Mike Boswell
Contributor
My question is, does some agency teach deco diving for recreational divers?
Deco for Dummies?
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hudson
Contributor
You can take decompression procedures as a rec diver, there are no prerequisites other than 25 dives and generally Nitrox certification and AOW.
Having said that it's a pretty bad idea to do so. Decompression requires pretty damn good buoyancy control, at the very least, comfort with increased task loading as you go into gas switching and also ability to deal with situations where you run into problems and the surface is no longer an option. You also need to think about the profile of the dives where you will need decompression and have the necessary skills to perform those dives.
So most people will have way more dives under their belt and take an Intro to Tech/Essentials/Fundamentals type class first. A good way to find a good instructor for the class would be to let them know you aren't too confident about your abilities and strike anyone who is still willing to teach you off your list.
Having said that it's a pretty bad idea to do so. Decompression requires pretty damn good buoyancy control, at the very least, comfort with increased task loading as you go into gas switching and also ability to deal with situations where you run into problems and the surface is no longer an option. You also need to think about the profile of the dives where you will need decompression and have the necessary skills to perform those dives.
So most people will have way more dives under their belt and take an Intro to Tech/Essentials/Fundamentals type class first. A good way to find a good instructor for the class would be to let them know you aren't too confident about your abilities and strike anyone who is still willing to teach you off your list.
To me, your question doesn't make sense. Do you want to learn how to do deco dives or are you interested in the theory?
If it's the latter, there is a really good book Deco for divers by Mark Powell that will provide some great information.
If you are looking to learn to do the dives, there are a number of agencies who teach it, but your better bet is to find an instructor you like and can learn from.
TwoBit
If it's the latter, there is a really good book Deco for divers by Mark Powell that will provide some great information.
If you are looking to learn to do the dives, there are a number of agencies who teach it, but your better bet is to find an instructor you like and can learn from.
TwoBit
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Everything stated above + the expense of equipment to create all of that task loading 
A good Advanced Nitrox+Deco Procedures class should cover all of the skills necessary to safely do decompression dives. However, not every AN/DP class is necessarily going to go into all of the topics to the fullest extent.
Recreational divers are not prohibited from having perfect bouyancy control, or the ability to correctly plan for soft overhead diving.
Taking an "intro to tech" class is probably a good idea if you plan on doing decompression diving, but not a necessity, if you have darn good trim and can plan a decompression dive correctly. Still, I'd reccomend it, especially if you have a good instructor.
Recreational divers are not prohibited from having perfect bouyancy control, or the ability to correctly plan for soft overhead diving.
Taking an "intro to tech" class is probably a good idea if you plan on doing decompression diving, but not a necessity, if you have darn good trim and can plan a decompression dive correctly. Still, I'd reccomend it, especially if you have a good instructor.
I have 100's of deco dives and teach up through trimix II. All of the diving I do is recreational diving so I would say that a bunch of agencies teach deco diving to the recreational diver as all my students to date have been recreational divers. Deco Techniques or its equivalent is what you are looking for. I suggest a combination Tech Nitrox/Dec Tech class as the course makes more sense taken together. Decompression diving does require very good buoyancy control so if you are lacking in that an Intro to tech (NAUI), Fundies (GUE), Essentials (UTD) class, (I believe TDI and IANTD have an Intro level class but don't know what it is called) may be the next step.
Basic decompression diving is not that difficult and there is some task loading but dives to 130ft with limited decompression (single gas switch) are safely executed by properly trained divers all the time. Most important if choosing to do this type of diving is choosing your instructor. You need to find an instructor with experience and one who does this type of diving on a regular basis. The cheapest course at this level is usually not the best or many time even adequate. Courses at this level should have classroom, shallow water work along with the deeper dives when talking to your potential instructor ask about requirements for dives and equipment- experienced instructors will have a detailed plan for each dive and the equipment needed. Also ask how many deco dives in the range you are planning on training in does the instructor have and how often does he do them- this number should be in the 100's and should be conducted on a regular basis. I learned a lot in my classes but learned a lot more about deco diving by doing hundreds of dives- this experience is passed to my students the "tech" instructor with no experience is essentially just a page ahead of you in the book not a good situation for learning to take place.
Basic decompression diving is not that difficult and there is some task loading but dives to 130ft with limited decompression (single gas switch) are safely executed by properly trained divers all the time. Most important if choosing to do this type of diving is choosing your instructor. You need to find an instructor with experience and one who does this type of diving on a regular basis. The cheapest course at this level is usually not the best or many time even adequate. Courses at this level should have classroom, shallow water work along with the deeper dives when talking to your potential instructor ask about requirements for dives and equipment- experienced instructors will have a detailed plan for each dive and the equipment needed. Also ask how many deco dives in the range you are planning on training in does the instructor have and how often does he do them- this number should be in the 100's and should be conducted on a regular basis. I learned a lot in my classes but learned a lot more about deco diving by doing hundreds of dives- this experience is passed to my students the "tech" instructor with no experience is essentially just a page ahead of you in the book not a good situation for learning to take place.
It isn't clear what your asking. But it's likely the closest to a non-technical deco course is likely to be a PADI Tec 40 Course. However, this is still going to be considered technical diving based on the common terminology. Also, i'm not sure how many instructors will teach this with the minimal requirements listed at PADI. It's not likely a good idea to use "recreational scuba equipment, with some minor additions" when decompression diving
OP
Mike Boswell
Contributor
I don't plan to do any deco dives. It's more of an emergency preparedness thing.
For example, if I had to dive down to save a damsel in distress after my third dive of the day, it would be good to know whether and how to calculate how many minutes at how many feet I would need to decompress.
The reason some are posting that this question doesn't make sense is that deco diving isn't recreational diving if you divide subject matter into recreational/technical.
On the other hand all diving is done for recreation except for scientific/commercial/military so in that sense all courses are for recreational divers.
I'm guessing your real question has been answered if you are just wanting to know where to go for technical training. Technical being anything involving an overhead, real or artificial (deco).
Workshops are fun for a short intro into the head knowledge too. Living in CA gives you a leg up on many here. It might be worth harassing Karl at the Catalina Chamber into running this workshop again:
Huggins KE. (1992) Dynamics of decompression workshop. University of Michigan. RRR ID: 8078
And Mike "Dr. Deco" Powell does do a workshop every now and then. When he schedules one, he will post it in his forum.
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