SDI Rescue Diver
Rescue Diver Course in Jacksonville, FL
Become the diver people can count on
Rescue Diver is where your training starts to shift from simply managing yourself underwater to becoming a more aware, capable, and reliable teammate. This course builds the judgment, confidence, and problem-solving skills needed to recognize stress, prevent small problems from becoming emergencies, and respond effectively when a diver needs help.
Cost: $400 (due on first day of class)
Add on CPR/First Aid/O2 Administrator: $100
Certified diver required | 2 days to complete | SDI certification | Small class sizes
Course price includes SDI eLearning and certification card, First Response Adult and Child Emergency Care Provider and Oxygen Administration Provider certification. Students provide personal gear and are responsible for gas fills and site entry fees. Rental gear available upon request.
What to Expect From Rescue Training
Rescue Diver training is where you start thinking beyond your own dive. You’ll learn how to recognize stress, prevent small problems from becoming emergencies, and respond calmly when another diver needs help.
This course builds the awareness, judgment, and practical rescue skills that make you a stronger, more reliable dive buddy.
Our goal is not to overwhelm you. Our goal is to build a diver who can stay calm, think clearly, and take useful action when it matters.
Recognize Diver Stress
Learn how to identify early signs of stress, anxiety, fatigue, panic, poor communication, and deteriorating situational awareness before they turn into bigger problems.
Build Self-Rescue Skills
Before you can help another diver, you need to be able to manage yourself. You’ll practice staying calm, solving problems, and maintaining control when something does not go according to plan.
Assist a Tired or Panicked Diver
Practice safe approaches, assists, tows, and communication techniques for helping a distressed diver while protecting yourself from becoming part of the emergency.
Practice Realistic Rescue Scenarios
Put everything together through supervised rescue scenarios that challenge your awareness, decision-making, and ability to respond under pressure.
Manage Emergency Response
Develop the ability to bring order to a stressful situation through clear communication, emergency planning, oxygen administration, and coordinated response.
Respond to Missing Diver Scenarios
Learn how to respond when a diver is missing, including organizing a search, using underwater search patterns, and escalating the response appropriately.
You want to be a better teammate
You want to stop being a passive buddy and start becoming the kind of diver who notices problems early, communicates well, and helps keep the team calm and organized.
You already know how to dive, but you want to be more prepared, more aware, and more useful when something does not go according to plan. Rescue Diver is not just about dramatic emergency scenarios. It is about learning to recognize stress early, communicate clearly, manage problems calmly, and make better decisions before a situation becomes serious.
This is one of the most valuable courses a recreational diver can take because it changes the way you think underwater, on the surface, and during the entire dive planning process.
Is This Course Right for You?
You want more confidence under stress
Rescue training gives you structured practice handling tired divers, panicked divers, missing diver procedures, surface problems, underwater problems, and post-incident management.
You are thinking about leadership
If you are considering Master Diver, Divemaster, scientific diving, technical diving, or simply becoming a more serious recreational diver, Rescue Diver is a major step forward. SDI notes that the course helps set the stage for Master Scuba Diver and Divemaster-level training.
READY TO BECOME THE DIVER PEOPLE CAN COUNT ON?
GET CERTIFIED ON YOUR SCHEDULE
Training With a Buddy?
Rescue training is especially valuable with the person you regularly dive with. Book together, choose a preferred training timeframe, and we’ll coordinate a small-group session built around communication, awareness, problem-solving, and response skills you can carry into future dives together.
Complete the eLearning at your own pace
Coordinate any required CPR, first aid, and oxygen-provider training before your rescue class
Train through instructor-led rescue exercises focused on recognition, prevention, communication, surface response, underwater response, and team coordination
Ready to Become the Diver People Can Count On?
Rescue Diver training is one of the most meaningful steps you can take after Open Water. You’ll build confidence, improve your situational awareness, and learn how to respond when small problems start becoming real problems.
Whether your goal is to be a better buddy, prepare for Divemaster, or simply feel more capable in the water, we’ll help you develop the skills and judgment to handle emergencies with calm, deliberate action.
Frequently Asked Questions
This course requires proof of SDI Advanced Adventure Diver (e.g. Advanced Open Water) certification, SDI Junior Advanced Adventure certification, or equivalent, or Open Water diver certification and 15 logged open water dives.
AND
Provide proof of current First Response Adult and Child Emergency Care Provider and Oxygen Administration Provider (where local law permits) certification or equivalent.
CPR and First Aid will need to be completed prior to the first day of class; however, those courses are available as an add-on through FRTI for $100.00.
It can be physically and mentally challenging, but that is part of what makes it so valuable. You will practice recognizing stress, assisting tired or panicked divers, responding to simulated emergencies, and managing rescue scenarios.
The goal is not to overwhelm you. The goal is to build your confidence through realistic, progressive training so you can stay calm and think clearly when something does not go according to plan.
You will learn how to prevent problems, recognize diver stress, assist another diver at the surface or underwater, respond to missing-diver scenarios, manage emergency situations, and improve your own self-rescue skills.
The course is not just about dramatic rescue scenarios. A major focus is awareness, prevention, communication, and decision-making before a small issue becomes a serious emergency.
You do not need to be an athlete, but you should be comfortable swimming, towing a diver, managing your own gear, and assisting another person in the water. Rescue Diver can be physically demanding, especially during surface exercises and simulated rescue scenarios.
If you have concerns about the physical requirements, reach out before signing up and we can help determine whether this is the right time for you to take the course.
You will need your standard scuba equipment, including mask, fins, snorkel, exposure protection, BCD, regulator, computer or timing/depth device, weights, and cylinders as required for the dives.
If you do not own all of your gear yet, contact us before the course. We can help you determine what can be rented, what you should already own, and what gear makes the most sense for your diving goals.
No. Rescue Diver is an excellent course even if you have no interest in becoming a dive professional. Many recreational divers consider it one of the most important and rewarding courses they ever take because it changes how they think in the water.
It helps you become a more aware buddy, a calmer problem-solver, and a more confident diver overall.
At Precision Depth Diving, we approach rescue training with the same mindset we bring to technical and overhead-environment diving: awareness, communication, composure, and controlled problem solving.
Our goal is not just to help you complete another certification. Our goal is to help you become the kind of diver who notices problems early, responds deliberately, and is trusted by the people they dive with.
You are probably ready if you are already comfortable diving, can maintain good buoyancy, communicate well with a buddy, monitor your gas without constant reminders, and remain calm when task loaded.
You may want more experience first if you are still struggling with basic buoyancy, trim, situational awareness, or confidence in the water. In that case, we can help you build toward Rescue Diver with additional dives, refresher training, or Advanced Adventure Diver training first.