Taking the leap from an Advanced Open Water Diver to being a PADI Rescue Diver!
Is this for me?
You have already completed your Open Water course where you learnt the basic elements to diving and you have improved and developed new skills during your Advanced Open Water course. Now one of your next steps is the PADI Rescue Diver course. This is the course when you start learning to look out for and care for other divers.
For me, the Rescue Diver course is one of the most challenging but fun courses to teach. Although the content is serious, we deliver it in a fun and relaxed manner. As instructors, we want you to complete the course with the confidence that you would be able to help another diver in need of assistance, rather than focus on the detail of a particular skill.
As an Advanced Open Water diver, your main focus was taking care of yourself. As you progress to a Rescue diver, your focus moves to becoming more aware of other divers. Simply put, this course will change how you dive. Not only improving your overall confidence in the water but helping you to prevent and anticipate problems which may occur during a dive and then to react and manage a situation effectively if a problem does occur.
The course covers a variety of topics including self-rescue, recognising and managing stress, use of emergency equipment and the differences when rescuing a responsive and unresponsive diver. We practice the skills individually in a pool first, before moving to open water to repeat them and then build up to 2 overall scenarios. This structure allows you to practice and discover different ways to achieve the same goal – there is no one correct way to assist someone in need.
Some people would suggest that this course is perfect for divers who regularly dive with family or close friends, where there is of course a natural feeling of responsibility. I actually think that by the end of the course, divers almost feel that way about anyone they dive with.
For certification, Rescue divers must also possess a first aid qualification. We can run Emergency First Response (First Aid) alongside the rescue course and this qualification is recognised outside of diving. It is a standalone First Aid course and it is the Rescue course that shows you how to apply these skills to diving.
In summary, the PADI Rescue course is great fun, challenging, but most of all, rewarding. There is always a huge sense of achievement and you go away with the relevant skills to assist someone and the confidence to do so.
Finally to check that you have read this far if you email in or contact us to tell us that you loved this blog you can take advantage of our Rescue Diver and EFR Blog Special Price - Quote 'Blog Rescue' when booking and you'll get a further 5% off!
Get in touch to find out how to start!
~ David Kendrick-White ~
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