Refresher Scuba

OVERVIEW AND QUALIFICATIONS
This is a non-certification program which affords supervised refresher experience at the Scuba Diver level for divers who need to re-establish proficiency owing to diving inactivity in light of intended dive trips or other factors. Divers who have completed the Refresher Scuba course may use the documentation to assist dive guides, Divemasters, resort owners, boat captains and others in evaluating the diver’s training level and readiness to participate in specific diving activities. Divers who have completed Refresher Scuba dives but not the entire program may use their logbook verifications in a similar manner.

PREREQUISITES
• Age. Minimum is 10 years by the water phase of the course. (Junior-level conditional restrictions apply.)
• Certification/Experience/Knowledge. Certification as a NAUI Scuba Diver or the equivalent is required. The instructor is to ensure adequate student knowledge and capability before any open water training and shall use skill or other evaluations to do so. For participants with no diving activity during the 12-month period preceding the Refresher Scuba course, water skill evaluation and necessary refresher training in confined water is required before open water activity is permitted.

POLICIES
• Academics (estimated hours). 5 hours (estimated).
• Practical Application.

• MINIMUM REQUIRED HOURS.

1. One hour.

• LIMITATIONS.

1. Water activities may be completed in confined water.

• DEPTH.

1. There is no maximum depth specified for this course. Depth is limited by the participant’s capabilities, experience and previous certification.

REQUIREMENTS – SKILLS
• Scuba Diving (confined and open water). Following initial evaluation, dive activity should be tailored to participant needs in terms of current proficiency vs. projected diving activity. If refresher training is being used to prepare a diver for diving travel, emphasis is to be given to skills, knowledge and techniques applicable to the area to be dived.
• The participant is to demonstrate scuba diving skill proficiency by satisfactorily performing all of the following: (Skills marked with an asterisk “*” must be introduced in confined water if it has been more than 12 months since the last dive. Depth requirements in excess of 2.4m (8 ft.) do not apply in confined water.)

PRE- AND POST-DIVE SKILLS.

• *Select, check, assemble, adjust and don equipment; perform pre-dive gear check for self and buddy; defog masks; after diving, doff, rinse and care for gear.
• *Perform surface buoyancy/weighting check and make adjustments as needed to hover at diving depth.
• Correctly give and recognize surface communications for divers.
• Orally inflate and deflate own and buddy’s BC.
• *At the surface, remove and replace (in turn): mask, fins, weight system, and scuba unit.
• *With face submerged, breathe through snorkel while resting and swimming.
• With face submerged, breathe through water in the snorkel without choking.
• Release a simulated muscle cramp from self and buddy.
• If appropriate for the area, enter and exit the water with a float and/or, “Diver Down” flag and line; use to identify the dive area while diving.

DESCENT/ASCENT SKILLS.

• *Control pressure in air spaces for comfortable, controlled descents and ascents.
• *Descend feet first with a minimum of hand or fin movement, using breath control or BC to control rate of descent.
• At the end of a dive, ascend at a controlled steady rate of 9m (30 ft.) or less per minute and hover at a depth of approximately 4.6m (15 ft.) for three minutes.

UNDERWATER SKILLS.

• Give, recognize and respond appropriately to common underwater communications.
• *Mask clearing, including removal and replacement. (In cold water environments when mitts and hood seals are used, confined water removal and replacement is sufficient.)
• *Regain primary regulator from behind the shoulder.
• *Hover without support or significant movement.
• *If wearing a standard buckle type weight belt and submerged in a prone position at the bottom or while hovering, adjust the position of the weight system so that the ballast is evenly distributed.
• *If wearing a weight-integrated weight system, and submerged in a prone position at the bottom or while hovering, remove and replace at least one weight pocket, if permitted by the weight system. If necessary, assistance is allowed to replace the weight pocket.
• Use the buddy system for scuba diving, remaining within 3m (10 ft.), or less if required by conditions, of buddy.
• Monitor air supply and communicate amount remaining upon request and manage air supply so as to surface with a pre-planned minimum amount of air.
• Using environmental navigation aids and a compass, travel underwater to a designated location or in a given direction for a set period of time.
• Use an underwater compass to set a bearing: follow the bearing and return on a reciprocal course to the approximate starting location.

Planning.

• Measure, record and calculate individual air consumption (as surface air consumption rate) using a submersible pressure gauge, depth gauge and timing device.
• Plan and make a no-required-stop dive to a depth between 12 to 18m (40 to 60 ft.). Planning is to consider at a minimum; adequate breathing gas supply for descent, time at depth, ascent, precautionary stop and safety margin. If local dive areas, i.e. dive locations within a 50-mile (80km) radius of the course facility, do not provide water depths in excess of 12m (40 ft.) or there are other hazards that, in the Instructor’s judgment, prevent the completion of a dive that exceeds 12m (40 ft.) a simulated deeper water dive to a lesser depth is acceptable as long as it still meets the definition of a scuba dive as stated in the “Glossary.”
• Upon completion of a dive, use the repetitive dive table to properly calculate a planned no-required-stop repetitive dive projected to begin after at least a one-hour surface interval. It is acceptable for students to be instructed in the use of their personally owned dive computers in lieu of using dive tables for dive planning. (The actual dive need not be conducted.)

Environmental.

• Dive using skills that have a minimal impact on the environment and promote conservation.
• Recognize and identify (by common name) samples of plant and animal life typically seen.

• Emergency/Rescue/Problem Solving.

• Transport for a distance of at least 46m (50 yards) a buddy who is simulating exhaustion. Eye-to-eye or voice contact between rescuer and diver must be maintained.
• *In a stationary position in confined water and at a minimum depth of 4.6m (15 ft.) in open water, share air in a controlled manner with another diver, be both the donor of air and receiver of air.
• *Perform a relaxed, controlled emergency swimming ascent in confined water and from a minimum depth of 4.6m (15 ft.) in open water. (See supplemental “Details of Selected Skills.”)
• *Share air as both a donor and a receiver from an octopus or alternate breathing source (not buddy breathing) during ascents in confined water and from a minimum depth of 4.6m (15 ft.) to the surface in open water.
• *Bring a diver simulating unconsciousness to the surface from a depth of approximately 3m (10 ft.), remove victim’s weight system, mask and snorkel; simulate in-water rescue breathing.

Included in course fee:

• Instructor fee
• Pool training
• eLearning
• Digital certification card (physical card can be purchased for additional fee)

***** Course fee only applies to students who have not trained with us. Once you complete a course or your refresher with us then the only cost to you is the cost of the eLearning material***