How to Try Scuba Diving 👉 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-f8qMWWneK4s.html Maintain Your Scuba Gear ▶ ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HbrAmzTWAt0.html How to Equalize👂ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dP1odFvPnIw.html
Bro, snorkel? 😂 only noobs use snorkels lmao. -cave diver, sidemount diver, rescue diver, and wreck diver. (The other parts of the video were true though)
A rescue diver can have a snorkel, depends on the situation. The other things you called out are absolutely true. You don’t have big swells in cave diving and in a wreck/cave you don’t want the entanglement hazards. For sidemount the hose routing would also cause for entanglement issues. There’s actually a lot of debate on snorkels for recreational use, and since you called out technical diving, remember that this predive safety check I mentioned is the recreational one. A Good Diver’s Main Objective Is To Live is the one I was taught. Not saying you’re wrong on the callouts you made, but don’t call recreational divers noobs 😅
Excellent video! You mentioned your SPG going down with every breath, then coming back up. I had exactly that happen to me early in my diving. with rented gear. I recognized that I couldn't trust it, and decided to call the dive. I showed the dive leader and told him I was going to return to the boat. I did my safety stop, and ascended. Just as I broke the surface I inhaled and got nothing. After that, I bought all my own my gear.
Often this indicates that your air is not turned on all the way. For example, for those who turn all the way on and then back a quarter turn, sometimes a well meaning buddy actually turns your air off, and then on a quarter turn. You will get the bouncing SPG in that circumstance.
@@steveshea5165 this actually happened to me. Fortunately we were not dropping into a current so I didn’t have to get down quickly. That thought had always remained with me to this day. I was very fortunate 👍
You should check it in your predive check. Before diving check if your regulators, 2nd stage and octopus are working, and look at the SPG if its not going down and up
Even as more experienced divers, we sometimes forget to think about the basics so it's good to be reminded now and then. The number of divers I've seen jump in without doing buddy checks is insane. I have a regular buddy and I know her kit as well as I know my own but we still do a buddy check every time, even if it's just checking each other's air is on and that we haven't changed weights, etc. Great video and a timely reminder for us all
So true! It’s really easy to fall into complacency, but it’s so important to keep checklists in mind. Learning the BCD of whomever my buddy is has been huge for me. Ever since I took my rescue diver course, I realized just how different weight systems, clips, etc can be and how confusing it can be if you’re in an emergency. Like, you don’t want to wait for the emergency to learn how to drop your buddy’s ripcord weight system, or their crotch strap gets caught up as you’re trying to get them out of their gear, etc. Glad you found it useful! I’m planning to share it with my students and friends as a reminder as well!
If you get a chance I’d recommend hanging around any tech teams and watch their briefings and checks. 5 dudes diving together for 10 years and they act like it’s the first time they’ve dove together every time in terms of equipment configuration talks, elevation, computer settings….it’s full circle back to basics every single time. All be it, a bit more in depth
Most incidents happen with more experienced ppl. Since they think yea its just basics. Took this in a Health Safety class where they said the more experienced someone is the more they dont care about basics and more incidents occur
Great video. You talked about never keeping low air supply or ear problems to yourself, and that is correct. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that some dive masters just don’t care. I just got PADI OWD certified in May and in July went to the Côte d‘Azur (France) over the weekend to get some training (2 dives). The divemaster was around 60-65 years old. I never had problems with equalising or my ears in general while diving before, but when we were down 15-20 meters, I had the feeling I had to equalise and when I did, one of my ears basically got stuck with the pressure and didn’t release. I suddenly had intense pain and couldn’t hear on that ear. After it didn’t resolve for like a minute I signaled the DM I had a problem with my ear. He just shrugged and moved on! Fortunately, it resolved after about two more minutes when we ascended a little bit. Also, the DM had overweighted me (he had me get back on the boat and gave me more weights because I didn’t sink fast enough - he stressed us so much before to get in the water that I still had a high pulse and probably too much air in my lungs and he just couldn’t wait half a minute and let me relax). Being overweighted, I struggled with my buoyancy and burned through my tank like crazy. I told him how much air I had left (50 bar) and that I needed to start ascending and instead, he had me take his octo because he didn’t want to end the dive. Then after the dive he shamed me about my high air consumption infront of everyone. Would not dive with that dive center again. Edit: I wasn’t sick, I didn’t have a cold, my sinuses seemed clear. I don’t know where the problem with my ear suddenly came from. After surfacing, fortunately everything was ok.
