Rescue diver or nitrox?

[Jim Lapenta]

I recommend Rescue as the first class after OW if your OW class did not include rescue skills. When I teach a rescue class I emphasize how important it is to practice the skills as often as possible. I disagree that it is something that you won't get much use out of. Rescue is perhaps the course you'll get the most out of. If you only dive once a year, a good rescue class will benefit you AND those around you.

A good rescue class is as much OR MORE about preventing an incident. The actual rescue and recovery/extraction skills are secondary. It will improve your situational awareness, improve your attention to detail, help you to choose better buddies and question insta-buddies. It will make you more aware of your gear and that of others around you. (If it doesn't do all of those, find a better instructor or more comprehensive course).

I usually have 4-6 hours in the pool along with 4-6 hours of classroom in addition to the OW portion over 2 days for a Rescue course. One thing I have also done is keep the cost of the class low. I barely break even with 2 students and may lose money. I never want cost to be a factor in someone deciding whether or not to take the class. I'd rather lose a little money and have more aware, safer, and competent people in the water that can assist another person than make them wait or have to scrimp and save to get trained.

 

[flyboy08]

Like IFR rating for flying, I thought RD made me a better diver regardless of whether I ever saved someone or not!

Take Nitrox on line over a weekend.

 

[Scubagolf]

No reason not to do both. Nitrox is a no dives, one class event. The cost should be minor. Rescue is at least two days, possibly three.

 

[TMHeimer]

I too always recommend Rescue. But in your case there will probably be crew on board who can do that. Rescue is also good for "self-rescue" techniques. But Nitrox may benefit you more if you only dive a week a year.

 

[Lorenzoid]

No reason not to do both. Nitrox is a no dives, one class event. The cost should be minor. Rescue is at least two days, possibly three.

I completely agree, but the OP did specifically phrase the question as a choice between one or the other, not both.

If one includes CPR/First Aid (EFR) as part of Rescue, Rescue can take three or four days.

 

[Clark Fletcher]

If you aren't taking but one diving trip a year, what does rescue diver accomplish for you? With the limited diving you're doing, It's highly unlikely that you'd ever get to use or even practice rescue diver skills.

At least with a nitrox cert, on your one trip a year, if you decide you want to do a deep dive, your bottom time will be less limited if you have a nitrox cert.

Just my opinion.

 

[Lorenzoid]

If you aren't taking but one diving trip a year, what does rescue diver accomplish for you? With the limited diving you're doing, It's highly unlikely that you'd ever get to use or even practice rescue diver skills.

As a number of people have pointed out, a significant part of the Rescue Diver course is "self-rescue" and how to avoid incidents in the first place. See, for example, the second paragraph of Jim Lapenta's post #11 above.

 

[Froggle]

I found that Rescue made me a better diver and a better, more attentive buddy. Nitrox certainly has its uses if repetitive diving and you're not a gas hog though.

 

[diver0008]

Nitrox.

 

[Clark Fletcher]

As a number of people have pointed out, a significant part of the Rescue Diver course is "self-rescue" and how to avoid incidents in the first place. See, for example, the second paragraph of Jim Lapenta's post #11 above.

Then PADI needs to seriously revise their rescue diver instructional video because that is not the impression the video gives you. The video only mentions avoiding incidents in the context of remaining safe while you're trying to help someone else who is in trouble.

I don't doubt what you're saying but, for me, I've always thought of rescue diver in terms of primarily being to help others. And, the PADI video only reaffirmed that belief (perhaps mistakenly so). I realize that the actual course may be vastly different than the video. Hopefully, I'll find out very soon.

That being said, in my mind, I needed to be the best diver possible before I enrolled in the rescue diver course. To me that meant getting as many dives as possible in as many different conditions as possible (including deep dives with as much bottom time as possible). Hence the reason I did nitrox before I stared AOW.

Anyway, thanks for a different perspective on rescue diver. Makes it seem even more important now.