Recreational Sidemount Diver Specialty

The SSI Sidemount Diver Specialty Course teaches you to configure and use one or two cylinders mounted at your sides instead of on your back. Experience a different way to streamline in the water, reduce lower back strain and take advantage of the increased gas supply for longer dives.

Sidemount diving is where the diver’s cylinders are positioned under the diver’s arms rather than on the back. This configuration is well suited to many different environments and implies excellent advantages for divers with limited mobility that prefer sidemount over wearing back-mounted cylinders.

Sidemount is also widely used for cave diving, where single cylinders are easier to haul when divers must carry gear through rough terrain to the water’s edge.

The benefits of sidemount diving include:

• Adjustability: enhance your streamlining and body position while better controlling environmental contact.
• Access: easy access to the regulator first stage(s) and tank valve(s) positioned in front of you instead of behind you.
• Provides back relief by mounting cylinder(s) on the side.
• Maximize time: a comfortable option to increase air supply and maximize bottom time; especially when using enriched air.
• Redundant gas supply and delivery system: handle a low or out-of-gas problem by switching to the second cylinder; handle a regulator failure by switching to the second regulator.

This course includes a practical application session, one confined water dive, and four open water dives.