page_title: Recreational diver training
section_title: Training topics
hierarchical_section_title: Recreational diver training / Training topics
context_page_description: Recreational diver training is the process of developing knowledge and understanding of the basic principles, and the skills and procedures for the use of scuba equipment so that the diver is able to dive for recreational purposes with acceptable risk using the type of equipment and in similar conditions to those experienced during training.
  Not only is the underwater environment hazardous but the diving equipment itself can be dangerous. There are problems that divers must learn to avoid and manage when they do occur. Divers need repeated practice and a gradual increase in challenge to develop and internalise the skills needed to control the equipment, to respond effective if they encounter difficulties, and to build confidence in their equipment and themselves. Diver practical training starts with simple but essential procedures, and builds on them until complex procedures can be managed effectively. This may be broken up into several short training programmes, with certification issued for each stage, or combined into a few more substantial programmes with certification issued when all the skills have been mastered.
context_section_description: Most entry-level training is similar across the diver training agencies, although some may emphasize certain topics earlier in the program, such as the inclusion of diver rescue in syllabuses such as CMAS 1* and NAUI, and its absence from other equivalent courses such as PADI Open Water Diver.
  Many of the skills listed below are not included in entry level training, and where they are it may be only a subset of the range of skills in that category.
  Basic diving theory:
  Diving physics
  Scuba equipment
  Physiology of diving
  Diving hazards and precautions
  Diving signals
  Buddy system
  Basic water skills:
  Finning and mobility in-water
  Fitting and clearing a diving mask
  Snorkeling
  Shallow freediving
  Entering and exiting the water (seated entry, ladder exit, giant step entry, etc.)
  Basic open circuit scuba equipment skills:
  Preparing the scuba equipment
  Pre-dive checks:
  Buddy check
  Water entries and exits with scuba gear
  Breathing from scuba equipment
  Buoyancy control, trim and stability using weights, the buoyancy compensator and the lungs
  Underwater mobility and maneuvering
  Ascents and descents
  Diving mask clearing
  Demand valve clearing and recovery
  Air sharing
  Emergency ascents
  Controlled emergency swimming ascent
  Assisted ascent
  Basic rebreather diving skills:
  Preparing the Rebreather
  Buoyancy control using the Rebreather
  Ascents and descents
  Diving mask clearing and mouthpiece draining
  Bailing out to an alternative breathing gas supply
  Bail-out ascent
  Diluent flush
  Dive planning skills:
  Buddy system
  Use of decompression tables
  Use of Dive computers
  Breathing gas requirement calculations
  Dive risk assessment:
  Safe dive site selection
  Choosing appropriate equipment
  Precautions for night diving and drift diving
  Solo diving
  Dive monitoring and management skills:
  Depth and time discipline
  Air management
  Use of surface marker buoys
  Use of decompression buoys
  Use of distance lines
  Use of diving shots
  Compass navigation
  Underwater pilotage
  Doing decompression stops
  Diver rescue techniques:
  Controlled buoyant lift
  Towing a diver and landing a casualty
  In-water artificial respiration
  CPR on land
  Oxygen first aid on land
  General First aid
  Technical diving techniques:
  Using Nitrox as a bottom gas
  Analyzing proportion of oxygen in a breathing gas
  Calculating maximum operating depth of a breathing gas
  Calculating equivalent air depth of a breathing gas
  Using Nitrox as a decompression gas
  Planning accelerated decompression stops
  Normoxic Trimix as a bottom gas
  Hypoxic Trimix as a bottom gas
  Special interest knowledge and skills:
  Cave diving techniques
  Wreck penetration
  Underwater photography
  Underwater videography
  Underwater archeology
  Marine life identification
  Marine biology
  Underwater search and recovery skills
  Selecting dive sites using nautical charts
  Tides and use of tide tables
  Weather influences and prediction
  Dive group leading skills:
  Group diver rescue management techniques
  Dive group safety, accident prevention and supervision
  Underwater survey skills
  Logistical skills:
  Boat handling and seamanship
  Boat navigation and position fixing
  Diving air compressor operation
  Gas blending
  Use of group equipment such as diving shots and decompression trapezes
  Recompression chamber operation
  Instructor skills:
  Teaching diving theory
  Teaching personal diving skills
  Teaching group diving, safety and rescue skills
  Teaching boat handling, seamanship and navigation skills
  Teaching instructing skills
caption: The SSI training system.