Wow, that sounds like a terrible experience and I also would never want to dive with them. Heck, that is close to me wanting to say you should report them to whatever agency they are certified through. That's insane. This absolutely was not your fault on your ears either. Honestly, you may have missed a "clear" on the way down, which is why it was relieved when you went up a little. That can happen when you descend fast and don't get to clear properly. The answer is you stop the DM like you did, and you ascend a little, try clearing, and then descend again. Was there a lot of current for a drift dive maybe? I just can't see why they would've done that like that, I'm sorry you had that experience.
Yeah that's what happens whenever you get over waited I'm glad that you never want to go back there again because next time you go back there might be even worse and I hope you leave a bad review about that dive shops and so nobody ever has to experience that glad you're alright❤😊
wow...i am a complete noob in scuba world so far, just made my OWD and some extra dives just like you. But this is exactly what i would fear, if try to get to a trip. And I think thats the main reason why ppl are afraid of tell the truth about their air, or problems during the dive, as CircleHScuba told in the vid. And then these accicents happen. OMG, i would feel much more relaxed if DMs like this one, would receive more than just a bad review. What I am supposed to do if confronted with this kind of behavior under water? Just end the dive by ascending? Blaming the DM with thousands of dives...gosh.
That SPG thing occurred to me at 30 meters. Depth ,with every breath the needle changes and rest at 150 Bar when I get the dive guide to notice the issue he ignored it and want me to stay with the group like nothing happened till I actually pushed him away and ascended by myself and reteurned alone to the boat when changed all the regulator set & tested the Selender with the new SPG I found I had only 30 Bar left 🥵
Im a Girl, but i have heard men complain about the beard or mustache not having a complete suction to their face, causing a little bit of water come into their mask. But not too much 😅
Yes. It leaks. There's a goo you can add, but if I was a dude. I'd eat it and shave for the dive. It's so special. Hair grows back♡ if your girl doesn't love you without the stash .. she not the one♡ I had my dive buddy tell me he can't his wife would kill him. I'm like.... 😅 ok
I have just today, qualified in open water and I don't dive on a regular basis as I come from England and only enjoy this new world once a year in Cyprus. I am glad that I have subscribed to your channel so I can Keep up on all the safety procedures while I am on down time. I don't intend to ever go too deep but I have always wanted to dive the Zenobia and hope to dive there on my advanced next year. thank you for making these videos for people like me. a newbie.
Congratulations on becoming a diver!!!! That’s amazing! Cyprus will be beautiful to dive in, and I think diving the Zenobia will be great too. I’m jealous, I haven’t dove either of those yet! Thanks for subscribing and leaving a comment. If you ever have a video you’d like to see, let me know and I’ll try my best to make it happen!
Great video. The key is: get your Padi training step by step. Diving is fun when you completely understand how NOT to freak out. Under the Padi method, if you follow the training, you’ll stay calm in almost any situation.
Wait! Wait! This all sounds very scary and very complex…….so many ways to die. BUT please. This is information overload. I am also a PADI dive instructor with thousands of dives. When you do the training, you have time to absorb all of this and become comfortable with being underwater, the gear and the procedures. It’s all about training and practice. If you are reasonably comfortable in the water in general. With rare exception, you can learn these skills and procedures. You don’t even have to be a strong swimmer. In fact they are pretty different skills. Again, it happens in an orderly, highly developed training program. Do not let anyone talk you into a 3-4 day crash course. Not a good way to learn. Enjoy the process. Done right it really is enjoyable to learn. And don’t let this video overwhelm you. Everything he’s saying here is correct and good information. It’s just a lot of it at once.
