1.1 INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this course is to acquaint a diver with the necessary procedures and knowledge to safely dive at altitudes above sea level.

1.2 WHO MAY TEACH
Who may teach this course?
1. An active SDI Instructor or Assistant Instructor that has been certified to teach this specialty.

1.3 STUDENT – INSTRUCTOR RATIO
Academic:
2. Unlimited, so long as adequate facility, supplies and time are provided to insure comprehensive and complete training.
Confined Water (Swimming pool-like conditions):
3. N/A.
Open Water (Ocean, lake, quarry, spring, river or estuary):
4. A maximum of eight (8) students per Instructor. However, it is the instructor’s discretion to reduce this number as conditions dictate.
5. The Instructor has the option of adding two (2) more students with the assistance of an active Assistant Instructor or Divemaster.
6. The total number of students an instructor may have in the water is twelve (12) with the assistance of two (2) Assistant Instructors or Divemasters.

1.4 STUDENT PRE-REQUISITES
7. Open Water Diver or Junior Open Water Diver.
8. Ten (10) years or older.

1.5 COURSE STRUCTURE AND DURATION
Open Water execution:
9. Two (2) dives are required with complete briefs and debriefs by the Instructor.
10. Dive plans must include Surface interval, Max no-deco time, etc. to be figured out and logged.
Course Structure:
11. SDI allows instructors to structure courses according to the number of students participating and their skill level.

1.6 ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS
Administrative Tasks:
12. Collect the course fees from all the students.
13. Ensure that the students have the required equipment.
14. Communicate the schedule to the students.
15. Have the students complete the Liability Release and Medical history forms.
16. The Instructor should review the Liability Release and Medical Forms before starting on the course.
Upon successful completion of this specialty the instructor must issue the SDI Altitude Diver specialty experience card. The Instructor must:
17. Issue one of the following cards:
A. A SDI Insta-Card.
B. Use either a SDI diver registration form or a Pre-paid Diver certification form to file for the specialty certification card if a SDI certification card is requested.
18. Award card and certificate.

1.7 REQUIRED EQUIPMENT
Basic SDI Open Water SCUBA equipment as prescribed earlier in this manual.

1.8 APPROVED OUTLINE
The following is the approved outline:
19. Why do we do this type of diving?
20. Dive tables as they relate to altitude diving
A. DCIEM Tables.
B. Buehlmann Tables.
C. Cross Corrections to USN Tables.
21. Computers
A. Computer’s capability and usage.
22. Calculations based on Cross Corrections to USN Tables
A. Usage
I. Actual depth of dive.
II. Altitude of dive site.
III. Ascent rate is adjusted.
B. Examples of problems.
C. Last dive and travel at higher altitudes.
23. Correction of depth gauges and computers
A. Gauges designed for one (1) ATM.
B. Capillary D.G. will correspond to the TOD.
C. If there is any doubt use measured down line.
24. Hypoxia during Altitude Diving.
25. Levels of Altitude:
A. Three hundred 300 meter / one thousand (1000) feet.
B. Twelve hundred (1200) meter / four thousand (4000) feet, etc.

1.9 REQUIRED SKILL PERFORMANCE AND GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS
Although not desirable, the training sessions may be carried out at sea level for those students who may be too distant from high altitude dive sites, i.e. those students who may be going on vacations to distant sites. Students are required to successfully complete the following skills:
26. Open Water – Dive one (1)
A. Plan Dive
B. Students compute their No-Decompression information.
C. Test and check all equipment, i.e. depth gauges and bottom timers/watches and computers.
D. Enter and descend.
E. Monitor depth and No-decompression time.
F. Ascend.
G. Log Dive.
27. Open Water – Dive two (2)
A. Descend.
B. Monitor depth/time on slate.
C. Compass usage.
D. “Treasure Hunt” for fun.
E. Ascend.
F. Log Dive.