Rescue Diver

So now that you’ve done a bit of diving, you might realise there are five reasons why it makes a lot of sense to become an SDI Rescue Diver:

• You’re into the adventure of diving and want to extend your overall diving skills and confidence;
• You’re ready to extend the problem management skills that you learnt in your Open Water Diver course;
• You want to become a well-rounded diver who can look after yourself and others;
• You dive from your own boat and don’t have the on-site rescue and emergency backup that a charter operator provides;
• You want to learn skills that you can use in other areas of your life.

And, of course, if you want to become a  Master Diver, Divemaster or Instructor, Rescue Diver’s a pre-requisite.

Great skills that you hope you’ll never need

In the SDI Rescue Diver course, you’ll learn to anticipate, prevent and handle diving incidents and perform rescues and diver first aid (including CPR and use of oxygen).

More specifically, you’ll learn about:

• Causes and prevention of diving accidents
• Diver lifesaving
• Hyperbaric injuries and treatment
• Accident management

You’ll work with others as a team and tailor rescue techniques to suit your strength and build. By the end of the course you’ll be able to:

• Identify and assist a snorkeller or scuba diver in difficulty at the surface, and
• Locate and bring to the surface a scuba diver simulating unconsciousness, transport them to the boat or shore whilst doing EAR, and then remove the diver from the water

It’s never too early to think about safety

Your logged open water dives count towards the pre-requisites for the course. You must have completed with the Advanced Diver certification or have logged at least 40 dives. if you don’t have current first aid/CPR or oxygen resuscitation qualifications, these courses can be run concurrently with your Rescue Diver course.

The usual flexible course structure

The course is generally structured around self-study prior to the course and then one weekend, but it can be organised around any combination of weekend, midweek and evening sessions to suit.  We introduce rescue skills in the pool first and then apply them through open water scenarios that are as realistic as possible.