SSI Extended Range · Winter 2026/27

Keep diving. Take on a new challenge.

For certified divers ready for more. Make winter your season to sharpen your skills, build confidence in a twinset and work towards technical diving with Oceanauts.

Start with XR Foundations Explore the XR track

View dates and book through Scubago on each course page. Course prerequisites and readiness apply.

SSI Extended Range artwork showing a technical diver beside a submerged helicopter, photograph by Jason Brown

Your training pathway · this winter and beyond

  1. 01 XR FoundationsControl, trim & twinset skills
  2. 02 XR NitroxYour next step into decompression
  3. 03 Extended RangeBuild your technical diving skills
  4. 04 Technical Extended RangePlanned spring 2027 · dates TBC

Your next step underwater

Meet the diver behind Oceanauts

Hi, I’m Dain.

I’m an SSI Instructor Trainer and XR Instructor from Warrenpoint. Over 15 years of diving and teaching in warm and cold waters around the world shape the advice, training and equipment you’ll find here.

Whether you’re taking your first breath underwater, planning a local dive or choosing your next piece of kit, I’m here to help you find the right next step.

Meet Dain & Oceanauts Ask me for advice
Dain and Zach preparing diving equipment at Greencastle

Dive with Oceanauts

Good company. More time underwater.

We dive most weekends around Co. Down and Carlingford Lough, choosing locations and times around tides, weather and the divers joining us. Get in touch to arrange your next outing.

Divers preparing equipment together above the beach

Selected for Irish waters and beyond

Kit we would choose to dive with.

We only list equipment we would genuinely use. Our range focuses on cold-water diving, with selected options for travel and personal advice on fit and compatibility.

Explore all equipment

The equipment I actually dive with

Dain’s Kit

These are pieces from my own diving kit. Use my choices as a starting point, then let’s work out what suits your diving.

Explore Dain’s Kit
K01 Classic 5mm Hood

K01 Classic 5mm Hood

Cold-water protection: the 5mm hood in my kit.

£95.00 GBP
£95.00 GBP

Availability varies by option — select to see dispatch time

Explore this hood
Avanti Quattro +

Avanti Quattro +

A recreational fin that remains a firm favourite.

£147.00 GBP
£147.00 GBP

Availability varies by option — select to see dispatch time

Explore these fins

Practical support, on land and underwater.

Know when to expect it

Stocked kit normally dispatches in 1–2 working days; order-in kit in 7–10, subject to supplier availability. Delivery time is additional. Mixed orders ship together.

Delivery details

Useful reading for your next step

View all
  • Cold water, bigger goals: why winter XR training is worth it

    Cold water, bigger goals: why winter XR trainin...

    A drysuit, thick undersuit and dry gloves can make a simple task surprisingly demanding. But with wrecks like SS Laurentic to work towards, winter training has a very worthwhile purpose.

    Cold water, bigger goals: why winter XR trainin...

    A drysuit, thick undersuit and dry gloves can make a simple task surprisingly demanding. But with wrecks like SS Laurentic to work towards, winter training has a very worthwhile purpose.

  • From the Desert to the Geopark: Earning Your SSI Instructor Rating in Ireland

    From the Desert to the Geopark: Earning Your SS...

    The tropics are a beautiful escape, but the Geopark is a true training ground." Join SSI Instructor Trainer Dain McParland as he shares why earning your SSI Open Water Instructor...

    From the Desert to the Geopark: Earning Your SS...

    The tropics are a beautiful escape, but the Geopark is a true training ground." Join SSI Instructor Trainer Dain McParland as he shares why earning your SSI Open Water Instructor...

  • Now Open: IDEST Accredited Workshop

    Now Open: IDEST Accredited Workshop

    Oceanauts Diving is officially an IDEST-certified workshop! Get professional, flat-rate scuba cylinder testing and regulator servicing in Warrenpoint. Our typical 1-week turnaround keeps you in the water safely.

    Now Open: IDEST Accredited Workshop

    Oceanauts Diving is officially an IDEST-certified workshop! Get professional, flat-rate scuba cylinder testing and regulator servicing in Warrenpoint. Our typical 1-week turnaround keeps you in the water safely.

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