Tec 40
Certification Tec 40 is the bridge from recreational to technical diving — it requires Advanced OW, Enriched Air, and Deep Diver certs (or 10 dives past 100ft), 30 logged dives, and age 18+. Training covers 7 knowledge sections, 4 practical sessions, and 4 dives, qualifying you for limited decompression dives to 130ft/40m using deco gas up to 50% O2. for up to 50% O2 decompression gas up to 130 feet
Class cost include shore dives. Boat dives are optional.
Includes e-learning materials, certification and custom scheduling.
Prerequisites before starting the Tec 40 course:
Certified as a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver or provide a qualifying certification from another training organization. For this course, a qualifying certification is proof of training beyond entry level with experience in deep diving and underwater navigation.
Certified as a PADI Enriched Air Diver or qualifying certification from another training organization. For this course, a qualifying certification is proof of training in enriched air nitrox diving with training that includes gas analysis, cylinder labeling, oxygen toxicity, oxygen exposure, determining maximum depth limits, and planning enriched air dives with different enriched air blends (not just EANx32 and EANx36).
Certified as a PADI Deep Diver or show proof of at least 10 dives to 30 meters/100 feet.
Minimum age: 18 years.
Have a minimum of 30 logged dives, of which at least 10 dives were made with enriched air nitrox deeper than 18 metres/60 feet.
PADI Tec 40 is the entry-level certification in PADI's technical diving track — the bridge between no-stop recreational diving and true decompression diving.
Prerequisites: PADI Advanced Open Water Diver, PADI Enriched Air (Nitrox) Diver, and either PADI Deep Diver certification or proof of 10 logged dives to 100ft/30m or deeper (Rescue Diver is recommended but not required). You'll also need a minimum of 30 logged dives, to be at least 18 years old, and a Diver Medical Form signed by a physician within the past 12 months. Equivalent certifications from other agencies are generally accepted.
Course structure: 7 knowledge development sections, 4 practical application (confined water) sessions, and 4 open water training dives — typically completed over about 3–4 days.
What it certifies you to do: conduct limited decompression dives to 130ft/40m, using decompression gas with up to 50% oxygen.
Core skills: minimum-gas and reserve calculations, precise buoyancy and trim while carrying a stage bottle, gas-sharing and lost-gas contingency procedures, valve shutdown/isolation drills, and basic decompression dive planning.
What it's for: it's the required foundation before Tec 45 and Tec 50, and more broadly the on-ramp to wrecks, deeper reef diving, cave, and CCR — even for divers who never plan to go beyond this level, the precision it demands tends to make them noticeably better divers across the board.