Specialty Course
Have you come across a need to look for something underwater?
Have you ever wondered how to recover and surface heavy objects?
Then this amazing and challenging course is just right for you!
Everyone who has spent some time diving out there knows that once upon a time things go missing underwater. Whether that is a mask with it‘s mask strap broken, or a dive computer or even your favorite underwater camera, once lost looking for one may really feel like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Others may think of locating a lost diveboat’s anchor or a very unfortunately fallen off rudder, an active underwater cleanup that resulted in many heavy meshbags with trash waiting to be taken up to the surface.
How do you locate objects underwater? How do you bring them back to the surface in a safe and controlled manner? We are here to show you how!
To enroll in a PADI Search & Recovery course you have to be at least 12 years old and a PADI (Junior) Advanced Open Water Diver or equivalent. The course takes two days with four open water dives.
On our first day, we will start by reviewing underwater navigation techniques including using a compass and natural references as well as various search patterns and combine both in an efficient manner during practice on land. We will also introduce you to certain other methods and tools to search for smaller objects and, of course, have you mastering a handful of simple knots that will come extremely useful when rigging a lifting device underwater.
Following that will be two training dives at our house reef that gives us an access to a wide variety of bottom compositions and plenty of room to practice all search patterns. During these dives we will have you practicing search patterns in real conditions (our instructors really like to lose things;)), as well as working with, properly rigging located object to, diving and ascending with lifting devices, such as a lift bag. Your underwater awareness and buoyancy control will greatly help you mastering those and we will provide you with plenty of time to practice.
On the following day we will complete two training dives off our diveboat, the first one being focused on optimizing your search pattern techniques, perfecting your rigging skills, searching for objects and bringing them up to the surface.
And, finally, on the last dive of the course, we will have you plan, organize and conduct a real search & recovery of a mysterious object (believe us, it´s worth it 😀 ).
