SDI Road to Rescue Diver

[SubNeo]

Hey all,

SDI terminology makes the process a bit harder to digest, but I believe the process is:

Open Water -> Advanced Adventure -> Rescue
OR
Open Water -> 40 dives -> Rescue

I'm at Nitrox rn and trying to decide if I want to pay for an Advanced Adventure or just save and do Rescue at 40 dives. If my shop allows it, I was hoping to do Advanced and get to Rescue sooner then later, I just cannot fathom waiting 6 months or so for me to reach 40 dives before I learn emergency preparedness. It seems like something I would want to be trained in before a situation ever happens, whether it be to me or a buddy...

Plus, I believe Advanced gets you two specialty certs in Deep and Navigation correct? Do the dives for the other three (like if I picked Wreck, Buoyancy, and Night) count towards the req list for their corresponding specialties? The SDI website only lists having to complete one dive for each iirc. Would this mean all I would have to do is buy the eBook for each?

 

[Marie13]

SDI Advanced is more like the PADI Master Diver. Requires 4 specialties and 25 dives minimum. Think the only non-diving specialty is nitrox. I’d have to check the standards.

SDI Advanced Adventure is equal to PADI AOW.

Do the SDI Advanced. I did wreck, nav, night, deep. The specialties are better than the sampler platter.

 

[sheeper]

i would advise you to do the SDI Advanced Adventure first. Gets you to deeper (100') dives and helps those dive skills develop. Rescue Diver is actually not much diving per se.

 

[SubNeo]

SDI Advanced is more like the PADI Master Diver. Requires 4 specialties and 25 dives minimum. Think the only non-diving specialty is nitrox. I’d have to check the standards.

SDI Advanced Adventure is equal to PADI AOW.

Do the SDI Advanced. I did wreck, nav, night, deep. The specialties are better than the sampler platter.

Thanks for the input, lines up exactly with what I was leaning towards

My shop says you can pick 3, and this forum is filled with people saying to do buoyancy as the fifth.

I mean Rescue was all I needed to train to, I wasn't initially thinking of going divemaster and the only specialties that might interest me enough to want training would be FFM and drysuit (but I've seen mixed thoughts on drysuits in south FL in the winter, lot of people say a 7 wetsuit is enough). Maybe I would want to finish wreck off so I could go into wrecks, iirc the Advanced would just let us learn how to not run into walls/doors with minimal entry (doesnt cover topics like navigation and such). Getting a general overview of night and wreck would be good, unless I ever encounter a circumstance where I have to prove my training to enter a park in the evening?

 

[SubNeo]

i would advise you to do the SDI Advanced Adventure first. Gets you to deeper (100') dives and helps those dive skills develop. Rescue Diver is actually not much diving per se.

Yeah Rescue is teaching you a safety mindset I've heard. I'd rather know what to do in an emergency over standing around being useless. I'm already building a solo mentality where rather than me having to be rescued, I want to be the one rescuing. I haven't even gotten my tanks yet and I already am researching pony bottles X'D

I'm very very Type-A and detail oriented. I like to be in charge of me, as close to 100% as possible.

 

[formernuke]

Bouyancy first then rescue. Rescue isn't a lot a diving but you do need to bring a non responsive diver up without exceeding your safe accent rate hard to do if your struggling with your own Bouyancy.

 

[SubNeo]

Bouyancy first then rescue. Rescue isn't a lot a diving but you do need to bring a non responsive diver up without exceeding your safe accent rate hard to do if your struggling with your own Bouyancy.

You'd recommend I finish the buoyancy course beyond what they touch on in the Advanced Adventure course?

I'm alright at buoyancy. I had my EUREKA moment for Buoyancy (and equalizing, I can perform a hands free Toynbee now, but someone called it VTO on the forums 0_0) during a charter dive to 67 feet, where I spent one dive overusing my BCD and almost causing an emergency ascent, and the next I didn't use it at all once I hit depth and was able to just angle up or down slightly to swim over the reefs. It just took the one mistake to help me realize where I was wrong.

I do see the full course goes much more in-depth to finding the exact amount of weight for the conditions and equipment planned. That could be useful.

 

[formernuke]

You'd recommend I finish the buoyancy course beyond what they touch on in the Advanced Adventure course?

I'm not sure of SDI if the advanced adventure is the full course then no if it's just a intro then yes.

I did a bouyancy course that didn't count for anything with a GUE instructor. Best class I've ever taken.

 

[SubNeo]

I'm not sure of SDI if the advanced adventure is the full course then no if it's just a intro then yes.

I did a bouyancy course that didn't count for anything with a GUE instructor. Best class I've ever taken.

SDI Advanced Adventure is PADI Advanced Open Water, and you pick 5 specialties. They make you do Nav and Deep (I believe you finish those two completely), then you pick 3 you want to do to gloss over with the instructor. I was thinking wreck, night, and advanced buoyancy control.

So you would go beyond and finish buoyancy if you were me?

 

[formernuke]

PADI advanced is just an intro to the five. I bundled mine with nitrox. In that case I would skip the adventure and do the 5 specialities unless you need it for a boat or trip. Bouyancy and nitrox followed by deep then pick two more will serve you better for becoming a better diver.