As a certified diver, whether you are looking to take up diving professionally or just for recreation we’d always recommend you train atleast up to a Rescue Diver level. Rescue diving courses and training are not designed only for someone looking at rescue diving or scuba diving as a career, but for all those who want to know what to do in the event of problems underwater and to just expand your knowledge and experience for stress free diving.

We’ve always advocated that even though you always dive with a dive buddy, in any emergency your most dependable rescuer is you (Read:You’re Your Own Best Dive Buddy). A Rescue course by any of the scuba certification agencies is one of the best ways of being a better scuba diver for both yourself and your dive buddy. The rescue training, which teaches you to anticipate and manage risks as well as responding to any basic in-water problems and diving emergencies is a challenging and demanding course. However, ask anyone who is rescue diver certified and they’ll tell you it is the single most rewarding and useful certification they’ve taken since open water. It’s the ultimate boost in confidence in the water, a a must when diving.

So what do you need to be a Rescue diver?
It goes without saying that you need to be a certified diver to even consider the scuba rescue course however, more than just an open water diver certification you need to complete your advanced diver course  with 20 or more logged dives. Some scuba certification agencies like PADI and NAUI have a pre-requisite of being trained and current with first aid and CPR while some others like CMAS offers the CMAS 2 star certification which is an advanced plus rescue diver level course without the need for separate first aid and CPR training.

Other than that, it’s important that you are very comfortable with all the scuba skills taught to you in previous training which may be needed in this course. It helps if you can remain calm, composed while being quick thinking and react efficiently in a controlled manner.

What you learn in Rescue Diver training-

• Self-rescue techniques
• Learn to spot potential problems and managing stress in other divers.
• Emergency management
• Scuba Equipment Function
• Common Equipment Problems
• Release Function and Problems
• Panicked diver response
• Rescuing the Responsive Diver Underwater
• Rescue Exits with the Responsive Diver
• Rescuing the Responsive Diver at the Surface
• Rescuing the Unresponsive Diver Underwater
• Rescuing the Unresponsive Diver at the Surface
• Missing diver procedures
• First aid procedures for pressure related accidents

Scuba Diving Equipment Requirements for Rescue Diver:
During the course of the training you use all your basic scuba gear – (Scuba mask, Fins, Buoyancy Control Device (BCD), Weight-belt and Regulator) including a dive computer, mostly provided by the dive shop conducting the course included in the price. Other than the normal gear, a Dive Knife and Signaling Device are needed during the training.

Rescue diver training usually takes 3 days and includes theoretical study from a manual provided as well as practical exercises in the form of dive accident scenarios performed in either confined waters (swimming pools) or sometimes shallow open water. Rescue diver is the last of the recreational course and the next level in diving is more for professional pursuits. We definitely feel that Rescue level is a must for all divers as it’s always better to Be Prepared but Hope for the Best!

*Photo Credits: photos by Daniel, Daniel Kwok, SWBatzer and Travis S. on flickr

If you want to try Scuba diving and are looking to take up the Sport, getting an Open Water Certification is one of the the first steps to doing so as we’ve previously mentioned in the post- “3 Steps to Becoming a Certified Scuba Diver “. There are a number of Scuba Certification Agencies that offer this basic course that teaches you scuba diving skills required to dive safely and independently without a dive professional.

Most scuba certification agencies differ in their teaching styles, courses and syllabus but they all more or less cover the same basic skills in the open water certification. Here’s what you learn to become an Open Water Diver-

Practical Skills and Training:

• Preparation and assembly of all your Scuba equipment and gear for a dive. Disassembly of equipment post-dive.
• Pre-Dive Buddy safety check. Making sure that you and your buddy’s equipment is in place and working properly before the dive.
• Hand signals used underwater to signal your dive buddy in case of an emergency. Other standard hand signals.
• Water entry methods – wading/shore entry, giant stride method, seated entry and back roll entry. (Read: Scuba Diving Water Entry Methods)
• Regulator clearing and recovery. Techniques to recover your regulator in the event that it is knocked out of your mouth.(Read: Scuba Regulator Recovery and Clearing techniques)
• Mask clearing. Learning to clear a partially/ fully flooded mask comfortably underwater. Completely removing and replacing your mask underwater while breathing.
• Use of Buddy’s alternate air source. Role play scenarios of being out of air, signaling to your buddy, securing their alternate air source and ascending safely with them.
• Buddy breathing. Sharing one air source between buddies to simulate an emergency situation and learning to ascend safely while buddy breathing.
• Buoyancy control. Learning how to hover and regulate your buoyancy underwater.
• BCD Oral Inflation. Practicing how to orally inflate your buoyancy compensator/ buoyancy control device in case the inflator is not functioning properly.
• Proper descent and ascent. Following safe descending and ascending methods.

Theoretical Knowledge:

• Scuba Gas Laws – Charles Law, Henry’s Law &  Boyle’s Law
• Reading Dive tables.
• Dive Planning. Calculating dive times and decompression stops.
• Risks of Scuba Diving
• Decompression Sickness
• Scuba diving safety

Some certification agencies may include some more advanced skills like underwater navigation and no mask swimming,  scuba unit removal and replacement and so on. But making sure you properly learn and practice the above skills in your open water course, you should be just fine underwater to confidently scuba dive with a buddy.

* Photo Credits: photos by Nemo’s great uncle, Philip Morton, frerieke, @kevinv033 on Flickr.