I agree on information overload, hindsight unfortunately. Training and practice is key, absolutely, and I think a lot of us instructors forget that the average person getting certified doesn’t go diving more than once a year at best, maybe once every few years. Definitely meant this more as an overall “complacency will get you killed and don’t forget these things no matter how long you’ve been certified.” I have a goal of bringing the barrier of entry to diving lower so more people experience it, but still encouraging safety along with it. I end the video saying to try diving with proper training and to not get complacent, which is a good reminder to everyone. Skip to mistake 7 to hear what I’m talking about, there’s chapters in the description. I specifically call out that human factors are the number one cause of dive accidents and proper training will help avoid that, then point to a video that goes over how to try scuba (DSD).
Very fluid and well narrated video; very impressed. I hope you don't mind if I expound on a few items you brought up: As a Navy Diver we held physical training every morning. There was a saying, If you're weak, you'll panic; if you panic, you're dead. That was a dramatic way to say, when you get tired you can easily lose your composure and revert to human instinct instead of your training, when things go south. The better shape you are in, the more likely you are to keep your composure, resort to your training and work through a situation instead of the alternative; so stay physically fit. On another note, as a retired Navy Saturation Diver qualified to 850', PADI and NAUI Advanced Open Water, with Nitrox (I say that not to brag, but for perspective), I would not even consider cave diving without that type of instruction from the very best, and neither should anyone...please. I live in FL, and we have had several cave diving fatalities; most of them are SCUBA (only) qualified and decide to go cave diving; too many do not return alive. I implore you, if you want to cave dive, get the instruction and proper gear. It is expensive, but you can't put a price on your life. There are so many things about cave diving you don't know that you don't know.
Thank you for your service, and the continued narrative here as well. I completely agree with everything you’ve said. You train so it’s instinct and muscle memory because you very likely won’t remember some step by step process or acronym in a panic. Well said!
We have about 20 fatalities a year here in the UK, I'd say physical fitness levels play at least a part in half of those. I m no long fit these days. I will still dive but I will make sure it's a very conservative dive ,ie shallow and current free unless I improve my fitness levels. I've got 3000 dives under my belt and like to think I'm still here because i always dived within my limits on the day.
Diving within limits I think is really just one of those golden rules. If you’re going to expand your limits, that’s fine, but people try expanding too fast sometimes or add too many new things while also expanding and I think that’s part of the issues too.
I think we all do it at some point unfortunately. I’ve seen an instructor with 20+ years of diving, probably 2000+ dives, grab a spent tank that had a cap on it not realizing it was used and didn’t check his pressure until he took the last sip off it at 18m/60ft a few minutes into the dive and realized he grabbed the used tank. He got to his buddy and they ascended safely, no issues luckily, but still a scary experience for him and just due to not checking pressure before the dive
Yeah not a fan of it being that low either. Stock footage unfortunately or I’d have corrected them before filming haha. Almost part of the point though, do a predive check and tell your buddy your tank is hanging way too low
I saved this video because it’s so well done. Concise, clear, well articulated, and entertaining. The safety mindset comes with regular attention to detail regardless of the activity and your video really hits these details perfectly. Thank you. Off to watch more of them…
I got certified at the age of 13 in 1971. I have done too many dives to count. I have done salvage and recovery work and dive maintenance for private yachts. I still find it a little awkward to put my head under the water and inhale. It is just basically unnatural. On my open water certification dive I was underweighted. I found a rock to carry around and had to wedge my fin under a rock to do the test parameters that required my hands. I was under weight because I had dialed in in a freshwater pool and when I got into the ocean I was more buoyant
The buoyancy thing is one I’ve worked on like crazy in my dives. I’m using a BPW, which isn’t particularly common in the area I’m diving in, so I didn’t get a lot of the proper advice or people didn’t know about BPWs. So my buoyancy was TERRIBLE. I eventually got some good advice from a technical diver who was my diving instructor in Thailand. He recommended trim pockets and also for me to try a number of things to help me get my buoyancy in check. I took his advice and it turned my dives from being a fight with my BPW/harness/weighting into actually being properly pleasurable. I was also able to dump 2kg in lead almost straight away, my average dive time went from 40min to 50-55min and my buoyancy was far improved and I came out of the dive not looking like I’d been in a fight with scrapes and cuts.
