Rescue Diver advice

Hello All,
Im a long time lurker but have only recently started to post. This is a great board and has become a regular thing for me lately. And I look forward in joing some of the scubaboard dives.

Im a long time diver and have around 70 dives so far, but only 34 logged (i lost my original log books). As i mentioned in a previous post, the wife and I recently took our AOW. I would like to continue on to eventualy becoming an instructor.(its been a very long time dream)

I would like to take my recue diver within the next 4 months to continue my training. I live in the orlando area but I was thinking of taking it in S.FLA. ie w.palm beach - ft lauderdale area. This way all my taining would be around the ocean.

Do you think this is a bad idea and I should take it locally? Also who do you prefer for advance classes?

Im currently a firefighter/paramedic so I would not need any of the EMS classes.

Thanks for the advice,
Teo

Well...

IF you want to be an Instructor you need to start taking the long view. Which agency(s) to you want to affiliate with? Do you want your own shop or plan to work with an existing shop? Start to align yourself with the long term goal ASAP.

Rescue covers various environments, so don't worry about the 'oceanness' of the class, there's plenty of 'ocean' on the road to Instructor.

Teo, it really doesn't matter where you take the course. What matters is what type of course you want. There are some rescue courses that will provide you with 4 hours classroom, 4 hours pool, and 4 hours open water. And there are courses that will provide you with 24+ hours of instruction, most of it in the water. As a paramedic/firefighter, I'd guess you're looking for the latter. Ocean has nothing to do with it, especially when you're talking about ocean that can be as calm as that found in the Ft. Lauderdale area. Sometime low visibility, cold fresh water can be more demanding. My wife and I currently teach Rescue at a local lake in AZ with an average of 5-15' of visibility. We done the course in dry suits and wet suits. We include rescues in doubles, etc. We've also seen shops that do the 12 hour course. It's a vast difference. If you truly want to be a good instructor, get experience in a variety of settings. Dive fresh water sites. Dive low visibility. Dive cold water. Dive where ever you can! It may even be worthwhile to complete a Rescue course that mixes it up a little. We're relocating to Florida in 3 weeks and will be planning out our Rescue course. We're hoping to conduct 1 day in fresh water and 1 day in salt water. We just have to research possible open water sites. If you're willing to head the other way in the state, let me know. We're going to try to hold a Rescue course sometime before the end of the year.

as an x-fire/rescue man myself I can tell you it's basically a first aide course in the water. Instead of extricateing vic's from a car your dragging them to shore rescue breathing while you take their gear off. For you, if your scuba skills are solid, this course should be a breeze.

Like it's been stated, salt or fresh water makes no diff, but I would think pulling an unconscious diver through surf is probably more challenging then pulling to shore in a lake. As a future instructor I'd go with the salt.

If your certs are with PADI, I'd do Master diver after Rescue. It's 5 specialties, and If I'm correct you need to be certified in a specialty before you can teach it, PADI instructors, correct me if i'm wrong here.

I would also get cavern/cave cert. just for the experience, as here in Florida, half the good places to dive are springs with caverns and caves. This way you'll be better prepared to explain to your OW students why they should stay out of the caverns and caves until certified.

Actually, you don't need to be certified in the specialty to teach it. Once you're an instructor, you just need to issue 25 certifications and gain experience (20 dives) in the specialty area. Or you could pay a course director for a class.

I would just make sure to take the course in a location with less than ideal conditions, whether it be some low visibility lake, a shore dive with rough surf, or in my case... low visibility bay emptying out into another, larger bay with an outgoing tide.

If you can rescue someone in less than ideal conditions, you're more than likely going to have an easy time if the situation comes up in calm, clear waters.

MB is in Delray Beach and is one of the finest instructors I've ever had the pleasure to meet.