Welcome, fellow divers and dive enthusiasts. Scuba diving is often considered a high-risk sport, and divers are sometimes considered thrill seekers. However, the truth is that most divers are pretty risk-averse. This is because we rely on our training and the skills provided when we get certified. But when you become a scuba diver, the learning never stops. Keeping your skills fresh is not just a suggestion; it’s a necessity. It’s what makes scuba diving safer and makes you a reliable dive buddy.
Using the skills provided in our scuba training is not just a good idea; it’s essential. These skills keep scuba diving safe and, most importantly, enjoyable. So, don’t just learn them-use them.
As it is often said, there are old divers and bold divers, but there are no old bold divers. Let’s dive into safety tips any scuba diver can use. Some of these will be refreshers, and some will be helpful tips for particular conditions and situations.
Pre-Dive Preparations
Being physically and mentally fit for diving is an often overlooked idea when it comes to scuba diving. Keeping your overall general fitness in check will help because scuba diving equipment can be heavy, moving it to and from the water, and one shouldn’t be exhausted from lugging equipment before the dive even starts.
More than just general fitness, as a diver, you should consider how you feel the day of the dive. Have you hydrated enough? Did you get enough sleep? These can seem like minor factors, but often, when accident analysis is applied, it is sometimes found that the whole situation could have been avoided if the diver had assessed their mental and physical state before the dive.
As a general rule in scuba diving, you don’t need a reason to call off a dive other than you just don’t want to dive. There is no justification or pressure, even if you have made it to the dive site or on the boat charter. If you have any inklings/feelings against diving, there should be no problems calling off the dive. If your dive buddies or operators put any pressure on you for not diving, find new dive buddies.
If you are interested in more information on how fit you have to be to be a scuba diver, Click Here.
Going through and inspecting your gear before diving is one of my favourite pastimes, and for diver safety, this can give you some real peace of mind. Going through all the equipment I plan on using the night before a dive is essential. Check all connections, inspect the hose for cracks and leaks, and ensure any connections and boltsnaps aren’t frayed or about to fail. Checking your gear the night before as you pack up for your tip really helps you familiarize yourself with it so that it becomes a second skin. As you assemble your gear at the dive site, always use a critical eye; this is your system check before you dive in.
Getting information on the dive site, you plan to dive and collect condition information and dive-type information. If there are high winds, strong currents, or severe weather, all can pose a significant danger to a diver. It can also be helpful to know small things, like what the entry to the water looks like in a shore dive. Is it a treacherous rocky entry or a steep sandy slope? Is there a drop-off once in the water? This helps decide whether you gear up and walk in or if you put your gear on in the water because it is not safe to wear on your way down to the water. These are the safety concerns to consider before your dive.
Safety Measures Underwater
Diving with a buddy is the standard in scuba diving, but not all dive buddies are the same. For diver safety, it’s important to dive with a buddy who is also safety continuous and understands the role of a buddy in a dive. A good dive buddy is fit to dive, which means that if there were a rescue emergency, your buddy could conduct a rescue. Nothing is worse than having an emergency that spirals into two people needing help because your buddy didn’t have the fitness or capacity to drag you out of the water. Besides being fit to dive, having a buddy with good situational awareness regularly checks in with you during the dive and always keeps you within eyesight or at least a 2-3 fin kicks away from getting to each other. A sign of a good dive buddy is one who will ask you about your air consumption, dives the dive plan and regularly checks in with you. Come up with a plan of how you want to dive together to anticipate each other.
Being able to equalize your ears safely as you descend, I have seen more dives end, and people lose their dive buddies simply because they aren’t paying attention to each other as they descend. Something simple as not being able to clear one’s ears can sometimes spiral into a situation if a diver isn’t comfortable or supported. Clearing your ear while descending and managing buoyancy adds task loading.
This leads us to talk about Boyance control, which is almost always overlooked as a safety skill. Imagine a situation where a diver had no control of their buoyancy and rocketed to the bottom, not having enough time to clear their ears they will likely have trauma to their ears, leading to severe disorientation along with possibly creating a no visibility situation if it is a silty bottom. Another problem could be if you don’t have good buoyancy and drag yourself along the bottom, ruining the wildlife on the bottom, possibly snagging your equipment, causing a safety concern or creating a zero visibility situation that causes the diver to panic. Along with those situations, good buoyancy lowers your air consumption few things can add. to safe diving, like having more than enough air on a dive.
Managing your air and dive time is essential to safe diving. It is very important to check your air supply every 2 minutes or every few fin kicks. After a while of doing this, you can predict how much air you will use. This is a great skill to get in the habit of using not only will it get you in the habit of checking your gauges regularly so you are not distracted by the incredible diving, but if you have a leak or there is a current causing you to fin more then regular you will notice that your air consumption had increased because you know what your average breath rate is and you will see the changes and you can factor that in real time to calculate your bottom time.
