CS Diving Center
Marina de Leixôes, 4450-718 Leça da Palmeira, Portugal, Leça da Palmeira, Matosinhos, PRT
Sobre o Centro
CS Diving Center, located in Leça da Palmeira, Portugal, is a dive center and school with deep roots in the sea and a strong motivation for the underwater world. It offers a wide range of diving courses certified by recognized agencies such as PADI, SSI, CMAS/FFESSM, and TDI. Divers can deepen their knowledge with specialties like Enriched Air Nitrox and the Instructor Development Course, as well as get started in the world of diving with Baptême de plongée (Discover Scuba Diving) and Freediving courses.
The center provides facilities for the comfort of its clients, including lockers, a swimming pool for training and practice, and complete equipment rental. They also offer nitrox air fills and the opportunity to experience night dives, opening new perspectives for exploring local dive sites. Their location in Leixões provides an ideal haven for all underwater activities.
The CS Diving Center team is comprised of qualified professionals, including Casimiro Sampaio, Mário Vasconcelos, and Nuno Ribeiro, all holding multiple diving and nautical certifications, ensuring safe and high-quality training. They are active members of the diving community, participating in national outings and international trips, and invite all interested individuals to discover their new underwater world.
Cursos Disponíveis
13 cursosFreediving
CS Diving Center's freediving programme starts here — an introduction to the concepts and techniques used in recreational freediving, conducted in confined water with an SSI dive professional. Casimiro Sampaio holds an SSI Pool Freediving Instructor rating, which underpins the freediving side of the programme. The Try Freediving session gives participants a controlled first experience of breath-hold diving before deciding whether to continue toward Basic Freediving certification. No prior diving experience is required. Participants receive an SSI Try Freediving recognition upon completion.
SSI Try Scuba e SSI Try Scuba Diving
This is the entry point for anyone curious about breathing underwater without committing to a full certification course. At CS Diving Center, the Try Scuba programme can be done in confined water or open water — the centre works both environments depending on conditions and the student's comfort level. The north coast Atlantic can be demanding for a first contact with scuba equipment. The CS team has been running these introductory sessions since 2011 and knows how to manage first-timers in water that isn't always warm or calm. The session gives you a feel for the regulator, buoyancy and basic underwater movement under direct supervision. No certification results from this programme, but you receive an SSI Try Scuba or Try Scuba Diving recognition. If you want to continue, the Basic Diver and Open Water Diver programmes are the logical next steps, and the centre runs both.
SSI Basic Diver
The Basic Diver programme sits between Try Scuba and the full Open Water Diver certification. At CS Diving Center, this means time in both confined and open water environments — getting comfortable with the kit before committing to the longer Open Water track. One practical detail worth knowing: if you go on to complete the Open Water Diver programme within six months of finishing Basic Diver, the first open water dive from this course counts toward the required training dives. The transition is designed to be smooth rather than repetitive. The north coast dive sites the centre uses are varied enough that even these early dives give you a proper sense of what local diving looks like — rocky formations, Atlantic fauna, and water temperatures that make a wetsuit non-negotiable.
SSI Scuba Diver
The Scuba Diver certification is the practical choice for people who want a real qualification but can't commit to the full Open Water Diver programme in one go. You come out certified to dive in open water under the direct supervision of a dive professional. At CS Diving Center, that supervision comes from a team with SSI AIT and PADI OWSI credentials — instructors trained to the highest SSI level. The certification is upgradeable to SSI Open Water Diver with additional training, so it's a genuine step rather than a dead end. For visiting divers based in Porto or passing through Leixões who want a few structured dives without a week-long commitment, this is the format that fits.
SSI Open Water Diver
The Open Water Diver is the full entry-level certification — recognised worldwide, delivered here under the SSI system by instructors certified to AIT and OWSI level. CS Diving Center has been running this programme since 2011 and describes it as one of the core activities that established their reputation on the north coast. Training combines personalised instruction with practical sessions in water. The north coast offers a range of sites from shallower rocky formations at Pelo Negro (8–21 m) to deeper wreck sites, giving students a real introduction to the kind of diving this part of Portugal is known for rather than a generic training environment. Once certified, Open Water Divers can join the centre's guided dives to the U-1277 at 30 metres with the appropriate additional experience, and the centre runs specialty courses from that baseline.
SSI Dive Guide
The Divemaster certification is the most widely recognised professional level in recreational diving, and CS Diving Center runs the full SSI track to get there. From Dive Guide level, the progression includes completing the SSI Science of Diving specialty — which expands knowledge across physics, physiology, decompression theory and equipment. Divemasters can guide certified divers, assist with courses, work on dive boats and teach snorkelling programmes. The centre's operation — boat diving across multiple wreck sites, training programmes at all levels, and a team with AIT Instructor credentials — provides the kind of working environment that gives Divemaster candidates real exposure to the full range of what a dive centre does. The Divemaster can continue to SSI Assistant Instructor level from this point.
SSI Gas Blender
The SSI XR Gas Blender course is the technical side of the centre's extended range offering — teaching the skills and theory required to safely mix nitrox and helium-based trimix gases. It's a non-diving programme, meaning it's conducted without in-water sessions and focuses on the mathematics, physics and practical techniques of gas mixing. The course is open to both certified and non-certified divers, making it accessible to people on the technical support side of diving operations as well as experienced divers who want to understand what goes into the gases they breathe. CS Diving Center's filling station, operational since the centre opened in 2011, provides the practical context for this qualification.
