Learn everything you need to have completed before attending any of our ADAS dive courses.
The Seven ADAS and IMCA course prerequisites
ADAS AND IMCA COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Before you make the plunge and join one of our many Commercial Dive Courses you will need to have met our seven ADAS and IMCA prerequisites.
These seven prerequisites or entry requirements are the same no matter what your end goal is.
If you dream of being underwater welding on a sunken ship, running a scientific investigation on the coral reefs, working as a surface supply diver on an oil rig, or have the long term lofty ambition of becoming a saturation diver. These prerequisites are your first step in getting enrolled into the ADAS Part one course.
Once you have the ADAS Part One (Scuba to 30 M) ticket you will need to maintain all of these certifications for any higher course you enrol in.
ADAS also require you to maintain these pre-requisites to act as a diver, no matter the level, so keep an eye on the expiry dates and renew them often.
Some certifications, such as the 02 provider cert, need renewing ever year, others such as the first aid only require an update every three years. Others still, such as your recreational ticket, last a life time.
Fortunately, unless you are Keanu Reeves, once you are over 18, you don’t need to worry about this one ever again. If someone reading this, knows the secret to Keanu’s vampire heart, please comment the secret below.
At least 18
Yes, ADAS and IMCA have the same age requirements as a generic pub in Australia does. If you aren’t old enough to legally drink a beer in a licensed premise, you are not old enough to be a commercial diver. “With age comes wisdom, and with wisdom comes the ability to weld underwater” – quote by CDA
A Recreational Dive Ticket
On our course, you will be using all sorts of hard tools like chainsaws, welding stinger, broco torches and many other pneumatic and hydraulic tools. Because of this it is a great idea to already hold a recreational dive ticket. This ensures you are already confident in the water. ADAS and CDA accept a large number of tickets including Padi, SSI, Naui and TDI
10 Recreational Dive logs
Not only do you need to have a ticket, you need to love diving. Because of this we require you to have 10 logged recreational dives in the last six months leading up to this course. These can be anything, from admiring the beauty of the ocean at the Poor Knights island in NZ, to plundering the ocean for a nice Cray Fish dinner or just a leisurely half hour dip to get 10 dive logs for this course.
First Aid Certificate
To meet the AS/NZS 2299.1 and ADAS requirements anyone who joins a course at CDA, or any other ADAS school is required to have a current first aid certification.
In general if the card has first aid on it, and the course was about a day long. it is likely this will be accepted. though if you are not sure if your first aid ticket is accepted, you can contact us any time to find out.
02 Certificate
just like the first aid requirement, the AS/NZS 2299.1 requires anyone who wants to join our course to hold an 02 provider and CPR certification. there are a large number of accepted courses, included DAN 02 and saint Johns advanced resuscitation.
Physical Fitness
Diving is a physical job and as such it is expected that you have a good general fitness level.
During the course we will assess this by making you swim an entire 200 metres and demonstrate your ability to tread water for at least 10 minutes. it is a great idea to go to the pools and swim a few lengths before our course starts to get in that peak diver shape!
A Commercial Dive Medical
Before we can allow anyone to dive, they must hold an occupational dive medical. I am sure you have AS/NZS 2299.1 memorised now, and you guessed right. your medical, needs to be in accordance with this standard.
Because of this, the doctor who assesses you for medical fitness is required to be trained in hyperbaric medicine and certified as an occupational diving doctor.
You can find dive doctors using the SPUMS website.