Emergency Procedures
Learning your emergency procedures when you get scuba certified is essential for safe diving, but it’s not adequate to only practice these skills when you take a course. My buddies and I commonly start every dive with a bubble/ leak check and a practice buddy breathing at 10ft of water at the start of every dive. That way, we both know that my buddy is ready and prepared in case of an emergency. It should be second nature if you signal out of air to your buddy that they come to you, regulator in hand, to provide air.
Understanding what you need to do in a complete out-of-air situation where you may have to do an emergency assent is a good skill to be aware of. It is not always the easiest skill to practice. If you do choose to practice it, do it from reasonably shallow water 20 ft or so, as it could turn into a real emergency practising emergency assents from 70 ft.
Doing a bubble check could help prevent equipment failures. It is better to find a leaking hose at 10 ft than 130ft, where your air consumption is high. The best way of doing an in-water bubble check is at the start of a dive, float to 10 ft and hover there; signal to your buddy that you would like them to do a bubble check. When they signal okay, you will, in a hovering position, spin slowly, giving your buddy a full view of all your hoses and their connections to the regulator and tanks. If there are no bubbles, then signal okay, and your buddy will signal you to check them as they hover and spin at 10 ft. before we practise our buddy breathing.
The lost buddy procedure is always best discussed as your dive brief before you start your dive. If you see that the dive is going to be a low visibility situation, you know that losing your buddy may be a reality, and having a procedure helps everyone stay safe and anticipate what each diver will do in that event.
In the event of losing your buddy, you stop finning and stay in the same location underwater for one min; in that mi. Look around. Maybe you will see a flash from your buddy’s dive light, or they may see yours and find you. Listen, divers are usually the loudest thing in the water and if you can hear your buddy’s bubbles, chances are they may be within arm’s reach away. If one minute passes and you haven’t found each other, you must make a safe assent and wait on the surface for each other.
Staying calm during an emergency is, of course, easier said than done. As a diver, you should understand that keeping calm during an emergency is also a life-saving skill. Practice and repetition are the best way to build and enforce this skill. Regularly practice emergency skills and drills when diving, before diving, and after dives, and plan whole training dive. Emergency procedures and skills will become so automatic that you may have a diver signal out of air to you, and you will go through the routine not knowing if this is real or practice because it is so routine. Also, I would encourage anyone who can to take the rescue course to take it! This course is a lot of fun and provides a lot of real-world practice situations with some simulated intensity so you can get an idea of how you will behave in a real situation.
Environmental Awareness
Knowing your dive condition doesn’t end with knowing the weather. Awareness of any wildlife in the area can add another layer of safety.
I’ll give you an example of when I was last diving in the Bahamas; on our night dives, we were instructed to keep our lights off till we were below 15 ft and to have a negative assent when we stepped into the water. That means you rocket to the bottom. This is a very different procedure than typical; I asked why. The reason is that this area has an animal they call a sea wasp that is attracted to our lights and is normally above 10 feet of water, and they will sting you if you don’t take this precaution. That’s why factoring in environmental conditions adds to safety awareness.
want to know more about my trip with BlackBeard Cursies in the Bahamas? Click Here
Avoid touching any wildlife or disturbing habitats is a great way to avoid any negative animal interactions. This led to one of our first safety tips: buoyancy and trim. If you are unaware of where your feet are during your dive, you may think you’re hovering over a moray eel, but your fins are kicking it in the face, causing it to have a territorial display. Buoyancy and trim are two skill that will change your comfort in the water, they are foundational in avoiding task loading where things can spiral into harmful situations. Also, when we are on our dive charters or at our dive sites, picking up after ourselves and properly disposing of all our personal garbage will just help preserve our natural environment.
Post-dive Practices
Safe diving is a habit, not an accident. That is why even when your dive is ending, it is very important to practice safe assent rates and take the time to do proper safety stops to add layers to your safe dive practices. Once you have done your dive, just be aware and monitor yourself for any out-of-the-normal symptoms that could signal any signs of the bends. Always focus on rehydrating at the end of every dive; having a reusable water bottle or an electrolyte drink on hand is a good practice. Keep in mind that you just spend a significant amount of time breathing in and exhaling very dry, cold air from your scuba tank while physically exerting yourself on a dive this is all very dehydrating for you.
One of my favourite practices is cleaning off my gear at the end of a dive, removing any seaweed, and brushing off some rust from the wreck we were on, I relive the dive as I go through my equipment, taking note if any piece of equipment is showing ware or cracks something that is coming due for repair for the next time I am at the dive shop.
If your looking for more tips on how to prepare for cold water diving? Click Here.
In conclusion
As you can see, a lot of the safety procedures to follow are taught in your scuba diving training it is paramount to keep this skill fresh and almost reflexive so they are there when you need them have good dive safety habits like making sure you’re well hydrated before a dive, going through all your gear having good dive briefings and diving with buddies that are also safety continuous. Diving is an incredible sport because of all the opportunities to keep learning and, whenever possible, take new courses or refresh your training. This will only make your diving more enjoyable and safer. Till we meet again, divers, only leave bubbles and take pictures of your dives!