After completing the Advanced Open Water Diver Course, many divers wonder whether it is worth continuing with the rescue diver course or not. Many hesitate, as the rescue course is not really perceived as a fun diving course. In fact, according to PADI, divers that have completed a rescue course describe it as “the most challenging, yet most rewarding course” among all recreational PADI courses. A rescue course is definitely fun for students and instructors alike, and will take your diving to the next level!
Becoming a rescue diver develops and enhances emergency first response and water skills. As a rescue diver, you will develop greater awareness around complications that may arise during or after scuba diving activities, and will be able to intervene in emergency situations, saving real lives.
If you ask me, I definitely recommend taking both an Emergency First Response and PADI Rescue Diver Course. In my opinion a rescue course should be compulsory for all scuba divers traveling to remote locations where immediate medical assistance is not guaranteed. If you are planning to dive from a liveaboard, the self rescue techniques you will learn can definitely come handy.
If you are keen on learning more about different rescue courses, the main reasons you should get a rescue difing certification, all the skills you will be learning as well as the prices of rescue courses around the world, keep scrolling down, you won’t be disappointed!
Why Should I Get A Rescue Diver Certification?
In your open water course you have learned the basic concepts of buoyancy and trim, understood how you should descend at the beginning of a dive and how you should safely end a dive. Most importantly, you have learned the benefits of the buddy system and saw how important it is to dive alongside a buddy who can help you out in case needed.
With your advanced open water course, you have learned how to “think like a scuba diver” when planning a dive. You also had the chance to perfect your diving skills and learn new ones depending on the adventure dives you have chosen.
The rescue course will take your diving to the next level. You will learn how to increase your scuba diving awareness by recognizing a behavioral and psychological patterns that may signal a scuba diver in distress. Most importantly, you will learn how to react in case of emergency situations both while scuba diving and at the surface.
Thanks to specific rescue exercises and simulations, you will learn how to conduct rescues (improving your navigation skills), deal with unresponsive divers, and administer proper first aid (both primary care and secondary care) and emergency oxygen.
Given that CPR and First Aid are usually a prerequisite for the rescue diing course, you will also learn rescue skills that are useful in your daily life.
In a nutshell you will increase your diving awareness and definitely become a better diver.
Which Scuba Agencies Offer Rescue Courses?
All scuba agencies offer rescue courses. They might have slightly different names, but share very similar learning objectives, exercises, simulations and role playing. Note that each scuba agency offers its own version of the course. This means that the training and skillset, although similar, may vary from one agency to another.
The most popular rescue course is the PADI rescue diver course. It is available worldwide and taught following the PADI professional standards. However if you don’t have a PADI center nearby or if you did not start your diving education with PADI, you might as well consider different agencies:
- SSI: Diver Stress and Rescue Specialty Course
- NAUI: Rescue Scuba Diver – Advanced Rescue Diver
- IANTD: Rescue Diver
- SDI: Rescue Diver
- BSAC: Practical Rescue Management, Lifesaver Award and Advanced Lifesaver Award
- CMAS: Self Rescue Diver, and Rescue Diver
- GUE: Rescue Primer Course
What Will I Learn In My Rescue Diving Course?
As with all scuba diving courses, the Rescue Diver Course is made of a theoretical and a practical part. In most cases, you will be able to complete the theory alongside the practical part.
Theory
If you decide to take the rescue training with PADI, you can comfortably complete the theory at home on the PADI elearning platform before you start with the theoretical part.
The theoretical part of your Rescue training course will cover some fundamental aspects of the psychology of rescue (how to recognise diver distress, how to delegate to others), how to be prepared for a diver emergency (including how to use the available emergency oxygen delivery systems and automated external defribillators), how to manage diving accidents, and how to recognize rescue situations.
You will learn how to assist a responsive diver at the surface, how to exit the water with a responsive diver, the detailed procedures to look for a missing diver, how to rescue an unresponsive diver underwater and what are the inwater rescue breathing techniques.
Thanks to the theoretical part of the course, you will also deepen your knowledge on some of the most common equipment problems as well as on different thermal problems. You will also learn how to administer first aid in case of specific diving injusries like stings.
Practical skills
The practical part of the rescue course is indeed one of the most demanding among all diving courses. It is also extremely fun as you will witness the acting skills of many fellow divers!
Rescue exercises may take place either in confined water or in open water, and they involve the simulation of different diving emergencies through role play. You will learn how to respond to signs of diver distress, both at the surface and underwater, you will complete rescues from the surface as well as underwater, and will experience first hand how to administer emergency oxygen.
