Introduction to Cenote Sidemount Diving: Open Water Sidemount Diver

Sidemount diving allows you to carry large volumes of gas in separate tanks that are maneuverable under water and logistically easier to handle out of the water. This provides divers with the feeling of floating freely through the water column with all the benefits and none of the encumbrances of back-mounted double tanks. Cenote sidemount diving with two independent tanks creates redundancy giving you a greater safety margin for dealing with gas failures within the team. The Open Water Sidemount diving course teaches divers the proper technique, configuration, equipment, accessories and maintenance required for successful sidemount diving in open water environments. Sidemount diving has many benefits, including moving heavy and cumbersome tanks away from your back, which could potentially cause pain or injury. Sidemount is a great configuration for traveling divers, not only to save room in your luggage with its minimalist and lightweight approach but also the availability of compatible tanks worldwide. In certain regions, it can be difficult to secure a set of doubles but single tanks are found worldwide and are readily available.

Our team of professional instructors are all extremely passionate cenote sidemount divers with a wealth of knowledge and experience in diving this configuration. In many ways, this course is our specialty. ProTec instructors can teach sidemount diving with whichever sidemount gear you prefer. However, we highly recommend the STEALTH sidemount harness. ProTec owner and instructor, Patrick Widmann, designed and developed the STEALTH sidemount harness following years of experience sidemount diving with other gear configurations, and in response to a clear need in the market for a superior harness. You are welcome to use one of our STEALTH harnesses during training, free of charge.

Certification for this course is offered through PSAI Mexico. This course takes a minimum of 5 days to complete and is available to all certified open water divers with a minimum of 25 logged dives.

The Introduction to Cenote Sidemount Diving (Sidemount for the Open Water Course) Covers:

• The history of sidemount diving
• Equipment workshop and configuration
• Team diving
• Fundamentals training focused on buoyancy, trim, position and various finning techniques
• Sharing gas within the team
• Balancing cylinders
• Understanding your equipment and how to react to gas failures
• How to plan and execute your own open water sidemount dives
• DSMB Deployment
• Ascents with stops

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ProTec offers various certification combinations to help you reach your diving goals. Check out our open water Training Tracks to help you plan your trip.