SSI XR Extended Range Diver (Trimix Optional)
SSI XR Extended Range Diver at a glance
- SSI XR Extended Range at a glance:
- Prerequisites
- 50 total dives
- Deep Diving
- Enriched Air Nitrox 40
- For students using a sidemount configuration (in addition to the above):
Have the following SSI certifications or an equivalent from a recognized training agency:
• Recreational Sidemount Diving (Combination option available).
- Online learning
- 6 Days - pool and 6 dives
- Certification Level
45m, 100% O2 & 25 minutes of Accelerated Decompression
(Trimix – Helium END 30m, O2 21%)
- All Course Equipment (see FAQS), Nitrox / O2 and diving included!
- Additional charge for Helium
The SSI XR Extended Range Diver course takes you into Technical DIving and beyond the recreational limits, certifying you to 45m with the ability to run accelerated decompression using up to 100% O2. This is it, this is the leap from the ordinary to the extraordinary, the course that takes you further and pushes you further at the same time, it also takes you to places few have been.
In terms of progression, it’s hard to explain just how much your diving is about to change… Regardless of level, the team at Big Blue Tech are going to help you through the transition from Recreational Diver to Technical Diver and into the world of Decompression, buoyancy will change as well as the approach to planning. The focus will be on both the individual and the team, “individuals can and do make mistakes, a good team shouldn’t” is something you will hear during this course… and hopefully “congratulations” at the end of it.
DIvers also have the option to certify on Trimix at this level.
SSI XR Extended Range Diver gallery
Itinerary
Your SSI XR Extended Range Diver course starts with meeting your Big Blue Tech Instructor, grabbing a coffee from our beachside restaurant and settling in for the morning, initially we complete paperwork and commence Instructor lead academics which will be conducted every morning. Topics covered include history of decompression diving, physics review of appropriate gas laws, diving physiology, bubble formation, Decompression sickness / diving-related injuries, gas consumption and management, modern decompression theory, dive planning and decompression ascents. By the final day, all the pertinent points regarding decompression diving with a great emphasis on safety will have been discussed..
Following a lunch break we head up to our pool for a practical training session in either twinset or sidemount configuration. The primary focus of the pool session will be maintaining buoyancy and trim in a fixed column of water whilst conducting a number of basic skills including regulator exchange, shutdown drills, Out of Air scenarios, back up mask deployment, LPI Failure and SMB deployment, donning and retrieving a third cylinder, gas switches, buddy breathing and equipment failure.
Then its back to the restaurant for a debrief whilst enjoying a cold drink and watching the sunset.
With coffee in hand and enjoying the gentle sea breeze, your instructor will continue academics and make any equipment adjustments required from the previous day. Then its time to analyse gases, label tanks and after lunch head out for your first 2 dives.
This afternoon will focus on mastering the skills conducted in the pool session the previous day, with great emphasis on buoyancy and trim, maintaining position in a fixed column of water throughout the skill, a critical component of Decompression Diving.
Back to land and with a cold drink in hand a debrief of the afternoon’s activities will be conducted.
Today’s morning activities will focus on land drills, buddy checks, team SMB deployment and gas switching procedures, dive planning will also be discussed in greater details and a decompression dive planned.
After lunch it is out on the boat for dives 3 and 4.
These dives are simulated decompression dives and although you will not be going into decompression, skill mastery must be shown including appropriate responses to equipment failure, safe team led gas switches and execution of a decompression ascent.
As always back on land sunsets are admired whilst your debrief is conducted.
All online academics should now be completed and will be reviewed and any incorrect answers analysed and discussed. Final land drills will be conducted, gas analysed, tanks labelled, and your decompression dives planned.
This afternoon the wait will be over and you will experience your 2 decompression dives showing mastery of the previous 3 days of training, this will be an experience you will not forget.
Back on land after a debrief from your instructor you can reflect on your SSI XR Extended Range Diver course and after successful completion have a celebratory drink while watching the sunset.
This is a flexible day that can be utilised as required e.g. an additional training day may be required after day 2 or 3 prior to your decompression dives. If however the course has been successfully completed in 4 days. 2 fun deco dives can be taken with one of our Technical Instructors.
FAQs
What Can I Expect to Learn?
Your Big Blue Tech Instructor will guide you through:
- Physics and physiology relating to diving with gas mixes containing more than 40% oxygen
- Proper trim, buoyancy, and finning techniques
- Gas planning, dive computers, oxygen limitations, nitrogen limitations
- Equipment considerations, cylinder labeling, analyzing nitrox mixtures, gas blending procedures, and oxygen service ratings for using gases with more than 40% oxygen
- Decompression dive planning including:
- Decompression gas choices
- Tables vs. personal dive computers
- Emergency and contingency planning (equipment failure, omitted decompression, etc.)
- Staying within your 25 minutes Accelerated Deco limit
- Decompression diving procedures
- Equipment selection
- Pre-dive checks and drills
- Following a decompression schedule
- Gas switching
- Team awareness and communication
- SMB/lift bag deployment
- Proper trim, buoyancy, and finning techniques
- Emergency procedures (equipment failures, catastrophic gas loss, omitted decompression, navigational errors, etc.)
Will I be able to dive this certification with Big Blue Tech after the course?
Absolutely, We encourage all of our newly certified students to get back in the water and enjoy their new certifications. With a healthy number of Technical divers on the staff and a dedicated Tech boat, we offer unequaled Tech fun diving opportunities here on Koh Tao.
What's included (or not) in the course?
Included
- All materials and certification costs on successful completion
- Sidemount or Twinset (Regs, Harness & Tanks)
- Fins (Students are required to have boots if they wish to use our open heeled tech fins)
- Exposure suit
- Back up mask / light / bottom timer
- SMB and primary line
Not Included – Divers taking a course at this level should have some of their own primary equipment (any of which can be purchased on arrival):
- Primary Mask
- Primary Dive computer
- Wrist slate
- Boots (If you wish to use our open heeled tech fins)
- Compass
- Primary cutting device
SSI StandardsOK, let's do this... How do I book?
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