This is amazing to hear! I love my BPW but yes, they definitely take adjusting and getting trim right, weights in the right spots, etc. So glad you’re enjoying it now!
Thank you for making this video it was very helpful to me I am from the Philippines and already done my first diving but there's no orientation for me I just known all of this because of you thank you so much
I heard about what happened to the person in the dry suit. If I remember correctly they were diving in the Great Lakes training for altitude diving or something like that, and the dry suit couldn’t inflate so it ended up sticking to their body not letting them move. After they got to a certain depth they were stuck and just fell into the deep end never to be seen again.
Another note is that sea creatures example cone shell have a tube that can reach back and inject venom into your hand…. Also the same with sea snakes… often divers s often think that they don’t bite under water… How wrong they area
When I saw the title I was afraid this was going to be sensationalist video, but this is great information, both for new and seasoned divers that often fall in complacency
Thanks! Yeah, I’m not a huge fan of the “omg you’re going to die if you do this!!!!!” Kind of things. I guess there’s an audience for it but I more so wanted to be informative to newer divers and deliver some real events and actions that can injure or kill you or your buddy, but more importantly add some info on preventing it and keeping from doing that. Glad you enjoyed!
This is what I use: Pre-Dive Checklist: ABCDEFG • Air (both main and pony) • BCD • Caution (surface marker/noise maker/ePirb) • Deep (weights?) • Equipment (knief/computer/flashlight) • Face to Fins Check (head to toe) • Ground rules (dive plan)
A steel 120 solved any issues I may have had with air consumption 😂. I also got better at buoyancy and more efficient with adding air to my bcd. Less weight needed with a 120 as well. Something to look into if you consume a little more air, and if you've only used aluminum 80s. Worth a try.
I think it’s helpful to take more gas and steel tanks are great for needing less air, but it doesn’t necessarily solve your high SAC rate haha. I know what you mean though 😊
@@CircleHScuba SAC rate will be the same, but it allows me, at 41, to stay down longer with my 17 year old. If he has an 80. My SAC rate gets better the more dives I have. I'm only at 36 dives.
I totally agree and didn’t mean it as a dig at all. I dove with aluminum 100s or steel 100s for a long time when I didn’t really need it except for the fact that I sucked down gas quickly 😬 But yes, over time you’ll get better with your SAC rate. I just meant the larger tank isn’t solving issues with air consumption, so much as providing a way to give more gas for now 🤓
As a PAD Course Director, there are two things that really bother me. The first thing is when doing a buddy check prior to the dive I teach my instructors to teach their students to never touch the other persons equipment. As soon as they touch something it opens them up to a potential lability that they will not be able to afford or overcome. The second thing is touching uncoated lead weights as that is dangerous. Lead is a carcinogen and coated weights are the only way to go. If your dive center is still using uncoated lead they have a real exposure to liability that they won’t want to handle. In California, my least favorite state, all stores that have anything with lead in their products have to post a proposition 65 cancer warning on the outside near the front entrance. Home painters no longer use paint that contains lead. They haven’t for over 30 years. There’s a reason for that!
Great points for sure! A buddy adjusting a tank strap or handing a weight pocket doesn’t bother me so much, but I let the diver adjust their gear whenever I can. It’s also better for their own learning imo.
I need to know how you get a waterproof mask seal with your beard. Do you wear a hood and is that what you would recommend for my son in law who has a beard and needs to shave it off before every dive. Thank you!
