Although the gear selection is important, entry level tech divers will learn how to streamline their equipment and prevent drag. This maximizes propulsion efficiency and awareness.
During the training, the instructor will provide you with the tools to complete the dives within the certification range, however it is up to you to gain experience and practice skills after the course to become automatic and an efficient and professional tech diver.
PADI Training App is available on both Android(tm), as well as Apple(r) iOS. To ensure the best experience, your device should not exceed three years of age and be running the most recent OS (operating system).
The SSI technical-sidemount diver course allows you to take extended dives with four+ tanks (cylinders). Technical diving is easy with the technical sidemount course. You can learn to operate multiple cylinders at once. Config your sidemount gear. Learn how to make a tec sidemount harness. Also learn how adjust the sling tanks on your body.
Sidemount Diver was one of my most challenging courses. This was due to the fact that my instructor Fiona, from Big Blue Tech, a trusted dive center in Koh Takao, included more skills and dives than I needed. My task load was always manageable so we practiced skills repeatedly. This included mask removable, tank removable underwater, out of air drills, and SMB deployment. We also kept our trim.
I’ve just arrived on Malapascua Island in the Philippines, where over the next two months I’ll work my way up to becoming a Tec diving instructor. I’ve been a recreational instructor in Bali for the last two years and want to expand my experience and professional dive résumé. My first taste of technical diving was at Sidemount PCB, where PADI course director and Tec instructor-trainer Tom West molded me into a Tec-50 diver.
Technical divers are able to explore wrecks and reefs at depths that are below the recreational limit of 30 m/130 ft. Specialized training allows them to explore underwater caves, and other places that are beyond the reach of recreational diving.
Whatever configuration a diver chooses there is benefits for each and in different situations each configuration has its up or downside.
Each PADI Specialty you complete gets you one step closer to earning the elite Master Scuba Diver™ rating.
Sidemount BCDs are a harness that has a bladder and an intricate system of sliding D rings, bungee cables, and clips. They are important for the tank position and trimming later in the water. Your instructor will likely spend quite some time making sure they fit perfectly.
Sidemount cylinder mounting was developed for cave diving. They have been more popular in technical diving ever since. They are able to seperate the dual cylinders and mount them on either end of the diver's body. While this prevents the diver from breathing from one cylinder in case of a failure of the regulator, it allows them to have easier access to the valves. Sidemount diving provides a diver with a more horizontal profile but a smaller vertical one.
‘Diving into Darkness’ by Phillip Finch is telling the story about an Australian cave diver trying to recover a body in a South African cave called Bushman’s hole.
Sidemount rigs were created originally for cave diving.
Computer-aided instruction is an integral part of nearly every course we teach. The Why? is simple: eLearning helps get our students in the water sooner and spend more time there. It’s why we include the cost of any applicable eLearning programs — usually a $140 value — in our courses at no extra charge. This translates directly into an extra day of in-water training. The value of that? Priceless.
5-6 days
Rebreather training classes are typically 5-6 days long, but can be longer depending on a variety of factors such as the training agency, your local conditions, your instructor, and your ability to meet the class standards.
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.
Technical diving (also known as tec diving or tech diving) is non-professional scuba diving that exceeds the agency-specified limits of recreational diving.