Am I Ready for Technical Diving?

Paul Seldes   Jun 17, 2025

Am I Ready for Technical Diving?

There is a lot of misunderstanding about what is meant by the term “technical diving”. In
this article, we’ll look at some of the myths, clear up some of the confusion, and see what it
takes to start on the tech journey!
Technical diving starts in your own head. The tech diver must clearly understand and
acknowledge their own personal limitations. It does not matter what prestigious dive
agency card you hold or how many dives you have. And it does not matter if you have
memorized the formulas and the “book”. And it doesn’t matter what super pretty gear you
invested in. Tech diving starts with self-awareness and the quality of your training.
Myth #1 – Technical Diving is always about much deeper dives
Fact: Though technical diving may be deeper than the 130-foot recreational depth limits,
tech dives do not have to be deep. A technical dive is something that exceeds the
limitations of recreational diving. That could mean deeper than 130 feet, or it could mean
diving beyond the no decompression limit (NDL) time, or it may be diving with specialized
equipment (like a rebreather), or specialized gas mixes (like trimix), or it could mean diving
in an overhead environment like a cave or wreck. Or it can be a combination of any of those
things! The 3-hour CCR dive I did on a 60fsw reef in Florida was fantastic! And yes…it was a
tech dive!

Myth #2 – You need years of experience or hundreds of dives before technical training.
Fact: Everyone is different. Every dive training agency has minimum prerequisites to start
tech training. This usually includes a minimum number of logged dives (TDI requires 25
logged dives), a minimum certification level (typically advanced and nitrox), and of course,
a minimum age. Instructors may choose to exceed these standards. As an instructor, I
require students to have a minimum of 50 logged dives, and a rescue certification before
starting tech training. If it’s a diver I don’t know from previous classes, I also require an
evaluation dive to verify basic scuba skills. And yes…I turn down students who can’t
demonstrate a good grasp of basic recreational skills. Mastery of basic scuba skills is a big
step towards tech readiness!

Myth #3 – Tech diving is easy and safe!

I have heard too many new tech instructors tell prospective students that tech is easy and
safe. Tech inherently has more risks than recreational dives. And it is the level and quality of
our training that teaches us to identify and mitigate those risks. When talking to a tech
instructor, it is important to gauge their level of training and experience. How long has that
instructor been diving and teaching tech? What varied environment have they been diving
in? What training agency standards do they use and where do they exceed those
standards?

Tech diving takes planning. We say, “Plan your dive, and dive your plan”. The critical part of
a tech dive starts before you get in the water! That dive plan needs to cover a lot of
information. Dive profile (time, depth, ascent time), contingency planning, emergency
procedures, gas plans are all additional elements to our dive plan. And that plan needs to
be written down and shared with your team members and any support crew. One tech diver
I trained a few years ago observed “if it takes longer to plan your dive than to do your dive,
it’s a tech dive!”.

Myth #4 - It’s all about training.
This is not a myth! Good tech divers start with great tech training. Great tech divers start
with training and add experience! Most dives will be uneventful. And that is the problem. I
see a lot of tech instructors work on skills with students until they perform them to
standards. Congratulations! You rocked that, you superstar you! Unfortunately, that is only
a starting point. Working through a staged skill scenario in a controlled training
environment is not real life. The psychology and stress factors are just different. Rather
than train to perfection, I push students to failure. We make a skill perfect then build
additional stress factors on top until the student messes up. This teaches resilience and
how to operate under stress. This is not the same as a student failing a skill! The lesson
here is not about being perfect. Rather the lesson becomes about dealing with and
recovering from mistakes, failures, and emergencies. In one class, I had a rather cocky
student who was doing really well with all skills. So, while we were practicing one skill, I
suddenly signaled I was “out of air”. They were focused on their perfect skill and not the
potential emergency. Situational awareness was an important lesson for that student! And
they have since become a great technical diver.How Do I know If I am Ready?

The first step in tech readiness starts in your own head. Do you have the mental toughness
and focus to go tech? Are you aware of your own limitations? And are your basic scuba
skills 100% solid?
The second step is to go interview local instructors. Who has the street creds and
experience that speaks to you? Who has the program that interests you? Who’s style and
approach mesh with you?
The third step may be to take an intro class. For example, the TDI “Intro to Tech” introduces
divers to technical gear configurations, the tech mindset, and basic techniques. The class
stays within your current certification levels. It is the perfect step to take to figure out “can I
do this”?
The fourth step is to go take those technical diving classes! TDI Advanced Nitrox, TDI
Decompression Procedures gets you into the tech diving world. That is your ticket to new
and deep adventures!
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Scuba Instructor Paul Seldes is an SDI-TDI Course Director and the Senior Instructor at Stuart Scuba in Stuart, Florida.
Paul is also an SEI Course Director, a NAUI open water instructor, and a CMAS 2-Star Instructor. As an experienced
instructor, technical diver, and ocean explorer, Paul is often found diving the wrecks and reefs along Florida’s Palm Beach
coast or hiding out while diving on various Caribbean Islands or on some grand exploration somewhere. He can be
reached at paul@scubainstructorpaulseldes.com.