What is Tec Diving and Why Should You Care?

What is Tec Diving and Why Should I Care? (Continued)
by Jerry Otte

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Contents
What technical diving is and is not
Why you should care
Technical Diving Equipment
Being a Smart Diver and a Smart Consumer
Technical Dive Training
PADI/DSAT Technical Diving Course Prerequisites

Technical Dive Training

So how do you become a technical diver? There are several training agencies that provide technical dive training. As with recreational dive training, each of these agencies has its own slant on what is important and how it is best taught. Sometimes this training focuses not only on deep diving, decompression diving, or diving with special gases; it focuses on specialty diving like cave diving.

As a PADI 5 Star National Geographic Dive Center, AAI offers PADI and DSAT (Diving Science and Technology) courses. There are four courses offered through PADI/DSAT. They are PADI Tec Basics, DSAT Apprentice Tec Diver, DSAT Tec Deep Diver, and DSAT Trimix Diver. Here is a brief description of each.

PADI Tec Basics Distinctive Specialty
This course is designed to bridge from PADI recreational diving courses to the DSAT technical diving courses. Divers have the opportunity to learn and practice entry level tec diving skills. Dives are within recreational limits using segments from the DSAT Tec Deep course. Maximum depth: 24 meters/80 feet.
DSAT Apprentice Tec Diver
This course is intended for those divers who wish to begin developing the skills and knowledge involved in technical deep diving, including making gas switches and extended no-stop dives. Divers learn to use enriched air with up to 60 percent oxygen. Divers also learn the motor skills required for technical diving, as well as the foundational skills necessary for completing the DSAT Tec Deep Diver course. Maximum depth: 40 meters/130 feet
DSAT Tec Deep Diver
This course is intended for those divers with the prerequisite experience and training needed to begin moving beyond recreational scuba depth limits. Divers learn to make gas switches, extended no-stop dives, decompression stop dives, and accelerated decompression dives using air, enriched air, and pure oxygen. Maximum depth: 50 meters/165 feet.
DSAT Trimix Diver
This course qualifies divers to dive with trimix (blends of oxygen, helium, and nitrogen) that allows them to descend deeper than you can with reasonable risk using nitrogen/oxygen blends. Completing this course qualifies divers to dive both normoxic and hypoxic trimix blends. Maximum depth: 75 meters/245 feet.

PADI/DSAT Technical Diving Course Prerequisites

Prerequisites	Tec Basic	Apprentice Tec	Tec Deep	Trimix Diver
Minimum Age	18	18	18	18
Advanced Open Water	X	X	X	X
Rescue Diver	Recommended	X	X	X
Enriched Air Diver	X	X	X	X
Deep Diver		X	X	X
Tec Deep Diver				X
Total Dives Needed		50	100	150
Deep Dives Over 60 feet		12	25	*
Deep Dives Over 100 feet		6	15	*
Enriched Air Dives		10	20	*

*The Trimix Diver course requires that the student has meet all requirements of the Tec Deep Diver course.

Interested in technical dive training? Call Aquatic Adventures, Inc. at 262-938-6827 or email us at staff@dive-aai.com.

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