PADI Rescue Diver

The Rescue Diver course is where you stop diving for yourself and start looking out for the people around you. You learn to spot a problem before it becomes one, manage a tired or panicked diver on the surface, and bring an unresponsive diver back to the boat and start care. Chad Hanjora, a PADI IDC Staff Instructor, calls it the most important certification a diver can earn, and most graduates agree.

What you'll learn

• Self-rescue and stress recognition, in yourself and in a buddy
• Surface rescues: tired diver tows, panicked diver approaches, and in-water rescue breathing
• Missing diver searches and bringing an unresponsive diver up from depth
• Equipment removal, exit techniques, and first care once you're out of the water
• Emergency management: oxygen, calling for help, and running a scene

The course is ten rescue exercises and two open-water scenarios, built on the eLearning you complete beforehand.

Before you start

• PADI Advanced Open Water, or Adventure Diver with the Underwater Navigation dive
• Emergency First Response Primary and Secondary Care within the last 24 months. We teach EFR at the shop if you need it
• Age 12 and up (Junior Rescue Diver for 12 to 14)

How it runs

Knowledge development is online, at your pace. The pool work happens in our own training pool in College Park, and the open-water scenarios run on a weekend at a Florida spring or off the coast. Most students finish the in-water work over two or three days. Bring your own mask, fins, and exposure suit; tanks and weights are included.