padi Rescue course
with Lars
Rescue Diver Course
December 2025
On my path toward becoming a Divemaster, I was still missing my Rescue Diver Course – something that was completed during these two very educational days. As I had already heard from many divers around the world, this course is considered one of the most demanding, but also one of the most rewarding.
Alyssa chose Miracle Waters, a lake west of Pretoria in South Africa as the course location. The water was quite cold by my standards, but the underwater visibility was absolutely fine.
Day 1.
Day one started with the preparation of emergency oxygen, a short orientation dive, and the first underwater exercises, such as how to deal with a leg cramp.
After surfacing, we immediately continued with rescue scenarios at the surface:
How do I approach a tired diver and assist them? Self-help or towing them back to shore?
How do I approach a panicked diver? How do I provide safe and effective assistance?
All exercises were carefully briefed, instructed, and supervised by Alyssa.
I knew that this course could be full of “nasty” surprises, but when someone suddenly started calling for help in the middle of the lake during our lunch break and appeared to be drowning, I was still very surprised – a spontaneously introduced scenario by Alyssa.
What to do? Mask. Snorkel. Flotation device. Damn – forgot my fins!
Under the watchful eyes of my instructor, the fins were quickly handed to me, and I was able to take care of the rescue of the supposed victim. It is not easy to keep a cool head in stressful situations.
Stop. Think. Act.
In the second half of the day, we focused on how to get an unresponsive diver out of the water and practiced different exit scenarios. We also received a first insight into the following day and went through the steps for Rescue Exercise 7 – unresponsive diver at the surface.
DAY 2.
Day two started with compass exercises, and I learned everything about the different search patterns underwater.
After that, a missing diver had to be located and rescued. Our victim was Ernest, a red mannequin. He had to wait a little for his rescue, but once found, the rescue was successful.
Next, we had to rescue various distressed divers underwater: exhausted, panicked underwater, uncontrolled ascent – no problem at all thanks to Alyssa’s excellent instruction.
After successfully completing an out of air scenario with a controlled air sharing ascent, it was finally time for lunch – or so I thought.
Once again, Alyssa had other plans. Another swimmer appeared to be drowning and needed to be rescued by me. This time, however, I had my fins ready – the learning curve is steep.
After a well-deserved lunch, we went straight back into the water:
Surfacing an unresponsive diver followed by unresponsive diver at the surface.
We went through everything step by step, Alyssa explained each action patiently, and once again the final victim was successfully rescued.
With that, my Rescue Diver Course came to a successful end, and I feel much more confident and prepared for any emergency situations that may arise.
Thank you, Alyssa!
Next stop: Divemaster!