JCA Elite Scuba

Learn to dive in real-world ocean conditions with a private instructor who comes to you — no cookie-cutter courses, no checklists, just thorough, individualized training built around your schedule.

JCA Elite Scuba is a private, independent scuba instruction program run by instructor Juan Carlos Aguilar, based in Portland, Oregon and serving Vancouver and the broader Pacific Northwest. Certification dives are conducted in the Puget Sound, where students learn dive planning, emergency skills, and the practical techniques needed to become confident, autonomous divers. With a strict maximum of two students in the water at any one time, the program is built around genuinely individualized instruction rather than standardized group progression. Aguilar is a NAUI and TDI Diving Instructor who began teaching in 2008 and has logged over 2,500 dives and issued over 1,000 certifications as of July 2024. His technical diving background includes a 241-foot dive on the USS Monitor in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The program covers the full range from Open Water through Divemaster, as well as TDI technical diving courses and SDI Solo Diver certification. As an independent instructor who does not own a dive shop or sell equipment, Aguilar's stated focus is solely on producing safe, competent, and confident divers. Courses are structured around the student's schedule, with all programs including more dives than standard agency minimums — additional dives are included without extra cost.

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