Sidemount diving has become very popular in open water. It is more comfortable than having a tank on the back and allows you to have more fun.
This scuba diving course is also offered by another agency, PADI tec sidemount diving.
Sidemount has many benefits, but it is particularly well-suited for cave diving. (It was cave divers who invent sidemount. These benefits include:
Another scuba diving agency might be of interest to you: PADItec sidemount diving course.
There are several more agencies that provide technical diver training which are more region specific. In general the recommendation is to find a reputable instructor, look for recommendations from trusted sources and choose your instructor accordingly. Trust and comfort during the course are invaluable and will help you to feel confident and comfortable to push your boundaries and gain the knowledge you need to go beyond your current certification level.
One of the big risks for a technical diver is decompression sickness. It occurs when nitrogen gas cannot exit the body thru respiration on ascent as the ambient pressure decreases. Therefore stops have to be executed on ascent in order to avoid a pressure difference too big so nitrogen bubbles can be formed. Buoyancy control is very important to control the stops on ascent and increase efficiency for off-gassing of nitrogen. Another important skill is proper breathing which makes metabolism efficient. Trim, which we call a proper tech diving position such as horizontal with a slight arch in the back, looking forward and knees at a 90 degree angle with fins pointing back. Trim prevents stirring up sediments on the bottom as well as most efficient movement in the water. And of course proper finning techniques to avoid overexertion are mandatory to make a diver achieve maximum performance. Now you might say, we want to have fun when we go diving and not be a machine.
Although the gear selection is important, entry level tech divers will learn how to streamline their equipment and prevent drag. This maximizes propulsion efficiency and awareness.
Although we can teach the SDI course if specifically requested, by default we offer the TDI one. It is possible to take this as a standalone program; however, our students generally combine this with our Apprentice Cave Diver course.
There is a wide variety of equipment that is used by technical divers the biggest impact on the decision is the environment a diver is exposed to. Many cave divers prefer to use Sidemount which means, independent single tanks are mount to the side of the divers’ body and attached by clips on a D-Ring on the waist band on the harness and on the shoulder. This allows the diver to detach and don tanks to fit thru tiny restrictions and have a lower overall profile to go to places unreachable for divers who chose backmount. During multiple trips, additional tanks can be placed in a cave or a wreck to allow the diver deeper penetration dives and to pick up tanks when leaving the cave or wreck.
During the training, the instructor will provide you with the tools to complete the dives within the certification range, however it is up to you to gain experience and practice skills after the course to become automatic and an efficient and professional tech diver.
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I’ve just arrived on Malapascua Island in the Philippines, where over the next two months I’ll work my way up to becoming a Tec diving instructor. I’ve been a recreational instructor in Bali for the last two years and want to expand my experience and professional dive résumé. My first taste of technical diving was at Sidemount PCB, where PADI course director and Tec instructor-trainer Tom West molded me into a Tec-50 diver.
Sidemount BCDs are a harness that has a bladder and an intricate system of sliding D rings, bungee cables, and clips. They are important for the tank position and trimming later in the water. Your instructor will likely spend quite some time making sure they fit perfectly.
The Sidemount setup for diving is slightly different to the backmount setup, and the equipment is also slightly different.
Have a PADI Deep Specialty Instructor certification or have completed a PADI Deep Specialty Instructor course. Have at least 100 logged dives, including at least 20 enriched air dives, 25 dives deeper than 18 meters/60 feet, and 15 dives deeper than 30 meters/100 feet. You can become a Tec 45 diver.
To register for the PADI Advanced Rebreather Diver course, you must first: You must be a PADI Open Water Diver, but you must also be a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver to become a PADI Advanced Rebreather Diver. Have at least 30 dives under your belt.
- Increased Bottom Time A Closed Circuit diver is not concerned with running out of gas because they are only limited by decompression. This can also be reduced by selecting an oxygen partial pressure that provides the diver with virtually limitless bottom times in 60 feet or less of water.