Rescue Course

I’ve officially passed my Rescue Course! This course may have been my favorite because it involved mostly scenarios that allowed you to play around with other divers, taking turns pretending to be a panicked, tired or unconscious diver. I also feel like I learned a ton of valuable skills that I’ll hopefully never have to use but are good to have on hand.

My course consisted of some basic CPR training along with rescue skills that can be used in the water and at the surface. These included rescuing a tired or panicked diver, different tow methods, how to use oxygen and flotation devices, how to transport an unconscious diver to surface, shore and boat, and how to remain calm when difficult situations occur.

The end of my course consisted of a “hell dive”. I went on a dive with another rescue trainee and three dive masters in which anything and everything you could imagine went wrong simultaneously. The best way I can describe this dive is babysitting toddlers under water who were extremely capable scuba divers. I had my mask ripped off, my gear ripped off, other people’s gear taken off, divers floating to the surface, divers swimming away, divers picking up coral, divers tangling themselves in rope or each other, divers disappearing, divers using their own gear as a flotation device, and divers riding me or each other. To say it was busy is an understatement and I have never exerted myself more underwater. While most of these things will most likely never happen on a dive, it was good to have training in managing stressful situations underwater, and also pretty funny to have our dive masters acting like 4 year olds who have never dove before.

It’s crazy to see how far I’ve come as a diver since I’ve been here. To go from not being able to set up my own gear or get myself to achieve neutral buoyancy underwater to being able to function with my fins being ripped off while grabbing another diver’s gear and strapping it back on them, I’ve come a long way. 2-3 dives a day will do that, but I’m lucky to have that luxury being here. Safe to say that diving really is an addiction and I know I’ll miss doing it every day when it comes to an end in a few weeks.