Honestly I may just be lucky. I haven’t ever had issues with my beard and mustache and diving. I know they make a beard grease/wax thing that can help I guess but I’ve never used it. My mask, the Hollis m1, also doesn’t have that big of a mask skirt so I think a lot of it stays above my beard line and I only have to worry about a little trickle in the nose pocket occasionally.
I'm interested in scuba diving. And towards the end, when you mentioned taking a few extra minutes break, to make sure our bodies are ready to surface. You reminded me of hearing somewhere that I should never scuba and fly on the same day. Which made me look up scuba diving the flying, like when can a diver get on a plane. This is a great video. Thank you.
Hey. RU-vid just recommended your video about what not to do after diving. I hope you see this before you start replying to my last comment. Thank you. And I subscribed.
Hey!! Haha I started replying but now you saw the other video so it worked out perfect. Happy to hear you enjoyed the content and I’m glad it was helpful! Thanks so much for subscribing, I really appreciate that! If you have other questions, let me know and I’ll answer here or with a video!
If you do decide to get certified, let me know! I have a video about open water certification, but more importantly just any questions you have. Always happy to help someone get to experience diving!
I would like to clarify “a few minutes“. When approaching the boat or the beach, you should stop at 15 feet for 3 to 5 minutes that is clearly taught in the PADI open water diver course. When I fly back from spending a week in Cozumel, I always stop diving by noon on the day before flying and then get on a plane the next morning. it is entirely possible to get bent if you fly too soon. You could also feel the effects of getting bent after you’re all the way home. Dive conservatively, and dive smart. Be careful what you read here on RU-vid because there’s a lot of misinformation that is accepted as true. It’s the comments aren’t coming from an actual scuba instructor. I wouldn’t read the comments. As a PADI Course Director, I teach dive masters, to become scuba instructors. Most of the time I’m apalled at the low level of knowledge and of skills of DM‘s who decide to take the instructor course.
Today i did my first dive my only problem at 12 meters when everything was happening so fast for me i was doing long inhale then short exhale my heart started to hurt i wanted to alert my mentor who was holding me from my back but i felt like i should do long exhale then everything become comfortable
What happened?? It sounds like you over packed your lungs and need to breathe more normally, not necessarily that deep of an inhale without exhaling too
Im going to be taking the padi open water class soon and ive been so paranoid lately about the congestion issue. When im indoors one nostril is slightly blocked but as soon as i walk outside i can breathe perfectly clear either side, should i be concerned about this? or am i overthinking it?
You may be overthinking it. Go ahead to class and try. If you do have ear pain, stop, do not descend more or “push through” Also talk to your instructor and just let them know if you’re a bit congested that day. You should be just fine 🤙
Thank you for sharing this video please don't stop creating this type of video it's very helpful to us and I'm from the Philippines planning to be a diver thank you
That's awesome! I want to become a Course Director some day too I think. At least as of right now it's an eventual goal. I'm glad you're finding the videos useful, and I really appreciate the comment! Good luck in your career growth!
You’ll love it. Open water teaches you all the basics that you’ll need to know to prevent problems and those problems really shouldn’t come up unless you’re just completely complacent and ignore all the rules
Thank you! This was great! I feel like PADI hammers a lot of these point soooo much. Would a part of the problem also be folks getting certified who really shouldn’t be?
I think that’s part of the problem but it’s more so complacency in my opinion. A lot of people get certified and don’t dive for a year after that, forget basics, then make mistakes.
More on that dry suit dive fatality. The dive instuctor had weighted down the student diver with 44 pounds of lead weights placed into pockets of the wet suit and BCD. NO WEIGHT BELT WAS USED. Can you imagine the level of sheer incompetence it took to drown that poor student? They could just as well have walked her off the plank of a pirate ship shackled in leg irons. For more info, search for "Linnea Mills scuba diving incident ."
