TDI Sidemount diver course in Playa del Carmen

Sidemount isn't just a trend — it's become one of the most useful configurations in diving, and if you're serious about cave diving, it's not optional knowledge. I teach the TDI Sidemount Diver Course either as a standalone course or paired with Decompression Procedures, Advanced Nitrox, or Cave.

Instead of traditional back-mounted doubles, you'll learn to dive with side-mounted primary cylinders — and once you've felt the difference, it's hard to go back. For cave divers, sidemount opens up passages and restrictions that back-mounted doubles simply can't fit through. That alone changes what caves are actually accessible to you. It also puts your valves right where you can see and reach them instead of blind behind your head, and takes real strain off your back, shoulders, and knees — two tanks riding on your spine for hours adds up, and sidemount takes that weight off entirely.

Done right, this isn't just gear-swapping. It's learning a different way to manage your body, your gas, and your awareness underwater — and I'll make sure you actually understand it, not just get through the motions.

What you will learn during the course

• Gas management utilising independent cylinders
• Psychological considerations of technical diving
• Equipment considerations including:
  • Cylinder options
  • Regulator options
  • Harness options
  • Proper weighting
  • Equipment configurations
• Communication
• Problem solving in a sidemount configuration
• Diving in tight or confined spaces
• Water entrIes and exits
• Buoyancy and trim
• Finning techniques
• s-Drills
• DSMB Deployment