Recreational Dive Planner

Knowing how to use a recreational dive planner (RDP) is one of the key skills every scuba diver should know. As a Open Water Diver student, you will need to learn how to use the Recreational Dive Planer (RDP) before taking the Open Water Diver final exam.

Divers build up nitrogen in their bodies while diving. Recreational dive planners tell you how long you can dive at a certain depth, and how long it will take you to get rid of the extra nitrogen in your body without having to make a decompression stop.

The RDP has three parts, Tables 1, 2 and 3.  Table 1 tells you the maximum amount of time you can stay at a certain depth on your first dive, and it tells you how much nitrogen you have in your body after a dive (letters A through Z, Z meaning you have plenty of it, A very little).

The PADI Open Water Diver exam covers areas on the RDP, including, General Rules, Flying after diving, Cold water diving, Pressure Groups, Surface Interval calculations and calculating decompression stop times.