Technical diving does not start with more cylinders, it starts with better fundamentals. Three courses that build on each other: first understanding the gas, then the way of working, then planned decompression.
TDI stands for Technical Diving International and is the technical branch of SDI. Where recreational diving stops — no-stop limits, one breathing gas — TDI begins: several gases, planned decompression, redundant equipment, team procedures.
That sounds like a different sport. Mostly it is different preparation. The dive is worked out beforehand instead of decided on the way. What people usually notice first is how much fine work sits in the fundamentals they thought they had long since mastered — trim, buoyancy, gas consumption.
The same way as everything else: one to one, with time. That is not a selling point here, it is the condition. In open water the standard allows up to four students per instructor. Four people dropping and retrieving a stage cylinder at the same time can be supervised by one instructor — they cannot be accompanied.
Before every TDI course we do one dive together. Not as a test, but so that we both know where we are starting. After that we decide which configuration you will dive during the course, and what you own, rent or simply try out first.
Meant in this order, but not necessarily booked in it. Nitrox is the entry point with the best effort-to-benefit ratio; Intro to Tech shows whether the way of working suits you; Decompression Procedures is the first one after which you may leave no-stop limits.
€249
One theory evening with gas analysis. No dive required.
The sticker on a cylinder is a claim, not a measurement. You determine the oxygen content yourself, label the cylinder and derive your maximum depth from it.
Requires: Open Water or equivalent.
View TDI Nitrox →€899
One theory and equipment day, at least three open-water dives.
Trim, finning techniques, gas planning based on your own consumption, team procedures, buoy deployment. The course stays within no-stop limits — it is the trial, not the clearance.
Requires: a certification beyond Open Water, solid practice.
View Intro to Tech →€899
At least six hours of theory, four open-water dives, two of them deeper than 30 metres.
From here the ascent is part of the dive and gets worked out beforehand. Your own cylinder for the decompression mix, a confirmed gas switch, and the uncomfortable cases practised before they happen.
Requires: age 18, Advanced Adventure or equivalent, 25 logged dives.
View Decompression Procedures →TDI has more courses than these three — Advanced Nitrox, Extended Range, Trimix, Advanced Wreck, rebreathers. I do not teach them.
That has a consequence you should know about: the standard allows combinations that save dives — Advanced Nitrox together with Decompression Procedures, for instance, needs six dives instead of eight. Every one of those combinations requires Advanced Nitrox. So here, Decompression Procedures runs as a stand-alone course.
If your route goes further than this, I would rather tell you now and point you to someone who teaches the next step. A course I cannot certify is no use to you.
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