The Advanced Diver (ISO 24801-2 +) course is the second mandatory rank in most training ladders. Through classroom sessions, pool time, and open water dives, candidates will have opportunities to explore various specialty diving areas and hone their skills using deployable surface marker buoys, alternate air sources, rope techniques, navigation, diving deep (to a maximum of 40m / 130ft), managing light narcosis, and fine-tuning fundamentals such as buoyancy and fin kicks - among other skills.

We offer this course every second year, at the same time as our open water training, at deeply reduced costs compared to other agencies, keeping with our philosophy of growing the skills of our membership to encourage safe and competent diving.

If you are interested, please reach out to training@sdacscuba.ca. 

Course standards, prerequisites, and learning goals can be found here.

The Rescue Leader (ISO 21804-3) course is the third and final mandatory rank before divers can seek professional designations. This course fouses on recognising, preventing, and acting accordingly in dive emergencies. This course contains classroom sessions, pool time, and open water dives.

We offer this course alternating years to our advanced diver course, typically during the open water diver training. We encourage all our active divers to work towards this rank to improve and prmote the safety of diving in general.

If you are interested, please reach out to training@sdacscuba.ca.

Course standards, prerequisites, and learning goals can be found here.

Note: The Rescue Leader rank is new in 2026. At a higher ISO standard, it replaces the previous Rescue Diver rank. ACUC Rescue Divers can take a short upgrading course (Dive and Emergency Management) to upgrade their rank to Rescue Leader. Please reach out to the Training Director for more information.