Sidemount diver SDI

Overview

The desire for underwater adventure in caves, caverns and cenotes has settled in you?

Mexico has the most concentrated submerged cave system in the world. The Yucatan Peninsula is a gigantic karst plateau with the two longest underground systems in the world (Ox Bel Ha and Sac Actun). It is an ideal place to follow this course because the region offers cave dives of all types and levels with different passages and depths.

This course will allow you to learn the lateral configuration of scuba tanks in order to have more versatility and hydrodynamics. The main idea of this new equipment configuration is precisely to sneak into tight spaces and/or with obstacles.

This course is designed to teach certified divers how to safely utilize sidemounted primary cylinders as an alternative to the traditional back-mounted configuration.

Student prerequisites:

• Minimum age 18
• Minimum certification Open Water Scuba Diver SDI or equivalent
• Provide proof of a minimum of 25 dives

Course content:

• Gas matching procedures to include dissimilar volumes
• Gas management utilizing independent cylinders
• Psychological considerations
• Equipment considerations
  • Cylinder options
  • Regulator options
  • Buoyancy compensator
  • Harness options
  • Proper weighting
  • Equipment configurations
• Communication
  • Hand signals
  • Light signals
• Problem-solving
  • Gas-sharing
  • Gas hemorrhages
  • Light failure
  • Loss of visibility
  • Entanglement
  • Self-rescue
• Tight spaces
• Conservation
• Difficult water entries
• S-Drills; specific to sidemount