SSI Basic Freediving
The Basic Freediving course takes participants to safe, independent freediving in pool or confined water environments to a maximum depth of 5 metres. It covers the knowledge and techniques needed to freedive safely with a buddy — the foundational rule of breath-hold diving. Casimiro Sampaio's SSI Pool Freediving Instructor certification means the technical instruction here comes from someone specifically trained for this discipline rather than a scuba instructor running a sideline programme. Certification is to SSI Basic Freediving level upon completion.
SSI Mergulho Profundo
This is the specialty built for what CS Diving Center does most. The site list runs to six wrecks across different depths and conditions — the U-1277 at 30 m, the Navio do Norte at 33 m, the Draga da Madalena at 18–21 m, the Batelão at 27 m, the Brenha at 27 m, and the Jacob Maersk at 12–15 m. Each has different structure, access points and marine life. The SSI Wreck Diving specialty teaches safe navigation above and around wreck structures, wreck dive planning, and the protocols that keep you out of trouble when the temptation is to push deeper inside. None of these sites require penetration, but understanding wreck environments makes the dives significantly more rewarding. The centre has been diving these sites since 2011 and the instructors know each wreck's layout, entry conditions and the windows when visibility and current cooperate.
SSI Ar Enriquecido Nitrox
CS Diving Center has had its own filling station since 2011, and the Nitrox specialty teaches you to use it properly. The course covers planning and executing dives with enriched air mixes up to 40% oxygen — extending no-decompression limits and reducing required surface intervals compared to air diving. On the north coast, where multiple dives per day across wreck sites at 27–33 metres is normal, nitrox has practical value rather than just being a resume item. The centre offers both SSI Enriched Air Nitrox 32% and 40% certification upon completion. Casimiro Sampaio holds a TDI Nitrox Instructor rating in addition to his SSI credentials, giving this course depth on the technical side.
SSI Fato Seco
The north Atlantic coast off Porto is not tropical diving. Water temperatures make a drysuit a practical piece of kit for year-round diving here, and CS Diving Center offers the SSI Dry Suit specialty to train you in using one safely. The course covers the specific buoyancy management required when diving dry, emergency procedures unique to drysuit diving, and equipment maintenance. Training starts in confined water before moving to open water dives. For divers planning to dive the local wrecks regularly — particularly the U-1277 at 30 metres, where bottom time and thermal comfort matter — this specialty pays back quickly.
SSI Sidemount Recreativo
Sidemount diving is noted by CS Diving Center as standard practice for wreck and cavern diving, and this specialty introduces recreational divers to the configuration. The SSI Recreational Sidemount Diving course covers the setup, movement advantages and buoyancy differences compared to backmount. For the kind of wreck diving the centre specialises in — sites with structure to navigate around rather than penetrate — sidemount offers real benefits in trim and manoeuvrability. The qualification opens the door to that style of diving in a managed, progressive way.
SSI Classified Diver
The SSI Classified Diver programme is specifically designed for people with reduced or limited mobility. CS Diving Center is equipped to run this course through Mário Vasconcelos, who holds a DDI (Disabled Divers International) Instructor certification — a credential that goes beyond the standard SSI qualification and reflects specialist training in adapted diving. The programme provides the skills and training needed for participants to dive with a qualified buddy, adapted to their specific abilities and environmental conditions. It's a genuine service rather than a nominal offering — the DDI certification means the instructor has trained specifically for this context. For anyone with mobility limitations looking to dive on the north Portuguese coast, CS Diving Center is one of the few centres on this stretch of coastline with the credentials to deliver this properly.
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Iniciar SessãoFrequently asked
What people ask before booking
The U-1277 — a German U-Boat from the Second World War resting at 30 metres off Angeiras. The periscope, torpedo tubes and bow rudder are still visible, and the wreck is colonised by conger eels, octopus, lobster and dense schools of whiting.
Yes. Instructor Mário Vasconcelos holds a DDI (Disabled Divers International) certification, and the centre offers the SSI Classified Diver programme, which is specifically designed for people with reduced or limited mobility.
The team holds credentials across SSI, PADI, CMAS, TDI and DAN. Most courses are delivered under the SSI system from introductory level through to professional certifications.
Both. The centre runs Try Scuba, Basic Diver and Open Water Diver programmes for those starting out. Sites like Pelo Negro (8–21 m) and Draga da Madalena (18–21 m) are suitable for training and recreational dives at shallower depths.
Yes. The SSI Enriched Air Nitrox specialty covers planning and diving with nitrox mixes up to 40% oxygen, and the centre has its own filling station operational since 2011.
Yes — the centre organises trips north to south across Portugal and to international destinations. The current schedule is posted on their Facebook page rather than a fixed calendar on the website.
CS Diving Center runs Dive Guide, Divemaster and SSI Assistant Instructor programmes. The Divemaster path includes the SSI Science of Diving specialty as a progression step from Dive Guide.
Marina de Leixôes, 4450-718 Leça da Palmeira, Portugal, Leça da Palmeira, Matosinhos, PRT