Thank you for sharing some more details as I’m sure many others are curious. I didn’t want to go too in depth as it’s a bit of a rabbit hole and really would need it’s own video. There were just so many things that went wrong in that situation, it’s really sad and just insane to me too.
❤ I am beginning to love scuba diving Hope you can visit our place here in the Philippines with $7,100 islands and hopefully you will be one of the dive center here in the Philippines see you soon sir
very informative video! i am currently enrolled in a technical/commercial diving school (i start in January) but im doing as much research as i can before my schooling starts so that i am as prepared as possible, and can digest my training more easily. you've definitely earned a new subscriber!
@@CircleHScuba thanks! im sure it will be. im a little nervous since im a smaller gal, so im expecting to struggle with the weight of my equipment at first. but im sure i will manage
I just got SSI certified. They seem to be giving safer accesion times. It's 30 ft a min not 60. And also it's lifetime cert, you just get refreshers if you go over 6 months or a year between dives. Def prefer ssi over padi after researching. I'm not sure why padi is thought if as the go to. When ssi seems like a better system. Although if I had time and cash I'd do both. Right now just working on advanced open water and my gear atm.
Honestly both are very very very similar to where people just pick one and go with it, but online people love to hate various dive organizations. At the end of the day they all follow the same ISO standards
@CircleHScuba your awesome thank you for that! But it is true padi isn't a lifetime cert? Where ssi is? That is a big deal for me. $ wise and time wise.
They both are lifetime certs, but both strongly recommend that if you’ve been out of the water for 1 year+ for safety reasons, you take a refresher class just to ensure you remember fundamentals and don’t hurt yourself or others.
Excellent video! You mentioned your SPG going down with every breath, then coming back up. I had exactly that happen to me early in my diving. with rented gear. I recognized that I couldn't trust it, and decided to call the dive. I showed the dive leader and told him I was going to return to the boat. I did my safety stop, and ascended. Just as I broke the surface I inhaled and got nothing. After that, I bought all my own my gear.
Thanks for the compliment, but that’s definitely scary! Usually when the problem is a tank valve not fully opened, but sometimes the gauge is actually bad. I also dive my own gear, but still am aware gear can fail! Maintain it properly and do your predive checks
Not really a scuba question, but I'll ask anyway since no one has ever explained it in detail. When I was 16, I was an excellent swimmer, very fit and could hold my breath for around or over 3 minutes on average. I decided to start freediving to the bottom of our local river. I was slightly weighted swam down to around 60 feet, lightly exhaling to manage my buoyancy until I reached the muddy riverbed. I stayed down there for about 30 seconds before kicking off the bottom to start my ascent in almost pitch-black water. When I was about 20 feet from the surface, my vision began to go completely black, my limbs started tingling, and I felt myself blacking out. I lost consciousness for about 30 seconds when I was about 6 feet from the surface. Fortunately, my buddy, who had pulled on the rope, rescued me, and I was extremely grateful when he pulled me back into our boat. I was nowhere near out of air but my young and dumb self obviously missed something crucial. My only smart move in that entire incident was being tied off to the boat. Ill be 43 this year and that memory still haunts me it's like "I was fine until I wasn't" and this fear has made me steer away from Scuba despite me wanting to do it for decades. What happened exactly?
I’m not a free diver so I only know bits of this stuff, but I believe that’s considered a shallow water blackout and is due to the drop in partial pressure of oxygen while ascending. Google shallow water blackout for more info as I’m not educated enough on free diving to speak to specifics.
@@CircleHScubait's killing me because since that day I've wanted to scuba dive but that memory or moreso terror of that moment has discouraged me away from trying it. Perhaps with some diving education it will alleviate my stress. Thanks for the response
Complacency is an issue in a lot of areas in life and can cause massive issues; people learn to just be open, honest, truthful, and respectful. Never worry about calling it early for safety or just in case something is wrong; better to be alive and embraced than dead.
