DRIFT DIVER

This course focuses on the skills and techniques needed for safe and enjoyable drift diving:

• Drift diving procedures: How to enter, descend, and exit in moving water.
• Buoyancy and trim control: Maintaining stability and positioning while drifting.
• Use of drift equipment: Floats, reels, SMBs, and signaling devices.
• Buddy and group coordination: Staying together and communicating effectively.
• Environmental awareness: Reading current patterns and avoiding hazards.
• Boat pickup procedures: Surface signaling and safe retrieval during drift dives.

The Drift Diver Course is ideal for divers preparing for travel, river diving, or ocean drift environments. Skills may be practiced in a Texas lake using controlled drift simulations or completed during OCD Divers group trips where natural drift conditions are available.

Prerequisites: SDI Open Water Scuba Diver or equivalent.

Minimum age: 18, or 12 with parental consent.

Equipment needed: A complete scuba kit appropriate for the dive environment. A surface marker buoy (SMB), reel, and whistle are strongly recommended for drift diving.

Training for the Drift Diver specialty is conducted at:

• The Scuba Ranch (May–Oct)
• Balmorhea State Park (Nov–Apr)
• OCD Divers Trips — natural drift environments when available

This combination ensures divers gain experience in both simulated and true drift conditions.

After completing the Drift Diver Course, divers often continue with specialties that enhance navigation, environmental awareness, and boat‑based diving:

• Boat Diver
• Underwater Navigator Diver
• Deep Diver

This specialty also counts toward the SDI Master Scuba Diver pathway.