Most marine life thrives in sun-drenched shallow waters, so it makes sense that most divers stick to recreational depth and time limits. However, some divers want the depth and bottom time that technical dive training provides. The PADI Tec 40 course is the first step into the technical diving world.

Benefits

Technical diving requires a significant amount of training and commitment, so it’s not for everyone. But if you have specific goals in mind, such as penetrating deep shipwrecks or cave diving underwater river systems, technical diving skills are a must.

What You’ll Learn

The PADI Tec 40 course is only the first step on your technical diving journey. You’ll make limited-decompression dives within the recreational depth limits of 130 feet (40 meters), and with decompression times of no more than 10 minutes. The academic portion of the course includes proper setup of technical diving equipment, gas and dive planning, as well as emergency procedures for dealing with equipment malfunctions and out-of-gas situations on decompression dives. In the water, you’ll learn to use new equipment, like a backplate harness for carrying a redundant air supply. You’ll also learn to dive with blends of enriched air nitrox (EANx) up to 50 percent, which will be used during decompression stops.

To take the PADI Tec 40 course, you’ll need an Advanced Open Water certification, Enriched Air Diver certification (with at least 10 EANx dives deeper than 60 feet), Deep Diver certification (or at least 10 dives logged to 100 feet or more), and you must be at least 18 years old with a minimum of 30 logged dives.