PADI Rescue Diver
Improve your confidence and become a better dive buddy through fun-role playing and skill practice.
The PADI® Rescue Diver course will change the way you dive – in the best possible way. Learn to identify and fix minor issues before they become big problems, gain a lot of confidence and have serious fun along the way. Discover why countless divers say Rescue Diver is their favorite scuba course.
Requirements
- Minimum age: 12+
- Min. certification: Advanced Open Water Certification
- Min logged dives: 9 logged dives required
Availability: Contact us for booking information
- Advanced Open Water required
- EFR included
- Real rescue scenarios
- Divemaster prerequisite
What You'll Learn
The skills that make every dive buddy safer.
Rescue Diver training helps you recognize stress, prevent emergencies, and respond with confidence in real-world dive situations.
Recognizing diver distress
Learn how to spot early warning signs in yourself and others before a situation becomes a full emergency.
Managing panicked divers
Understand how to approach, assist, and stabilize a panicked diver while protecting your own safety.
Underwater rescue response
Practice locating and assisting an unresponsive diver with a clear, structured rescue sequence.
Surface rescue and support
Build confidence with towing, rescue breathing, and bringing a diver to safety at the surface.
hereEmergency scenarios
Put your skills together in realistic rescue situations that train you to think clearly under pressure.
EFR first aid and CPR
Complete Emergency First Response training with CPR, AED, and care skills that help in and out of diving.
Why Take This Course
The most rewarding course in recreational diving.
Rescue Diver changes how you think underwater. It builds awareness, control, and confidence that stays with you on every dive.
You become the safest diver in the group
You learn to stay calm, aware, and ready. That level of control changes how others experience diving with you.
Your dive buddies trust you more
Divers prefer diving with someone who can recognize and respond to problems. It shifts the entire dive dynamic.
You become more aware underwater
You start noticing small signals early. That awareness prevents issues before they escalate.
Step toward Divemaster
Rescue Diver is required for Divemaster. If you want to go pro, this is your next move.
From Advanced Diver to Rescue Certified
Step 1: Meet prerequisites
You need Advanced Open Water and EFR. We include EFR in your enrollment so you can complete everything with us.
Step 2: First aid and CPR training
Learn CPR, AED use, and emergency response skills that apply beyond diving.
Step 3: Knowledge development
Complete your eLearning to understand stress, prevention, and emergency management.
Step 4: Water training
Practice rescue exercises in controlled water, then apply them in real open water scenarios.
Final: Become Rescue certified
You leave with stronger awareness, faster response, and confidence on every dive moving forward.
Your course includes:
- 3 days (approx.)
- 4 open water dives
- PADI eLearning (includes certification fees)
- Open water dives
- Confined water dives
- Class Size: Max. 6 students / instructor
Not inclusive of
- Compass
- Scuba equipment rental (full set)
What to Expect
Learn how to think like a rescue diver through skill practice with an instructor. You'll start your first phase and practice basic rescue skills and then show you can effectively apply them in open water. The water training sessions are serious fun. You'll practice handling scenarios such as a leg cramp and assisting a tired diver by role-playing with other students and your instructor.
Student Feedback
What Rescue divers say
Rescue Diver is often the course people remember most because it changes how they think, respond, and dive with others.
"I dive differently now, calmer, more aware, and more confident. This course changed the way I look at every dive."
Student Testimonial
Rescue Diver Graduate
"The rescue scenarios pushed me in the best way. By the end, I felt like I truly knew what to do if something went wrong."
Student Testimonial
Rescue Diver Graduate
"This is the course that made me feel like a stronger dive buddy. It gave me practical skills and real confidence."
Student Testimonial
Rescue Diver Graduate
Got questions?
Everything you want to know about Rescue Diver
Clear answers help remove hesitation and move people closer to enrolling.
Ready to become the diver your buddies can count on?
Rescue Diver is one of the most valuable certifications you can earn. Take the next step and connect with Dive Nerd Outfitters to get scheduled.