How To Become A Sidemount Technical Scuba Diver In Florida

Equipment

Rebreathers allow for greater diving ability by eliminating large cylinders. Instead, they recycle the gas exhaled by divers, scrub the CO2 and inject small amounts of gas. This can greatly increase the time it takes to dive, especially if you are doing deeper dives. Rebreathers can either be sidemounted or back, and their profile is determined by the configuration.

New gear means new techniques. Scuba diving sidemount is easy if you have the right skills.

How To Become A Sidemount Technical Scuba Diver Training —

Do you want to become a Sidemount diver. You've come to the right spot, as this article will cover all the details!

The shift from backmounted doubles into sidemount has been one of the biggest changes in the equipment that cave divers have used since the turn of the century. A large number of cave divers sidemount. Additionally, there may be more sidemount cave divers than open-circuit backmount cave divers.

Scuba Sidemount Setup

Your Sidemount BCD is a harness equipped with a bladder. It also has a system of sliding Drings, bungee chords, clips, and other intricate features. The fit and position of your tank are critical for how your tank looks and is trimmed later in the water. Your instructor might spend quite a while to make sure you have them exactly right.

Sidemount rigs were initially designed for cave diving. It allows divers to pass through small cracks and restrictions (tiny hole) much more easily than the traditional back mount rig.

Scuba Sidemount Setup
How To Become A Sidemount Technical Scuba Diver Emoji

How To Become A Sidemount Technical Scuba Diver Emoji

While technical diving is still fun, it's not for people who wish to go deeper. Cave and decompression dives carry more risk. The best way to reduce the risk is to plan your dives and train well. This is why divers who take these dives must be held to a higher standard. It takes practice to become a competent diver. There is no substitute for the practice and time in the water. Divers will be able to see that the minimum standards are frequently exceeded during training courses. Individual technical instructors sometimes do this. Technical training teaches divers how to redundancy. It enables them to solve problems at 1500 feet inside a cave. It's not easy and it's scary, but it's an important aspect of diving within that environment. Technical training can be challenging, but it can also be fun. At the end of it, the diver will have the ability to see areas that are completely closed off to the rest of the world.

Sidemount cylinder mounting originated for cave diving and have become more popular in all forms of technical diving since. They separate the dual cylinders, with a 1st stage on each cylinder, and mount them on either side of the diver’s body. This doesn’t allow the diver to breathe from either cylinder in the event of a regulator failure, but does give the diver easier access to valves. Sidemount diving gives the diver a larger horizontal profile, but a smaller vertical profile.

Certification Requirements

Divers using decompression oxygen mix all types can extend their time looking at wrecks or reefs on the oceanfloor. The sport diver may be limited to two short dives at 100ft. A decompression diver can cruise the seas for 60 minutes or longer, getting more bang for his buck.

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How To Become A Sidemount Technical Scuba Diver Kit
How To Become A Sidemount Technical Scuba Diver Kit

Skills (specific). Throughout the tech program, specific diving skills are practiced until they are perfect. Overhead diving navigation and line skills can be honed until they are automatic. Decompression divers know how to manage the gas and plan stops. Rebreather divers meticulously construct, test and tear down their equipment to ensure that it is functional. The skills required for each course are mastered at the beginning level. As you progress, they can be further developed. Each level takes these skills further and creates new challenges that make you a more knowledgeable, competent and well-rounded diver.

There are two options available with most agencies: technical Sidemount or recreational Sidemount. Similar prerequisites apply to both TDI or SDI. However, the tec-sidemount course will increase your skills. The course will also require you to learn more about them. Perfect trim and maintaining your level during the skill development is a must.

Sidemount Skills

The very general definition of technical diving is to be exposed to a ceiling that does not allow a diver to ascend to the surface at any moment of the dive. This might be due to a real ceiling, in terms of a cave or a wreck, or a virtual ceiling created by a decompression obligation. In this case, by exceeding the NDL’s, mandatory decompression stops have to be performed on ascent in order to avoid any case of decompression sickness. In most cases this requires the use of special equipment, e.g. Twinsets or Sidemount, special gas mixes and of course additional training to be able to perform those stops accurately on ascent to optimize off-gassing of Nitrogen.

To extend their time at the wrecks and reefs below the ocean floor, decompression divers use oxygen mixtures. Decompression divers can cruise around the ocean floor for as long as 60 minutes, whereas sport divers may only be able to do two bottom dives at 100ft for 15 minutes each.

How To Become A Sidemount Technical Scuba Diver In Florida
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Frequently Asked Questions

To register for the PADI Advanced Rebreather Diver course, you must first: You must be a PADI Open Water Diver, but you must also be a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver to become a PADI Advanced Rebreather Diver. Have at least 30 dives under your belt.

The depth range of oxygen rebreathers (simple closed circuit) is limited to approximately 6 m, beyond which the risk of acute oxygen toxicity rises to unacceptable levels very quickly.

from 170 to 350 feet
While conventional scuba diving has a recommended maximum depth of 130 feet, technical divers may work at depths ranging from 170 feet to 350 feet, and sometimes even deeper.