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The
NOAA Working Diver course includes approximately 65 hours of
practical, hands-on instruction in various topside and underwater
skills. During the three-week course, students conduct 6 pool
dives and 28 open-water dives, 10 of which are in variable-volume
dry suits, at depths ranging from 30 – 110 fsw. A recompression
chamber orientation dive to 130 fsw is also conducted. Specific
skills taught during the course are listed below.
1. Watermanship evaluation (NOAA swim test)
2. Skin diving skills
- Pre-dive
equipment assembly and inspection
- Mask
clearing
- Snorkel
clearing
- Buoyancy
control with swim vest (manual inflation/deflation)
- Water
entries
- Kicks
- Swimming
with mask, fins, snorkel, and swim vest
- Ear
equalization during descent
- Surface
dives/descents/ascents
- Rescues
3. Scuba diving skills
- Pre-dive
equipment assembly and inspection
- Water
entries and exits (shore, boats, piers)
- Regulator
clearing and recovery
- Snorkel/regulator
exchange
- Buoyancy
control with BC and variable-volume dry-suits (descents/ascents/on-bottom/hovering)
- Swimming
with mask, fins, snorkel, wet-suit, and scuba
- Swimming
with mask, fins, snorkel, dry-suit, and scuba
- Dry-suit
blow-up escape and prevention
- Mask,
fins, and weight belt removal and replacement underwater
- Underwater
communications (hand-signals)
- Air
sharing (buddy breathing)
- Controlled
emergency swimming ascent
- Tired
swimmer’s carry
- Buddy
transport (do-si-do)
- Surfacing
an unconscious diver
- In-water
artificial respiration
- Dive
profile information recording (depth, bottom time, cylinder
air pressure)
- Underwater
search and navigation
- Use
of tools and equipment underwater
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Light hand tools (wrenches, saws, pliers)
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Lift bags
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Acoustic listening devices (pinger locators)
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Wireless communication
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