When it comes to training, it can get a little confusing at Tec entry-level. What is certain is that we don’t want to take you to the “dark side” or have you use the “devil’s gas”, but to offer you a wide range of courses to develop your skills and confidence in all types of diving, regardless of your kit configuration or certifying agency.
So PADI? TDI? IANTD? PSAI? IDReO? RAID? IDHACWITA(I Don’t Have A Clue What I’m Talking About)? What really matters is the quality of instruction and how you feel with your instructor.
Tec Monsters have selected some of the best instructors in the country (and beyond) who are specialist in their field and offer courses from entry- level Rec all the way to CCR Trimix Expediton DPV cave diver.
Courses are run all over Florida in Springs or on the coast. Trips to more exotic destinations (Mexico, Malta, Egypt, Ibiza, France, UK and South East Asia) can be arranged.
Discover Tec
Not sure Tec diving is the way forward for you? Can you lift that twinset off the bench without having to book a physio appointment after every time you go diving?
Best way to find out is to book an Intro to Tec course. The course is in a shallow confined water in full technical gear and your instructor may introduce a few basic skills, such as primary to secondary regulator switch and gas shutdown procedures.
If you are an Open Water Diver, are at least 18 years old and have a minimum of 10 logged dives then you qualify for Discover Tec!
Tec Sidemount
If you’re :
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An PADI Advanced Open Water Diver or equivalent
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At least 18 years old
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Have a minimum of 30 logged dives
Then you qualify to enroll in a Tec Sidemount Diver course. It’s recommended that you also have an Enriched Air Diver certification.
At Tec Monsters we believe that sidemount takes time as kit configuration needs particular attention in order to achieve a comfortable position underwater with good trim. With that in mind the 4-day course covers all core tec skills pertinent to sidemount. We run through kit configuration, buoyancy, finning techniques, stage handling and mounting, shutdowns and gas donation.
The first day consists of the equipment setup and theory.
The second day we will work a little more on equipment configuration and complete a shallow orientation dive.
The last 2 days consist of the 4 open water qualifying dives. Over the course of the open water dives you'll learn about gas management, gas sharing, gas switching and buoyancy skills.
Tec 40
To get started you must be:
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An Enriched Air Diver with at least 10 dives using enriched air deeper than 18 metres/60 feet
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A Deep Diver or proof of at least 10 dives to 30 metres/100 feet
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At least 18 years old and have a minimum of 30 logged dives
The PADI Tec 40 course is where you transition from recreational scuba diving to technical diving. It’s a great place to start as it bridges the gap between no stop diving and technical deep decompression diving.
The course takes 3 days to complete and you will learn everything you need to know about the standard technical rig configuration, gas planning, oxygen limits and decompression planning.
You will practice skills in a shallow and controlled environment in order to build confidence before the qualifying dive. This will take you as deep as 40m using a mix of EANx with a maximum of 50% oxygen on your way up, to make you decompression more conservative. You will gain experience and begin building the knowledge and skills you will need to continue your Tec diver training. You will qualify to make limited decompression dives to 40 metres with a maximum of 10 minutes decompression based on a dive plan on air but using Nitrox to make your deco more conservative (max 50%).
The course can be taken in either backmount or sidemount, though some experience in sidemount prior to the course is preferable. If you have none, a 2-day course linked to your TEC40 can sort that out.
If you are not sure about BM or SM, have a read of a blog from our Tec Monsters’ Instructor Trainer and Course Director, Alex Griffin.
Tec 45
To enrol in the Tec 45 course, you must:
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Be a PADI Tec 40 diver or equivalent
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Be a PADI Rescue Diver or equivalent
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Have a minimum of 50 logged dives, with at least 12 dives on enriched air nitrox deeper than 18 metres/60 feet and 10 dives deeper than 30 metres/100 feet
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Be at least 18 years old
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Have a Medical Statement signed by a physician within the last 12 months
Building up from what you learned on your Tec 40 course we will add some more skills in the mix. The course is over 3 days again, with practice in the shallow with some more shutdowns (around 154 times each), more gas planning and a little stress test that will make you ready to head down to 45m for your first unlimited decompression dive using a single gas mix to accelerate your decompression on the way up to the surface.
The focus will be on perfect trim and buoyancy control, as well as gas planning and management and how to overcome simple emergencies that might arise. The use of a multi-gas computer as well as decompression software and full technical rig will be explained to you with a hands-on philosophy.
Your Tec 45 qualification will qualify you to do unlimited decompression dives down to 45m using a single decompression gas up to 100% to accelerate your decompression, as those are minutes of your life that you won’t get back!!
