SSI Search & Recovery Course
You watch it sink. The current takes it. You have no idea where to start looking.
Most divers respond by swimming around roughly where it went down, stirring up silt, burning gas, and surfacing empty-handed. SSI Search & Recovery teaches the systematic patterns and lift techniques that turn a lost-cause moment into a solvable problem.
Availability: Contact us for booking information
The Problem Isn't Effort. It's Method.
Objects do not sit on the bottom where you think they fell. Currents move them. Surge rolls them. Visibility changes what you can actually cover in a single pass. Most divers searching without a plan are just burning air in the general direction of where something used to be.
SSI Search & Recovery teaches the full methodology: planning a search before you enter the water, choosing the right pattern for object size, depth, and current, laying a search line as a buddy team, and using a lift bag to recover anything too heavy to carry up by hand. Private class: one pool and classroom session, then a half-day of open water training dives at the lake. $349. Prerequisites: Open Water certification (any agency), minimum age 12.
Without a System, Underwater Searching Is Just Luck. That Is Not a Skills Gap, It Is an Unlearned Skill.
If you have ever dropped something underwater and just swam around hoping to spot it, you already know how inefficient that is. Open Water never teaches systematic search technique, because it is not part of basic certification. That is exactly what this course exists to add.
This is exactly what continuing education is for. Not to prove you are advanced. To turn a frustrating, luck-based problem into a methodical one with a real chance of success.
This Course Is for the Diver Who Wants a Plan, Not Just Luck
This is usually the right next step if any of these sound familiar.
You have lost gear underwater before
A dropped weight, camera, or piece of gear is recoverable with the right search pattern instead of pure luck.
You enjoy methodical, pattern-based diving
Search & Recovery rewards divers who like a structured challenge underwater, not just sightseeing.
You dive Austin-area lakes where visibility varies
Search patterns are especially useful in the lower-visibility conditions common in local lake diving.
You are building toward wreck or deep diving
Search and navigation skills carry directly into Access-lane specialties like Wreck Diving.
Choose Your Next Access-Adjacent Step
You want methodical, pattern-based diving
Best for divers who enjoy the problem-solving of locating and recovering objects using search patterns.
You want general orientation skills
Best for compass use and natural navigation on a typical dive, not specifically searching for objects.
You want structure and history, not search technique
Best for divers drawn to exploring man-made structures rather than locating lost objects.
Before and After
Most divers can describe exactly what changes after this course. Here is what that looks like in practice.
| Before | After |
| Searching randomly and hoping to get lucky | Running a systematic pattern with a real chance of success |
| No idea how to safely lift something heavy | Confident lift bag technique for safe recovery |
| Giving up on lost gear immediately | A real plan for locating and recovering it |
| Disorganized buddy team search efforts | Coordinated, guideline-based search procedures |
What You’ll Train
Two open water training dives focused on search patterns and recovery technique.
Cover search techniques, recovery techniques, and the equipment used for both, including guidelines, reels, and lift bags.
Set up a guideline and practice systematic search patterns until locating a target object becomes a repeatable process, not a guess.
Practice safe lift bag technique to bring a recovered object to the surface under control.
Your SSI Search & Recovery certification is a lifetime credential, recognized worldwide, and a practical skill you will use more than you expect.
Course at a Glance
| Price | $249 per diver (group) · $349 per diver (private) |
| Format | Two open water training dives · online academics via MySSI app |
| Location | Lake Travis or Spring Lake |
| Prerequisites | Open Water Diver (any agency) · minimum age per SSI standard, confirm current age policy with Tom’s |
| Certification awarded | SSI Search & Recovery · lifetime certification, recognized worldwide |
Ready to stop searching blindly?
SSI Search & Recovery: $249 · Austin, TX
Two open water training dives covering search patterns and lift technique. Call (512) 451-3425.
Signup now!!Search & Recovery Sits in the Control / Comfort Pathway
Search & Recovery builds practical, methodical skills that carry directly into Access-lane diving, especially Wreck Diving, where systematic search and guideline use are foundational.
Control / Comfort
Buoyancy, navigation, boat procedures, night and limited visibility, and other confidence-building skills.
Access
Wreck diving, deep diving, decompression diving, sidemount, and other ways to reach new environments and depth.
Optimize
Nitrox, computers, equipment, and other tools that make diving more efficient and extend your bottom time.
We Build Divers We Would Trust With Our Own Families.
The best divers don’t chase certifications. They build capabilities. Search & Recovery is a clear example: it is not a card, it is a genuinely useful skill you will reach for the next time you or a buddy loses something underwater.
Tom’s instructors teach search technique at real Austin-area sites with the visibility variation that makes the skill genuinely necessary, not just theoretical. Tom’s has been Austin’s only SSI Dive Center since 1982. We were teaching scuba in Austin before any of the other Austin dive shops opened. Over 18,000 certified divers and over 400 five-star Google reviews.
Trained Where Visibility Actually Varies
Lake Travis and Spring Lake provide realistic conditions for search technique, not idealized clear water.
Open Longer Than Any Other Austin Dive Shop Still in Business
Four decades of teaching practical, useful diving skills, not just checklist certifications.
A Natural Step Toward Wreck Diving
Search and guideline skills transfer directly into Wreck Diving and other Access-lane specialties.
One of Austin’s Largest Instructor Teams
Flexible scheduling for your two open water training dives.
We follow DAN dive safety protocols.
Tom’s follows Divers Alert Network (DAN) safety standards and recommends DAN dive accident insurance for every certified diver. Safety is not a checkbox on our website. It is the foundation of how Tom’s has operated since 1982.
Frequently Asked Questions
SSI's published standard lists minimum age 12. Tom’s current published age requirement may differ; call (512) 451-3425 to confirm the current policy before enrolling a younger diver.
No. Lift bags and other specialized equipment are provided for training. If you plan to use these skills regularly, owning your own gear is worth considering afterward.
No. Search & Recovery skills also apply to underwater cleanup, conservation work, and as a foundation for more advanced Access-lane specialties like Wreck Diving.
Very, when applied correctly. The patterns taught (circular, U-pattern, grid) are the same techniques used in professional underwater search operations, scaled to recreational diving.
Yes. All students complete an SSI Medical Statement before any in-water activity.