Whether you’re a veteran diver or an outright novice, there are always innate dangers in scuba diving. Fortunately, there are key ways to reduce your risk and stay safe underwater. Review these 10 scuba diving refresher tips before your next dive and rest assured that you’ll be savoring some underwater euphoria in no time!
#1 Follow The Cardinal Rule Of Diving: Breath At All Times
Underwater, it can be enticing to arrest your breath. This is a huge scuba diving sin. Never hold your breath once immersed underwater. As you ascend, the air in your lungs swells. When you hold your breath while submerged, your lungs could possibly burst from over expansion. Additionally, air could be pushed back into the bloodstream inducing an embolism.
Before heading under, always review your gear hoses for any gashes and establish that the O-ring is existent on the yolk valve. When you screw the valve on, make certain it is decidedly tight. Once you’ve formed your valve, keep your pressure gauge gazing at the ground as you turn on the air. Pressure can develop beneath and pop the glass cover. Remember, your regulator and octopus should always be on your right and your pressure gauge on the left.
#3 Get To Know Your ABC’s of a Buddy Check
The ABC’s of a buddy check are:
A-Air: Consistently monitor that your buddy’s valve is open completely. Mind the needle on the pressure gauge while breathing into the regulator, if it drops, recheck the valve and release it all the way.
B- BCD: Enlarge your BCD prior to entering the water so that you can let the crew know you’re okay once within.
C-Computer: Establish that the computer is on and has not turned off due to being idle. Some computers will “sleep” until they hit the water so certify they’re ready to go before diving in.
#4 Know Your Water Entry Methods
There are four tremendous ways to enter the water: wading entry, seated entry, giant stride entry, and back roll. The most prevalent water entry practice is the giant stride. When getting into the water keep all lax hoses and gauges enfolded into your chest underneath one hand. Place the other hand on your mask so it does not sag as you submerge.
#5 Perform A Buoyancy Check
Once you’re safely in the water, you’ll need to execute a buoyancy check. This will tell you whether you need to boost weight or expel weight. While doing a buoyancy check, you should have a respirator in your mouth. First, take a natural inhalation and hold. After, let all the air out of your BCD. Water should come up to about your forehead. As you exhale, you should slip into the water slowly. If you drop vigorously like a rock, you have too much weight. If you’re easily floating at the top of the water, you require more weight.
#6 Review Hand Signals
Rehash and memorize any hand cues or signals that may help you to convey information to another diver. Study signals for common underwater phrases such as “stop” or “I’m safe.”
#7 Equalize Your Ears
As you go down, you will feel some sizable pressure in your ears. You’ll need to adjust in order to acclimate to the elevation transition. To do this, simply hold your nose shut and steadily try to breathe out of it. The air built up inside will exit your ears while releasing the pressure from within.
#8 While Under Water, Keep Loose Gear Under Your Arms
Keep all of your material close to you so that it does not pull along the ocean floor creating debris. Debris can cloud your line of vision and your gear could injure underwater wildlife.
#9 Know Safe Ways To Ascend
Security is everything in scuba diving. That suggests you’ll want to ascend cautiously. To thwart a troublesome ascent, gradually expel air from your BCD as you ascend until you hit your nominated safety stop. At this mark, you should endeavor to seek neutral buoyancy. If not, you do not have to hover at the station while doing your safety stop. Search at that depth until ample time has passed that you are able to reemerge safely.
#10 Log Your Dives Regularly
A great way to learn from each dive is to keep a log. Remember what you observed, what you saw, and things you would do differently next time. Most of all, note what safety precautions you took or didn’t take and how you could do better in the future.
Maintain Scuba Diving Best Practices
Even if you’ve scuba dived before, always take a few minutes before each dive to read up on scuba diving refresher tips. It is always better to be safe than sorry when descending to a new underwater world.