Tec 45
Certification for up to 100% O2 decompression gas up to 150 feet
Class cost include shore dives. Boat dives are optional.
Includes e-learning materials, certification and custom scheduling.
PADI Tec 45 is the second step in PADI's technical diving track, extending the decompression diving skills built in Tec 40 into deeper, more demanding territory.
Prerequisites: PADI Tec 40 Diver and PADI Rescue Diver certification, a minimum of 50 logged dives (with at least 10 of those past 100ft), and you must be 18 or older. You'll also need a Diver Medical Form signed by a physician within the past 12 months, and current CPR/First Aid training (within the past two years).
Course structure: 3 knowledge development sections and confined water practical sessions, followed by 4 open water training dives — typically completed over about 3 days.
What it certifies you to do: extend your depth limit to 150ft/45m, planning and executing single and repetitive decompression dives using decompression gas with up to 100% oxygen (compared to the 50% cap in Tec 40).
Equipment jump: this is where divers move from a single stage bottle into double cylinders — back-mount or sidemount configuration — managing independent tanks, isolator/manifold procedures, and true gas redundancy for the first time.
What it's for: it's the required prerequisite for Tec 50, and it's the point where technical diving really starts feeling like its own discipline rather than an extension of recreational diving — deeper wrecks, more complex decompression planning, and multi-gas switches all come into play.