Do not worry about how it all will come together. A large part of the course teaches you how to set up Sidemount equipment and how to adjust bungees to ensure your tanks are in good shape. Your instructor will be there to help you through it all!
New gear means new techniques. Sidemount diving, even if it's simple, requires some new skills (easily learned).
The entry-level tech diver will be trained to optimize their equipment to reduce drag and avoid dangling gear. This will ensure a maximum profile for efficient propulsion, awareness and propulsion.
The Sidemount diver's setup is slightly different than the backmount.
Additionally, sidemount diving has become wildly popular even for open water diving. Why? It is because sidemount diving can be very relaxing and simple to learn.
If you (or your physician) have questions about medical fitness to dive, contact the experts at Sidemount PCB.
While we are able to teach the SDI course if you ask, the default is the TDI. Although you can do this program as an individual course, we recommend that students combine it with our Apprentice Cave Diver course.
And of course, the book of Verna Van Schaik ‘Fatally Flawed – The Quest to be Deepest’, the one woman who succeeded to break the female world record in depth in Bushman’s hole in South Africa and how she god there.
Computer-aided instruction forms an integral part of most courses we teach. The Why? The reason is simple. eLearning helps students get in the water earlier and spend more of their time there. We offer all applicable online eLearning programs at no additional charge. They are typically $140. This can translate into an extra day in-water instruction. That is an incredible value. Priceless.
It is becoming more popular to do technical diving and we were immediately drawn to it at Girls that ScubaHQ! We had many questions and nerves, so we went to Theresia Gollner, who is working at Blue Marlin Gili T in Lombok. We were given an introduction to twin sets by her and then she let us in on the amazing world of technical diving. Here are the lessons she gave us:
Sidemount diving offers additional air sources, as you can dive with two tanks, each one with an SPG regulator and a first stage. Sidemount diving is safer and provides little air-hogs, like me, with more air. Sidemount diving is extremely comfortable. You can put tanks on the surface, and there is no pressure on your stomach.
For dives past 130ft decompression divers blend some Helium into their cylinders and dip into the realm of the rarely seen. The reefs and wrecks they experience are sometimes visited less frequently in a year than astronauts to the moon.
Know what you’re getting: Prices include instruction and eLearning fees. Bear in mind, the cost of eLearning, by itself, can be worth anywhere from $140 to $280 or more. Thus, a $640 course from us may actually cost the same as a $500 course from someone else if you have to pay for elearning separately.
International Training, the parent organisation for Technical Diving International / Scuba Diving International (TDI), offers both SDI (and TDI) versions of their Sidemount Diver courses. Both courses are very similar. Both courses share the same learning materials (which were written by us). What is the difference?
To begin a technical diving course, you must have completed the following prerequisites: a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver certificate or equivalent, a PADI Enriched Air Diver certificate or equivalent, and a PADI Deep Diver certificate or proof of at least 10 dives to 30 metres/100 feet.
According to experts, approximately 40% of technical divers enroll in additional education and training programs. This yields a reasonable estimate of approximately 160,000 active technical divers worldwide.
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.