When you think about accidents that may occur when you go scuba diving…
You might picture someone on the surface with their arms flailing and yelling, “HELP!”
Although this can happen, diving accidents can occur underwater, on the surface, or on the boat.
That’s why the PADI Rescue Diver course prepares you to be the best dive buddy you can be.
You will learn how to anticipate problems, what to look out for, and gain a lot of confidence as a scuba diver.
In addition to the PADI Rescue course, PADI requires you to have completed the Emergency First Responder course within 24 months to qualify for Rescue.
To be frank, taking the PADI Rescue Diver course will change the way you dive, in the best way.
Keep on reading to learn more about the PADI Rescue Diver and Emergency First Responder course at DXDIVERS!
Prerequisites
In order to earn your Rescue Diver certification, you must be a certified Advanced Open Water or junior Advanced Open Water diver…
Also known as Adventure diver and junior Adventure diver.
Minimum age is 12 years old.
The co-requisite for this course is the Emergency First Responder (EFR) course, which can be done at the same time as the Rescue Diver course.
For the EFR course, you must complete the self-study and then complete scenarios in a classroom setting for about 3-4 hours.
In order to complete Rescue, you must complete the self-study on your own, the pool session with an instructor, and 2 ocean dives.
Once your self-study is completed for both courses, we normally schedule Rescue and EFR on Saturdays and Sundays.
If you opt for the private course, we work with your schedule.
Once you’re done in the classroom, we head to the pool the same day.
Pool Work
You start the day on Saturday in the classroom to complete Emergency First Responder (EFR).
As mentioned above, you will go over some of the material in a presentation and then quickly get into demonstrations.
Most of the classroom will be focused on scenarios with interventions like CPR and how to use an AED.
You will also learn some preliminary first aid techniques.
Once you’re done with the first half of the day, the second half is spent in the pool.
At our on-site pool, you will be simulating rescue scenarios you would possibly encounter while out diving.
There will be a variety of rescue scenarios to run through, including self-rescue - an extremely important skill.
Any of the rescue scenarios practiced in the pool, you can expect to encounter during your ocean dives with your instructor.
Specific scenarios you will encounter include but are not limited to:
- Rescue of a tired diver
- Rescue of a panicked diver
- Rescue of an unresponsive diver
To reiterate what was stated above, this is supposed to be a challenging course.
Once you complete your pool session and the conditions are favorable…
You head to the ocean to complete the course.
Ocean Dives
Normally, when you get to the ocean portion of a course, the course objectives and scenarios only really start once you get in the water…
That is what makes the Rescue Diver course both fun and challenging…
The course begins when you get to the dock.
Anything that happens while loading the boat for the dive, during the briefing, at the dock, or anywhere really…
Is to be treated like a rescue scenario you will work through.
Meaning, your instructor may recruit other divers and PADI professionals to stage scenarios where you will be evaluated on your response.
You will be responsible for knowing where the emergency equipment is and the specific procedures for the boat.
The entire time, the instructor will be watching how you handle situations, your stress levels, and how you diffuse the problem at hand.
Recap
Minimum age to take the Rescue Diver course is 12 years old.
(There is no minimum age for Emergency First Responder (EFR))
You must complete the co-requisite, Emergency First Responder (EFR) in order to earn your Rescue Diver certification.
Rescue and EFR can be completed at the same time.
Aside from self-study, the course takes 2-3 days to complete.
It is designed to put you under a bit of stress while solving problems, causing it to be challenging.
But if you ask any diver who is Rescue certified or above…
Many people will say it’s their favorite course.
Give it a try, at the very least you will learn some important rescue skills and problem solving techniques…
Furthering your scuba knowledge and overall experience.