Tec 50
To enrol in the Tec 50 course, you must:
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Be a PADI Tec 45 diver
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Have a minimum of 100 logged dives, with at least 20 dives on enriched air nitrox deeper than 18 metres/60 feet and 15 dives deeper than 30 metres/100 feet
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Be at least 18 years old
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Have a Medical Statement signed by a physician within the last 12 months
Tec 50 is where the real thing starts. You’ll be using 2 stages to accelerate your decompression and add some redundancy so there is no room for mistakes in your gas switching procedures.
Over the 3 days of the course, we will start as usual in the shallow, progressing all the way down to 50m for your final dive. More decompression theory, more gas management, more dive planning and of course more shutdowns and problem-solving skills is what you can expect on that course, which is going to make you a fully fledged technical diver.
Trimix
There is nothing like a good old dive on air to 60m, but if you want to remember the dive, you may want to take the edge off by adding some helium to your mix.
For that, you will have to book a course with one of our noble gas experts. Trimix courses take experienced Tec divers and turn them into extreme divers who go deeper and visit pristine sites where few others will ever go.
Once you earn this tough certification, there are few limits and the underwater water world will be your brussel sprout!
We can also arrange your trimix courses with different agencies. For example, with IANTD from Advanced Recreational Trimix all the way to Expedition Trimix Diver that will take you down to 120m, but will also take you down the to the food bank as you won’t have any money left after paying your gas bill.
Tec
Trimix 65
You’re qualified to enrol in the Tec Trimix 65 course, if you:
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Are a PADI Tec 50 diver
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Have a minimum of 100 logged dives
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Are at least 18 years old
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Have a Medical Statement signed by a physician within the last 12 months
Tec 65 is all about adding helium in your cylinders, debt to your credit card bill and starting your circus career as a juggler. You’ll learn how to handle multiple stages and how to plan trimix dives using O2 mixes of 16% and upwards.
This is where things get exciting, as wrecks in the 60m range are an amazing experience, often in pristine conditions as they can only be dived by a few.
The course is once again over 3 days. We will start with basic stage handling skills and moving toward simulated deep trimix dives all the way to your final dive to 65m using 3 or 4 stages to accelerate your decompression and provide redundancy.
Tec Trimix Diver
To enroll in the Tec Trimix Diver course, you must:
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Be a PADI Tec 50 diver or Tec Trimix 65 diver
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Have a minimum of 150 logged dives
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Are at least 18 years old
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Have a Medical Statement signed by a physician within the last 12 months
Tec Trimix is the big one, you’ll learn to use hypoxic trimixes and travel gases to get to depth, then once you’re qualified and if you want to, you can get to the bottom of the ocean (ok a bit closer as the deepest point is around 12,000m deep)!
The course takes 4 days to complete. It is possible to do it in the UK but it’s far better to do overseas, for example in Malta. You’ll begin with a skill-based dive, again dealing with multiple stages, before we start a series of amazing wreck dives gradually increasing depth until your qualifying dive.
The course covers a lot on the decompression issues faced by divers planning hypoxic trimix dives. Then, as an added bonus, we can do another dive at the end of the course to get you to 100m!
Overhead
Overhead environment is not for the faint hearted. In most cases, the main problems are confined spaces and no direct access to the surface. Our range of courses will allow you to develop your skills, knowledge and confidence under the supervision of instructors who are dedicated to this environment, in the safest way possible, only pushing the limits one step at a time. Overhead includes Deep Wreck penetration, Ice, Cave and Mine diving. These are considered as the last places on earth to explore, where less than 1% of the population will ever go.
Our overhead program is divided in 4 categories: Wreck Diving, Ice Diving, Cave Diving and Mine Diving.
Wreck diving training can be done here in the UK as the south coast offers plenty of wrecks to dive on, as do Cornwall and Scotland (we can offer courses in Scapa flow). We also offer courses on the beautiful waters of Malta and Egypt if you fancy a bit of liveaboard action.
Ice diving, as you can imagine, is only possible in the UK between September and June when the water temperature is below freezing. On a serious note, we can sometimes offer it in the London Area but we will most likely take you to the beautiful land of Ice and Fire: Iceland.
Cave diving training could be a bit tricky to offer in the UK as most caves require a long dry caving approach. Instead, we much rather take you down to France, in the Lot area, or to Florida and Mexico if you don’t want your ears to bleed from Ze French accent! As Cave is not easy in the country, we offer a Mine course which will take you in old flooded mines all over the country. Make sure to bring your snorkel and DSMB on those courses as they are part of the standard equipment for all serious divers!
Wreck
Advanced wreck diver:
To enrol in this course you should get in touch with us in order to discuss prerequisites, minimum certification and kit we expect you to have.
The advance wreck diver will get you diving on wrecks beyond the 40-linear metres from your Wreck speciality. This course is designed for divers who would like to to extend their penetration options using air, nitrox and trimix for conservatism, accelerated decompression and keep your head clear!