What time stamp? I seen people do that too often. I get not wanting to bump your head but man, sometimes those low tanks are terrible too and mess up trim. I know some shorter stature folks will use an aluminum 63s instead (I believe that’s a 9L for metric)
Sage advice. But............. Its my experience in over 30 years, when diving as a solo traveller on day charter or live aboard, you are appointed an " instabuddy" , sometimes a buddy is not appointed at all, and we dive as a group,pre dive buddy checks are non existent. I would always champion buddy checks, but in the real world i encourage every diver to learn self sufficiency and get into the habit of performing your own checks by numbers on every single dive. Your safety is always your responsibility.
I agree, definitely make sure you’re self sufficient and as they teach in Tec training the one thing you can’t bring on your own for redundancy is a second brain, hence team/buddy diving. Insta buddy’s in those situations for recreational diving totally happen and I have also been placed with people that made me extremely nervous by their practices. A predive safety check, even if it’s checking yourself, is still important and a mistake beginners make is becoming complacent and skipping those kinds of checks, whether it’s with a buddy or just checking their own gear.
@@CircleHScuba p.s for the last 3 years I have visited Mexico for the winter, spending time on the Yucatan peninsula diving the incredibly beautiful cenotes. The level of safety and self regulation of the cave divers that lead us through the cenote cavern zones are second to non, with very detailed dive briefings, hand/ torch signals, p.s.i turnaround points , emergency procedures e.t.c. but even though the dives are performed in an overhead environment, no pre dive equipment checks are done by a third party, as one doesn't have a buddy as such, each diver ( maximum of four) are following the dive guide in a line.
Ah yes I’ve been in the Cenotes as well. I don’t think you’re advocating that checking equipment before a dive is bad, right? Check yourself, have a second person double check, it’s pretty simple and arguably you want to check again after they’ve checked in case they’ve done something dumb like shut your air off instead of opening it (it’s happened to me, I was pretty upset with them 😅).
I'm glad about this. I am about to take my first diving lessons and I hope to explore more of the depths of the ocean and I definitely don't wanna mess up down there.
Interesting video. As a hookah diver, a lot of this is superfluous to me, but, going too deep and safety stops definitely applies. As we dive with an almost unlimited supply of air, we often push the tables and I’m very conscious of what my dive computer is telling me. I’ve done 100s and 100s of dives, but the word complacency is so important to recognise. Thank you.
I got my PADI open water cert back in 1985. Back then, I was taught not to ascend faster than my air bubbles. Also, we didn't have dive computers...had to use navy dive tables!
I think it was a couple of weeks. I also completed my advanced open water training but never went on the checkout dive because I had a cold. I remember the pool training though. They placed 4 sets of scuba gear in each corner of the pool. Each setup was sabotaged in a different way. The worst was the one where they took the diaphragm out of the regulator. You could push the purge button and see that air was coming out, but when you tried to breath in...you just got water!
oh man that sounds like a nightmare, haha. I personally love the idea of doing something like that, but I don't see why that would be a good experience for someone's entry into learning how to dive, haha.
Hey man awesome video! I did my first trail dive this month and im hooked. Soon as the owners come back from their holiday going to start on the PADI course, but hooked watching videos on youtbe atm! Really great information so to get general idea of some things before starting. Where were the videos taken? That blue water was so clear and beautiful i wish i could go now!
That’s super exciting!! Glad to hear you got bit by the bug! Let me know how your class goes when the time comes! This footage was a variety of places in the Caribbean mostly. I take a few trips every year since certification to fulfill my travel bug and diving bug, though I dive locally in a flooded quarry as well.
This is the exact reason why scuba diving kinda terrifies me. I did a "fun dive" once and I remember that I almost panicked because my throat became very dry while we were diving. I suddenly thought about "What am I going to do if I have to cough or when I somehow start choking because of the dryness in my throat?" What do you do in a situation like this?? I tried to stay calm and tried to produce and swallow some saliva to be able to moist my throat a bit and thank goodness it helped. I was also very glad that we were only at 10 m depth. I'm much more confident and feel much safer while free diving.
