How To Become A Sidemount Technical Scuba Diver Near Me

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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.

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.

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.