In all simulations and rescue exercises you will learn how to deal with a conscious diver in distress as well as with an unconscious diver. You will also improve and test your underwater navigation skills while looking for a “missing diver”.
Among all the exercises, you will practice several ways to tow a tired diver.
The most important skill, but also the most challenging and rewarding once you have completed it, is the rescue of an uconscious diver underwater. The skill involves surfacing the unresponsive diver, providing rescue breaths (with a pocket mask) while removing the scuba equipment (only basic scuba gear such as weight belt, BCD, and mask), and bringing her safely to the surface or dive boat. You will repeat this skill a few times untill you will confidently perform it.
What Are The Course Prerequisites To Become A Rescue Diver?
Based on the dive agency you choose, course prerequisites might be slightly different. Check out with your instructor which are the prerequisites for the rescue course you are willing to take.
For the PADI rescue diver course, the basic prerequisites are:
- You must be at least 12 years old.
- You must be an Advanced Open Water Diver, or an Adventure Diver having completed the underwater navigation adventure dive.
- You must hold a valid (obtained within the lat two years) first aid and CPR to become a certified rescue diver.
Note that you may take the First Aid and CPR training directly with PADI. If you have a first aid and CPR certification from other agencies such as from the Red Cross, it may serve as qualifying certification (your instructor will help you figure out if your CPR certification is recognized by PADI).
When Is The Right Moment To Take A Rescue Diver Course?
Many divers take their rescue course right after the advanced open water course. An equal amount of divers wait until they decide to move forward to the divemaster training (for which the rescue certification is a prerequisite).
Both situations are not ideal. Usually, if you are a newly certified advanced open water diver you are still perfecting your buoyancy skills, and still getting comfortable with your scuba gear. In order to have the necessary confidence to rescue other divers, you first need to have a good amount of confidence in your own diving skills.
At the same time, waiting for too long after you have become an advanced OW diver is a bit risky. Particularly if you have started doing some scuba trips in remote locations where being a rescue diver could actually be useful.
The right moment to take a rescue course is totally up to you. I suggest to wait until you feel you have gained the necessary confidence with your buoyancy, have experienced different diving situations (cold vs. warm water or currents vs. no currents) and feel you are able to increase your tasks overload.
I have taken my PADI Rescue Diver Course in Malapascua, the same year after I had taken my advanced open water course. In hindsight, this was a bit too early for me as I still had a lot to learn about diving. Admittedly, I was not much of a confident scuba diver back then.
What Is The Price of A Rescue Diver Certification?
As for most diving certifications, the price of a rescue course varies depending on the dive agency, location, dive shop, and instructor.
When it comes to scuba education, pricing should not be one of the determining factors to choose a course. However, in case you are wondering whether it’s cheaper to take your PADI rescue course at home or during your next scuba trip, you will find below the average prices for some of the most well known scuba destinations.
In the United States, the price range for a PADI rescue diver course is between $350 and $700. Location seems to play quite an important role as prices are on the lower end in the East Coast and they tend to increase substantially on the East Cost (particularly in New York, and Florida).
If you are planning to take your rescue diver course in Mexico, prices are lower and range from $350 to $450. Also in this case, there is quite some variation depending on the location. More touristic locations such as Cozumel and Playa del Carmen have higher prices in general.
When it comes to Maldives, starting prices are substantially higher with a minimum of $450 and a maximum of $700.
Egypt is instead on the cheaper end, with starting prices around $300 , reaching a maximum of $500.
But, as mentioned, use the above as indications and not as a primary deciding factor. Choosing the right instructor for your rescue course is in fact way more important than making sure you are signing up with the cheapest dive shop.
Also note that if you need to rent basic scuba gear such as wetsuit, BCD, mask, fins dive computer and regulator, you might need to pay an additional cost.
How To Choose The Right Rescue Diving Instructor?
Although you might have heard of the rescue course as one of the most challenging ones, with very tough instructors, this is actually great fun!
As for all diving courses, your instructor will really make the difference when it comes to getting certified as rescue diver. From personal experience, fellow instructors that have a military, medical, or fire fighting background are really great in teaching the rescue course.
They are able to complement the theory and skills with plenty of practical examples about diver rescues. this will definitely help you retain all the theoretical concept and help you benefit the most from your rescue diver training.
That said, you cannot enter a dive shop asking if the instructor has a military or medical background. However I suggest you talk to your instructor and ask her how the course will be thought, how many days will it take, whether some Divemaster will be supporting the students, whether you will be alone or with other students, and any other question you might have.
I am quite sure that based on such interaction you will be able to choose the right instructor and dive shop. Remember that you are about to take one of the best diving courses, and enjoy all your rescue dives!