17' deep with a total capacity of 48,000 gallons of water and the other tank is a penetration tank for confined space training at 23' and contains 3336 gallons of water. As with the larger wet tank this new welding tank will include a poly carbonate observation window as well, a super sized filtration system, and will be equipped with standing rigging for hoisting large projects in and out of the tank. All heads tilted upward as the steel tank slowly ascended above the dive shop and was jockeyed into position beside the other two tanks. Students are now excited about being able to dive the tank and practice their underwater welding skills.

VideoRay ROV Exposition at IDI July 14th!

VideoRay will have an exposition and seminar concerning underwater port security to be held at International Diving Institute on July 14 as part of their Underwater Port Security Tour. For more information contact the school or visit the VideoRay website at www.Videoray.com or their listing at http://underwaterportsecuritytour.com/. The program will start at 9:00AM at International Diving Institute. Lecture topics will include

Port Security Challenges

Underwater Port Security Solutions

Port Security Success - how other agencies are integrating new port security technology.

The last hour will involve hands on underwater port security demonstrations using VideoRay ROV systems.