Course overview

Learn to prevent, recognise and manage diving emergencies with the SSI Diver Stress & Rescue course on Maafushi, in the Maldives' South Malé Atoll. Practising self-rescue and diver-assist drills on the calm island house reef and nearby atoll sites in warm 27-30°C water, you gain the awareness and skills to keep yourself and your buddies safe. It is the key step toward SSI professional-level training.

What you’ll learn

• Identify and defuse diver stress before it escalates
• Perform self-rescue and tired-diver assists
• Search for and recover a missing diver
• Surface and tow an unresponsive diver and manage the rescue
• Coordinate a rescue and provide first response
• Plan for and prevent common diving accidents

Prerequisites

• Minimum age 12 (Junior) or 15
• SSI Advanced Adventurer or equivalent certification
• Current first-aid and CPR (e.g. SSI React Right) certification
• Diver medical clearance signed by a physician

What's included · What's not

Probability of sightings · month-by-month

What you're likely to see each month, based on historic operator logs.

Day-by-day itinerary

1. Day1
   Academics & first aid

   Complete stress-and-rescue theory via the SSI app and refresh CPR and first-aid skills.
2. Day2
   Rescue skills

   Practise self-rescue, tows and stressed-diver handling on the calm house reef.
3. Day3
   Search & recovery

   Run search patterns and surface an unresponsive diver to the boat.
4. Day4
   Scenario assessment

   Manage full rescue scenarios on atoll sites such as Maafushi Corner to certify.

Verified through iDive

Every partner school in the iDive network is vetted on safety, instructor credentials, equipment standards and student feedback. Talk to a iDive dive pro on WhatsApp for current availability and reviews specific to Maafushi.

Frequently asked questions