Cookies are used on this website in order to provide the best user experience. Cookies are stored in your browser. They can be used to recognise you when returning to our website, and help our team determine which sections you most enjoy and find useful.
Skills (general): The introductory tech diver will practice the use of new equipment to trim and control buoyancy. This helps to build the foundation for efficient diving. Once you have a solid foundation, you can start practicing locomotion or move on to more advanced skills.
Although we can teach the SDI course if specifically requested, by default we offer the TDI one. It is possible to take this as a standalone program; however, our students generally combine this with our Apprentice Cave Diver course.
Are you interested to become a Sidemount divers? This is the place for you!
SDI/TDI Includes 2 open water divesMinimum age 18 years, minimum 15 years with parental consent. Must have an SDI Openwater Diver or the equivalent
Three parts are required to become certified: knowledge development, skill practise and open water diving. You can choose to do each part locally, on holiday or alternate between them.
Divers who are comfortable with sidemount diving can also enjoy open-water dives. Why? Because sidemount diving is very easy and comfortable.
Sidemount diving can be done by anyone who is an Open Water Diver. While it is essential to have good buoyancy and trim, you will be able setup and handle your equipment by yourself. Sidemount diving is a great way to expand your skills and knowledge in equipment setup.
Gear – While the gear is fundamentally the same, divers in their introductory tech class (Intro to Tech, Sidemount or CCR Air diluent) will notice some fundamental configuration differences. Instead of 2 second stages on one cylinder they’re split between two, with a separate first stage on each. Gas planning becomes an in-depth thorough process and the harnesses seem to have more chrome.
Sidemount diving has many advantages. You have two tanks with one regulator, a first stage, and SPG. It makes it safer and allows for little air-hogs such as myself to get more air. Sidemount is also very comfortable, as you can quickly put tanks on the water surface and there's no pressure on your back.
PADI Training apps are available for Android(tm), Apple(r), and iOS devices. The best experience is achieved by devices no older than three models with the latest OS (operating System).
While I still haven’t perfected this art, I am proud that after 20 Sidemount divers I can call myself a Sidemount Diver. It is the most comfortable way of diving!
Every PADI Specialty completed will get you one step closer towards the Master Scuba Diver(tm).
While technical diving is still for fun they aren’t for people wanting to go deeper, just because. There is a higher risk associated with cave and decompression diving. This risk is mitigated, in part, by thorough dive planning and training. As such, divers doing these dives are held towards a higher standard. It will take practice to become a technical diver. No amount of research and reading can supplement that in water time. Divers will notice that the minimum standards are often exceeded during training courses and individual technical instructors often do this. Technical training teaches a diver redundancy so that problems can be successfully solved 1500ft inside a flooded cave and an exit to the surface can be executed. While that sounds complex and scary it’s a necessary aspect of diving in that environment. Technical training is not only challenging but it’s fun and at the end of it the diver has a golden ticket to see parts of the world that are totally closed off to other people.
- Increased Bottom Time A Closed Circuit diver is not concerned with running out of gas because they are only limited by decompression. This can also be reduced by selecting an oxygen partial pressure that provides the diver with virtually limitless bottom times in 60 feet or less of water.
To begin a technical diving course, you must have completed the following prerequisites: a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver certificate or equivalent, a PADI Enriched Air Diver certificate or equivalent, and a PADI Deep Diver certificate or proof of at least 10 dives to 30 metres/100 feet.
2-3 hours
Even with small cylinders, you can usually dive for 2-3 hours (rebreathers typically have two 2/3l cylinders or one 3/5l cylinder).