Scuba divers describe the PADI Rescue Diver course as the most challenging, yet most rewarding course they’ve ever taken. Why? Because you learn to prevent and manage problems in the water, and become more confident in your skills as a diver, knowing that you can help others if needed.
During the course, you learn to become a better buddy by practicing problem solving skills until they become second nature. Plus, the course is just fun – it’s serious, but still allows for lots of laughter in between the focused learning
The PADI Rescue Diver course prepares you to deal with dive emergencies, minor and major, using a variety of techniques. Through knowledge development and rescue exercises, you learn what to look for and how to respond. During rescue scenarios, you put into practice your knowledge and skills.
Topics include:
- Self rescue
- Recognising and managing stress in other divers
- Emergency management and equipment
- Rescuing panicked divers
- Rescuing unresponsive diver
At Aquanaut we run this course over 2 days, in addition to the Emergency First Response course, which is a prerequisite for the Rescue Diver Course. It is important that you are confident with these potentially life saving skills, we therefore practice a lot of the skills in the pool or shallow water, trying out different techniques, before moving to Open Water.
- Minimum age 12
- Advanced Open Water diver or have an equivalent certification from another training organisation
- You should be in relatively good health and fitness, like every other course you will need to make sure that you can answer “No” to all the questions on the medical questionnaire, if not you will need medical clearance from a doctor
- To start the course you should have a current first aid and CPR qualification – Aquanaut Recommend the EFR Primary and Secondary Care course
What’s Included
- Course tuition
- Learning Materials (Digital or Manual / DVD)
- Air Fills in the pool and first fill at open water site
- Certification
What’s Not Included
- Transport (we will do our best to arrange lifts if needed)
- Equipment Hire
- Entrance to Dive Site – 1 day at £15 payable directly to site.
- Subsequent air fills on open water dives (£3.50 -£4.50 payable directly to site)
You study in your own time using the Rescue Diver E-Learning or if you prefer the Rescue Diver manual and DVD.
Then meet with your instructor to sure you have a sound understanding of all the topics, to go over the knowledge reviews and complete the final exam (multiple choice) and make. Topics include self rescue, diver stress, diving first aid, emergency management and equipment considerations.
You then head to the pool or shallow water to practice the skills which are covered in the open water scenarios on day 2. The confined session is where you get to see the true acting ability of your instructors and assistants as they realistically role play skills! These include:
- Self rescue
- Tired diver
- Panicked diver
- Response from the shore/ boat/ dock (responsive diver)
- Distressed diver underwater
- Missing diver
- Surfacing the unresponsive diver
- Unresponsive diver at the surface
- Exiting the unresponsive diver
- First aid for pressure related injuries and oxygen administration
- Response from the shore or boat (unresponsive diver).
OPEN WATER SCENARIOS
There are 2 open water scenarios where you put everything you learned in confined water to practice. Be prepared for some surprises and expect the unexpected! Most of our students will say this is the most satisfying day of diving they have ever done.