With a minimum of 6 dives we will make sure first that your trim and your buoyancy are spot on as the silt monster (yes one of our cousin but he is the black sheep of the family) is waiting for you at every corner. We will learn to respect the wrecks and practice the use of line and reels; lights and communication techniques; air sharing in confined space and lost vis/light exit and many more. A very exciting training ahead with a final dive on an actual wreck in the channel for the bravest!
Cavern Diver/Limited Mine
To enrol:
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Must be a qualified as an Advanced Open Water Diver or equivalent.
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Must provide proof of a minimum of 10 dives.
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Must be a minimum of 15 years of age with a parent or guardian authorisation, or a minimum of 18 years of age without guardian approval.
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Meet the Equipment Prerequisite
Your cave adventure will start with a 3 to 4 days cavern diver course. This course is designed to develop your skills and knowledge of cavern environment, diving within the limits of light penetration and learning about specific hazards associated with cave diving.
The cavern diver course will lay a very good basis for cave diving environments but not an encouragement to penetrate cave out of the light zone. The main focus points of the program include equipment configuration, line drills and use of line reels, developing self-sufficiency and safety through skills development proper planning, procedures, techniques and hazards of cavern diving.
Intro to Cave/Mine
In order to join the course you should:
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Must be qualified in Overhead Environment
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Must provide proof of a minimum of 25 logged dives or sufficient experience
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Must be a minimum of 15 years of age with a parent or guardian authorisation, or a minimum of 18 years of age without guardian approval
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Meet the Equipment Prerequisite
The Intro to cave course will take between 3 to 5 days to complete depending on prior qualification and will take your skills previously learned to the next level down and will take you beyond the light zone. The program is all about self-sufficiency skills, utilising isolation manifold twin sets and dual outlet cylinders, line following, line laying and emergency procedures as well as gas planning and management.
The course will certify you to dive within your previous certifications limits, to dive in cave following the main line using the rule of 1/6th (meaning that you can use 1/6th of the gas available in your back gas to get in the cave and 1/6th to get out which leave plenty of gas to sort yourself once you kicked the silt at the bottom while doing your primary tie off).
This course can be run as a continuous course in conjunction with the Cavern Diver program and can be run on either Open Circuit or Closed Circuit Rebreather.
Full Cave/
Mine Diver
Before joining the fun you should:
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Be qualified as an Introductory Cave Diver or equivalent. If not, you must have proof of 100 dives or sufficient experience doing technical dives to satisfy the instructor that the student has the ability and knowledge to continue into this level of training
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Must be a minimum of 18 years of age
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Meet the Equipment Prerequisite
The objective of this 5 to 8 day course is to expand and correct skills previously mastered during your Cavern and Intro to Cave courses. Emphasis is placed upon dive planning and skill perfection through repetition and deep understanding of why and how we do those skills.
This time we are pushing the limits and your instructor will give you all the right tools to dive further and longer in the cave environment.
You will use the rule of 1/3rd ( a third to go in, a third to go out and a third for emergenies) and you will be able to make more complex navigation choices within the cave system. Focus is made on planning, emergency procedures, navigation, team communication and procedures as well as working on your state of mind, relaxation technique and cave diving etiquette.
Course can be run on OC or CCR.
Advanced Cave Diving
No training unless you are:
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Must be qualified as a Full Cave / Mine Diver or equivalent
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Must be a minimum of 18 years of age
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Have a minimum of 25 logged cave dives (50 for DPV)
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The usual kit that you should own by now!
Now that you are familiar with the environment you might want to spice things up a little and take your cave diving adventure to the next level?
The Advance Cave Diver program is waiting for you. This course will focus on bringing more complex equipment with you in the caves and develop your skills to penetrate further and deeper and will make you a fully fledged cave diver that will be limited by only one thing, the size of your balls/ brain.
Multiple Stage Diving - The course extends the cave divers cave penetration capabilities by the use of staging multiple cylinders throughout the planned inward swim. The emphasis is on gas management planning and emergency procedures.
Cave Surveying - The course teaches the diver to gather survey data during cave dives to be used post dive to draw up maps and surveys of cave passages. It includes a review of survey tools and equipment and team projects to gather data and produce surveys.
DPV Diver - The course trains the diver in the safe operation of diver propulsion vehicles, firstly in the open water to develop skills then in the cave environment to put the learnt skills into practice. The course covers emergency procedures including DPV failure, diver tows and gas shares whilst using DPVs.
Course can be run on OC or CCR.
Ice Diving
COMING SOON IN ICELAND
CCR Training
We believe that CCR training need a proper chat to make sure that we understands your goals. We strongly advice that you get in touch with us.
We can arrange training on most of the mainstream unit in the UK as long as the unit is CE rated. Once again if the unit of your dream isn't CE rated let's us know as we have options for training worldwide.
Not sure which unit is the best for you?
We can help you decided by signing in "Try Dive" day so you could try a selection of Rebreather before you make your choice.
