SDI SEARCH & RECOVERY DIVER

This specialty is designed to acquaint the diver with special skills and techniques necessary to successfully plan, execute and evaluate a search and recovery dive.

Who this course is for:

• The certified diver looking for more information to maximize the use of search and recovery for scuba diving

Course prerequisites:

• SDI Open Water Scuba Diver, SDI Junior Open Water Diver, or equivalent
• Minimum age 18, 15 with parental consent

What you can expect to learn:

The SDI Search and Recovery Diver Course takes an in-depth look at all of the following and more:

• Navigation
  • Compass use
  • Estimating distances
• Natural navigation
• Limited visibility diving
  • Factors affecting visibility
  • Hazards of limited visibility
  • Techniques of diving
• Search techniques
  • Shotgun
  • Circular search
  • Grid search SDI Instructor Manual
  • Current (overlap) search
  • Signals for search diving
• Salvage techniques
  • Depth considerations
  • Lift bags
  • Lifting drums
  • Necessary qualities of lifting devices
  • Knots and rigging
  • Fill techniques
  • Mud/silt suction considerations

Some of the required skills you will have to demonstrate include:

• Review compass techniques
• Review search techniques
• Practice and perform different search patterns
• Review lifting techniques
• Recover an object from depth
• Salvage and recovery of an object with a water weight of between 11 and 33 kg/25 and 75 lbs
• Simulate scuba emergency using a minimum of 2 searching techniques
• Log dives