Terms Of Service

Who We Are

Costa Freediving LLC is a Florida limited liability company founded by Costa Michailidis, an FII certified freediving instructor. Our team creates Bespoke Aquatic Adventures, private underwater adventures planned around each guest, and teaches the freediving courses listed on this site. Every course, including the Level 1 Freediver certification that comes with every adventure, is an official Freediving Instructors International (FII) course, and every student is registered with FII for their certification. Reach us any time at (212) 602-1401 or costa@costafreediving.com.

We are the supplier. We design and run the water ourselves: the diving, the training, the safety, the boats and partners we bring to it. When a travel advisor arranges your trip, they are the ones selling and coordinating your travel, and we supply and operate the adventure inside it.

Bespoke Adventures And Private Courses

Every adventure and private course is custom, so there is no booking button for one. We plan it together by phone or email, directly or through your travel advisor. We send you a written quote setting out where and when it runs, what is included, and what it costs, and we confirm everything in a written agreement before any payment. That agreement sets the price, what is included, how and when to pay, and the cancellation and refund terms for your adventure, and where it differs from these terms, the agreement wins.

A few things hold for every adventure and private course:

• Your dates: We hold them for you at no charge while you decide. Payment in full is what confirms and books your adventure, and it is due 60 days before you arrive, or on receipt if you are booking inside 60 days.
• Cancelling: If you cancel 30 days or more before you arrive, or if we cancel, you get a full refund. Inside 30 days, we offer a partial refund or new dates where we can.
• Paying us: Payment details reach you separately and securely, and we never change them by email. If a payment request looks even slightly different from what you expect, stop and call (212) 602-1401 to check with us before you send anything.
• Third parties: Boats, captains, chefs, lodging, and other partners we book for you have their own cancellation rules, and once booked, those costs follow them.
• Safety comes first: Our call, or a boat captain's, on weather, conditions, and whether a guest is ready for a dive is final. When conditions cancel an outing, we move it to another time on your trip whenever we can.
• Wildlife is wild: Manatees, mantas, sharks, and every other animal show up on their own schedule. We go where and when they are most likely to be, but no sighting is ever guaranteed.
• Travel insurance: We strongly recommend travel insurance and dive accident insurance (such as DAN) for every guest.

Reserving An Open Course

Our open courses are the dated courses listed on our courses page. Reserving a spot in one on this site is a request, not a confirmed seat. You pay nothing when you reserve. We will text, email, or call you with course details and a secure Stripe link to pay by card. Your seat is confirmed once you pay.

Open Course Cancellations And Refunds

These are FII's standard course terms, and they apply to every open course we run. A private course follows the terms for adventures and private courses above. If you have paid a deposit or the full course fee and need to reschedule or cancel, contact us and we will transfer your enrollment to a different date or location (subject to availability) for an administrative fee based on how close we are to the start date:

• 14 or more days before the course starts: Transfer for an administrative fee of 15% of the full tuition.
• 7 to 13 days before: Transfer for an administrative fee of 25% of the full tuition.
• 48 hours to 6 days before: Transfer for an administrative fee of 50% of the full tuition.
• Within 48 hours of the start: No refunds or transfers are available.

Please note: All deposits and payments for boat fees, private training, and events are non-refundable and final.

By reserving a spot on this site, or by checking the Terms and Conditions box on an FII registration form, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to these terms, including the refund and cancellation policy above.

Open Course Cancellations By The Instructor

We make every effort to run courses as scheduled, but freediving depends on conditions beyond anyone's control. We reserve the right to cancel or reschedule a course for two reasons:

• Inclement weather: If we or the boat captain decide the weather is unsafe for open-water freediving, that session may be postponed or canceled. You can complete the canceled ocean session during a future course (subject to availability) at no additional cost, except for standard boat fees.
• Insufficient enrollment: To keep safety, peer support, and instructor-to-student ratios where they should be, a course needs a minimum of two enrolled students. If enrollment falls short, we may cancel or postpone the course, and you will be offered a transfer to the next available course or a full refund of everything you paid.

Risk And Your Responsibility

Freediving is breath-hold diving. Open water, boats, and wild animals carry real risks that training, good judgment, and a watchful team reduce a great deal but never remove. That is exactly why the certification is part of every adventure and why we are as strict as we are.

Everyone who gets in the water with us trains first, dives with a trained buddy, and follows our team's direction in the water. Please tell us honestly about your health, your swimming, and your experience: we plan around what you tell us, and the plan is only as good as the information. You take on the ordinary risks that remain, and the FII liability release and our adventure release set out in full what you are agreeing to. Read them before you sign. They govern, and this page does not replace them.

Paperwork Before Anything Starts

Before any classroom or in-water session you must complete the FII liability release and the FII medical statement. Nothing starts until both are signed, not even the classroom. Adventure guests also sign the Costa Freediving LLC adventure release, which covers the rest of the trip. Some medical conditions need a physician's sign-off before you can dive, and the medical statement will tell you if that applies to you.

Ages And Guardians

Courses are for adults 18 and up. Students who are 16 or 17 are welcome when a parent or legal guardian signs the FII release and is reachable during the course. Students who are 12 to 15 are welcome by request: we bring in an FII instructor to teach them FII's Junior Freediver course, and a parent or legal guardian signs the FII release and is reachable during the course. FII encourages parents to attend with their children. We do not accept course students under 12.

Families are welcome on adventures. Younger guests can join case by case, with a parent or legal guardian who signs for them and stays with the group, and the activities are planned around their age and comfort. The Level 1 certification keeps its own age limits above.

Certification

Certification is awarded at the instructor's discretion when you meet the FII standards for the course. If you do not complete every skill during the course, you are welcome to come back and finish the remaining sessions on a later date. The certification that comes with an adventure follows the same standards.

Your Account

A few pages on this site need an account, and accounts are by invitation: the travel advisors we partner with, and our own team. There is no password. You give us your email, we send you a link, and that link signs you in for 60 days.

The link is you, so please do not forward it. If you think someone else has it, tell us and we will end the session. We may close an account that is being misused or is no longer needed, and the privacy policy explains what we keep when we do.

Travel Advisors

We partner with a small number of travel advisors, and we work two ways: you hire us for the underwater part of a trip you are building, or we handle the whole adventure and pay you a commission. Which one applies to you, what the commission is, and how and when we pay it are set in the partner agreement we sign with you, not on this page.

A few things hold either way:

• You are your client's agent: You sell and coordinate their travel. We supply and run the adventure, and we do not go around you to your client.
• Your client's details: When you put a client's name or notes into our planning tools, you are telling us you have their agreement to share them with us. We treat them as set out in the privacy policy.
• The tools and what they make: Use them to present the adventures we actually offer, at the prices we have quoted you. The photographs, words, and documents stay ours to license to you for that purpose.
• Either of us can end it: You can leave and so can we. Vacation pages you have already sent to a client keep working.

Governing Law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Florida. Wherever an adventure takes place, we also follow that place's local rules and regulations.

Changes And Contact

We may update these terms as the business grows, and the date at the top will change when we do. Questions about any of this? Email us or call (212) 602-1401. See also the privacy policy.