PADI Open Water Diver and Rescue Diver Certifications

A Greenville, South Carolina-based senior sales leader with a wealth of experience in the mattress industry, Edwin Shoffner has served as president of Mattress Wholesale since 2010 and Mattress by Appointment since 2013. Outside of the professional arena, Edwin Shoffner is an accomplished scuba diver who is both an advanced open water diver and a rescue diver through the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI).

In addition to offering specialized courses in areas such as wreck diving and underwater videography, PADI helps its members go beyond the level of basic open water diver through its advanced open water diver and rescue diver certifications. The advanced open water diver course accepts any participant with open water diver certification while the rescue diver course requires participants to complete additional adventure diver training that includes an official underwater navigation adventure dive.

Advanced open water divers learn to refine abilities in areas that range from buoyancy control to fish identification. In order to earn this certification, individuals must complete classroom training and five dives that are designed to test specific skills.

The rescue diver certification prepares divers to handle a variety of dive emergencies and use a variety of rescue equipment. In addition to meeting PADI coursework prerequisites, rescue divers must hold active CPR and first aid certification before the termination of the course.