Rescue Diver
The course every diver remembers as the hardest — and the most rewarding — they ever took.
- Duration
- 3 days
- Total dives
- 4
- Max depth
- 30 m
- Group size
- Max 4
- Min age
- 12+
- Languages
- English · Arabic · German
What Rescue Diver actually involves
Learn to prevent and manage diving emergencies. Over 3 days you'll practise self-rescue, recognise and assist stressed divers, perform tired-diver tows, manage panicked divers at the surface, and orchestrate a missing-diver search. You'll finish a calmer, sharper, more confident diver — the kind every dive buddy wants beside them.
Why divers love this course
Ask any working dive professional which course transformed them most as a diver, and the answer is almost always 'Rescue'. Not because the techniques are exotic — they're not — but because it's the first course that takes you out of your own head and asks you to be aware of the divers around you. Three days of looking outward instead of inward, and your diving will never be the same.
Your schedule
- 1 Day 1
Theory + self-rescue
Morning classroom: stress recognition, accident management theory, equipment problems, decompression illness. Afternoon: self-rescue exercises in confined water — cramp removal, weight ditching, regulator recovery under stress.
- Stress theory
- Self-rescue
- Equipment failures
- 2 Day 2
Surface and underwater rescues
Boat day. Tired diver tow, panicked diver at the surface (with instructor playing the panicked diver — convincingly), missing diver underwater, search patterns, controlled lift of an unresponsive diver.
- Surface tow
- Panicked diver
- Search patterns
- 3 Day 3
Scenario day
Full-scale unannounced scenarios. You and your buddies must respond to a range of incidents the instructor stages without warning — coordinate the response, manage casualties, deliver rescue breaths in the water, evacuate to the boat.
- Surprise scenarios
- Team coordination
- Final certification
What's included (and what isn't)
What's included
- Digital learning materials
- Full equipment for the course
- 4 open water rescue scenarios
- Certified Rescue Instructor
- Hotel pickup and drop-off
- Dive insurance
- International certification card
Not included
- EFR (CPR & First Aid) course if needed (€90)
- Lunch
- Tips
What you'll be able to do
- Self-rescue and stress management
- Recognising and helping a stressed diver
- Tired-diver tows (multiple methods)
- Panicked diver at surface — approach and control
- Missing diver search patterns
- Unresponsive diver rescue and in-water rescue breathing
- Exits and on-boat first aid
- Accident management and emergency action plans
From the water
FAQ
Do I need a CPR certification before I start?
Yes — but if you don't have one, we run the EFR (Emergency First Response) course as an add-on for €90, usually the day before your Rescue course begins.
How fit do I need to be?
Reasonably fit. The hardest physical skill is towing an unresponsive diver in full kit for 50 m at the surface while removing their gear and giving rescue breaths. It's tiring but well within reach for the average diver.
Is this the path to becoming a Divemaster?
Yes — Rescue Diver is the prerequisite for any professional diving qualification. If you're considering working in diving, this is the threshold.
Related courses
Advanced Open Water Diver
Five new dives. Five new skills. Doors open to wrecks, depth, and night.
Deep Diver Specialty
Extend your limits into the 30–40 metre zone — big walls, schooling fish, and Red Sea wrecks at depth.