Scuba Diving Safety Tips

Scuba diving is an adventure sport, which requires skill and a lot of confidence. You should be trained thoroughly and be prepared, both physically and mentally, to spend time under water. Apart from these, you need to take all the safety precautions to ensure a pleasurable experience, every time you dive into the deep sea. When it comes to scuba diving, safety is prioritized because you may encounter a problem at any time during the dive. Go through the following lines and explore the safety rules for scuba diving.

Safety Rules For Scuba Diving

Study The Area
Some areas of the ocean may prove to be unfavorable for scuba diving. Therefore, it is vital to know what the safe places for the sport are. Enquire about the types of sea life present in the area and the safety zones. Check the intensity of the underwater current as well. It is safe to dive into the sea only if the current is not too strong.

Consult A Doctor

Get your level of fitness thoroughly examined by a doctor. It is a good idea to get the blood pressure and cholesterol levels checked. Visiting an ENT specialist is recommended, because most diving injuries are caused due to the sickness or disorders related to eyes, nose and throat.

Banish Fear

The majority of scuba accidents occur due to the fear within the person performing the dive. Banish all your fears before attempting the scuba dive. Apart from the safety measures, confidence is highly needed to perform well in scuba diving.

Be Confident

You should feel confident and be relaxed while diving into the deep blue sea. You should feel at ease underwater. If you encounter any problem, just relax, take a deep breath and think as to what best can be done to save yourself from the situation.

Accompany Your Buddy

Even if you have acquired good practice, it is better if somebody accompanies you while diving into the sea. At the same time, ensure that your buddy has also been trained well.

Plan The Dive

Planning is one of the key elements of a successful dive. Before going underwater, plan out the maximum depth you will go and the amount of time you will spend in the deep sea.

Wear Scuba Gear That Fits Well

It is very important to wear a scuba gear that fits you perfectly. Make sure you feel comfortable wearing it. Check for water leakage in the mask. Ensure that the boots and fins do not cause blisters.

Check Your Air Supply

Keep a check on the air supply periodically, when you are underwater. If you find that you are running out of air supply, come out of the water fast.

Ascend Slowly

An important safety rule is to ascend slowly, as this will reduce the risk of decompression sickness caused due to fast ascend. Ensure that you do not ascend beyond 30 feet per minute. To be on the safe side, take a brake for at least 3 minutes at 15 feet.

Breathe Slowly

While performing the dive, it is important to breathe slowly. Breathe in a slow and relaxed manner. Never hold your breath underwater, as it may lead to severe lung injuries.

Scuba Diving Safety – Practicing Your Basic Diving Skills

One aspect of scuba diving safety is the training of your basic diving skills: mask clearing, regulator recovery, out-of-air drills and buoyancy control. There are more skills that are considered to be basic diving skills; buddy checks and compass navigation to name a few, but let’s look at these four for the moment.

Mask clearing is a skill you need, when water leaks into your mask because you move your facial muscles, you need to clear the water out of your mask. The regulator recovery is a skill you might need when you lose your regulator from your mouth, often caused by a fin-kick from your buddy. There are two ways to recover the regulator, the “sweep-method” and the “reach-method.”

Out-of-air drills are normally only needed when you forget to monitor your air supply, and breath your tank empty. You then need to secure the octopus of your buddy for breathing. And buoyancy control is a basic skill, because without good buoyancy control, you need to use your strength and stamina to control your depth, and this depletes the reserves you might need during an emergency.

These four skills have in common that they have to be practiced until they become second nature. You cannot practice them once or twice and then think that it is enough. When you need the skills they have to be trained reflexes, and that means that they have to be trained regularly, over and over again.

Most holiday-divers, and even some divers who dive almost every week, hardly practice the basic diving skills. This is downright naive. If you study martial arts, how often do you practice a certain kick? One, two, or hundreds of times? When you play tennis, how often do you repeat your backhand drills, before you are satisfied with the results? Five times, ten times, or hundreds of times?

Every year several divers die because they have a regulator or mask problem, and they do not have the necessary routine to solve the problem, and then panic. They thought that practicing a couple of times would be enough, and they where proven wrong. Do not end like one of these statistics. It does not take much time to practice the basic drills, and it will build your skill and confidence.

A good way to practice your basic diving skills is to take a couple of minutes during every dive, after the safety stop, to work on improving your skills. Mask clearing, mask removal and replacement, regulator recoveries (both ways) and an out-of air drill, all while remaining neutrally buoyant, to practice your buoyancy control at the same time.

If you make this “skill drills” part of your diving routine you will become a more confident and capable diver. The more skilled you are the better you will feel underwater. You will be better equipped to cope with emergencies. You will feel more relaxed and have more fun while diving.