Curious about technical (tec) diving, but not sure about jumping into a course? Discover Tec is a short confined water experience that allows you to give technical diving a try. You get to wear all the extra tec diving gear and take it for a test dive. Your PADI Tec Instructor may introduce a few basic skills, such as primary to secondary regulator switch and gas shutdown procedures. Your PADI Tec Instructor will explain the equipment you’ll use and go over basic tec diving procedures, such as the importance of diving in teams. You’ll get in the water, make gear adjustments, then simply explore and get a feel for the equipment.

The PADI Tec 40 course is where you transition from recreational scuba diving to technical diving. It’s a great place to start because it’s the first subdivision of the full PADI Tec Diver course and bridges the gap between no stop diving and full technical deep decompression diving. You gain experience and begin building the knowledge and skills you need to continue your tec diver training. You will qualify to make limited decompression dives to 40 metres/130 feet. The Tec 40 course consists of three knowledge development sections, three practical application sessions, and four training dives. You’ll learn about: Technical diving’s risks and responsibilities; Technical diving equipment, proper rigging and set up; Gas planning, oxygen limits and decompression planning; Team diving techniques and emergency procedures, such as dealing with free flows, manifold leaks and out of gas situations.

The PADI Tec 45 course is the second part of the full PADI Tec Deep Diver program. You’ll extend your depth limit to 45 metres/145 feet and learn to plan and execute repetitive decompression dives using a single stage/decompression cylinder. It puts you in a complete tec diving rig, which can be either backmount or sidemount. You’ll also make accelerated decompression dives using EANx or pure oxygen. This is a course where you’ll rise to the challenge and make the commitment to become a technical diver. Your Tec 45 training consists of three knowledge development sections, three practical application sessions and four open water dives. Building on what you learned in the Tec 40 course, you focus on the function and maintenance of tec diving equipment and associated issues. You continue fine-tuning gas planning and calculating accelerated decompression stops. Plus, you learn to think like a technical diver.

The third part of the full PADI Tec Deep Diver program is Tec 50. As a Tec 50 diver, you show that you’ve developed competency as a tec diver and have the skills to dive to a maximum of 50 metres/165 feet. You know how to make extended, accelerated decompression stops using up to two gases. It’s not easy to reach this level and earning your Tec 50 certification opens the door to deeper diving expeditions. The Tec 50 course includes two knowledge development sections, three practical application sessions and four open water dives. A primary focus of this course is mission planning and execution. You also learn more about handling emergencies and how to think like a technical diver.

Ready for the outer edge of technical diving? The Tec Trimix Diver course takes experienced tec divers and turns them into extreme divers who go deeper and visit pristine sites where few others will ever go. During the course, you’ll make dives as deep as 90 metres/300 feet, but once you earn this tough certification, there are few limits. Your training teaches you to build experience gradually and you do it because you’ve made it this far and have more exploring to do. The Tec Trimix Diver course emphasizes mission application: Gas selection options, especially deco gases; Bubble models and deep stops; Using multigas trimix computers; Handling up to four stage/deco cylinders