Turn your passion into a profession
Turn your passion into a profession
Every one of our pathways — freediving, mermaid, and underwater model & dance — leads here. This is where you stop being a student and start teaching what you love.
Three ways to teach it
Pick your discipline — or stack all three. Each opens to the full requirements.
Mermaid Instructor
Teach mermaid courses and share the magic that got you here. Become an SSI Mermaid Instructor from age 18, and progress all the way to Mermaid Instructor Trainer from age 21.
Comes from: the Mermaid pathway — certify, go deeper, then teach it.
Talk to us about becoming a Mermaid Instructor →Freediving Instructor
Basic Freediving Instructor (from 18, ~8–12 hours) is the gateway pro rating — and a perfect pairing for professional mermaids. From there, the full Freediving Instructor rating requires a medical evaluation and either 100 logged sessions plus Advanced Freediver and Training Techniques, or the Basic Instructor route with 25 certifications issued. Above that sit Advanced and Performance Instructor, and Freediving Instructor Trainer at the summit.
Comes from: the Freediving pathway.
Explore the Instructor Course →Underwater Model & Dance Instructor
Already a Mermaid Instructor or Basic Freediving Instructor? Add the Underwater Model & Dance specialty to your teaching credentials by co-teaching or a seminar led by an Instructor Trainer who holds the rating. As New Zealand’s Instructor Trainer, that’s a rating we can propagate — an instructor-training line no one else in the country can offer.
Comes from: the Underwater Model & Dance pathway.
Add the specialty to your ticket →Instructor Trainer
At the very top of all three ladders sits the Instructor Trainer — from age 21, the rating that trains the next generation of instructors. Sacha is one of only two SSI Freediving Instructor Trainers in New Zealand, and the first woman to hold it — which is what makes “New Zealand’s premier instructor training centre” literal, not a slogan.
Marine education programmes in schools
We bring the moana into the classroom and the classroom into the moana. Our schools programmes run from a first breath-hold through to SSI ecology and science specialties, so a student can start at Try Freediving and leave with real ocean credentials. See how it works for schools & kura.
Freediving
Ecology & ocean science
Safety & skills
Creative
Ages at a glance: 6+ Explorers & tasters · 10+ Basic Freediver · 12+ Mermaid & Freediver certifications · 15+ Advanced · 18+ Performance & all instructor ratings · 21+ Instructor Trainer.
Ready to make the ocean your work?
Tell us where you’re at and where you want to go — we’ll map the pathway with you.
Get in touch →