Ah yeah, dry mouth is common and normal. I lick the roof of my mouth haha. Diving is fun though! You can cough, sneeze, etc underwater with your reg in. Even puke through your regulator 😅
@@CircleHScuba wow that was a quick reply, thanks! I'm glad to hear that you can even puke to the regulator haha 😂 that definitely calms me down a lot. I want to do more scuba diving in the future, but I will be very cautious and careful about it. Like you said it is an extreme sport and human error should always be avoided! I have huge respect for you and all the other recreational scuba divers and instructors.
Excellent video. Failure to thoroughly check BCD on every dive is highly underrated, especially when diving without a bottom. BCD failure is extremely dangerous.
Exactly! Especially when you're pushing NDL, your MOD, etc. Thank you for the comment! How long have you been diving? Any fun trips coming up or local diving to go to?
@CircleHScuba Outstanding. One of the best places to dive along Continental US. We use Walker's Dive Charters. It's drift diving, 70 - 90 feet. Most people dive Nitrox. Temps 85°f on the surface 75°- 80°f below. Only wore a full length skin suit. Must be able to inflate safety sausage float at depth, on a reel, so the boat can find you. Turtles, morays, sharks, Goliaths, barracuda, etc. with nice reefs (corals are gone). People also shooting lionfish. Skill levels are high.
A fresh OW diver, very thankful we got taught to check our ABCs (air, BCD, clips they call it here), I am still extremely scared of diving, but the safety checks (which you also perform on your buddy) are drilled into my brain. This channel is a godsent honestly haha
I’m glad you’ve found the videos helpful so far and congrats on getting certified recently! ABCs is a good way to remember. We use BWRAF “Because We Really Aren’t Fish” as a predive safety check, but not as easy to remember as ABCs haha. You’ll get more comfortable with time! What has you scared currently?
@@CircleHScuba Thank you! Oh, that's what BWRAF stands for haha! Good to know :) I think I'm so used to the instructor being nearby to help out in case something goes wrong, that the idea of not having that is very scary. I know my buddy and I will have dive masters and such, but what if they are not as good as the person we learned from haha And also just going through our SSI manual, I learned about so many things that can go wrong. It's probably good though, better to be scared than not informed at all.
@elliejayliquid yeah BWRAF has an acronym like that to remember it. BCD, Weights, Releases, Air, Final Checks The pneumonic of “because we really aren’t fish” is what I use but people have made many variations over the years like “begin with review and friend” 🤷♂️ It’s somewhat normal to have that feeling of “okay wow now I don’t have an instructor!” but also know that you wouldn’t have gotten certified if you couldn’t do it! Just take things slow. Go on a few shallow dives with your dive buddy, preferably where you got certified since you’re somewhat familiar with it. Then slowly expand your dives to that 60 foot depth or longer dive time, etc. As for all the potential errors and stuff. We have to teach you all the ways things can go wrong in open water diving, however, remember in normal diving is usually aren’t removing our mask randomly (or having a mask strap break, have it kicked off, etc). We don’t normally just yank our regulators out. You learn how to solve problems because it’s the first class, but then after class you finally get to enjoy diving for what it is.
@@CircleHScuba Thank you, that really makes me feel a bit more at ease! It's a great piece of advice, too. We are looking to go on a boat tour with the same dive school where we got certified within the next month, and it's roughly in the same area, too. Fingers crossed it all goes well! :)
thank you for the video. It was very helpful. Im looking into getting into diving for work. We removed a piece of rebar from a water feature recently. The snorkel and mask didnt work too well as I needed more depth to be effective. Now we are looking at adding scuba certifications and gear.
Great video. As an open water diver we often encounter Sharks and other sealife. I never encountered any problems but keep my distance. Maybe you could do a video about sharks as I notice many people are not diving due to their fears.
Oh congrats! Some can in different ways. You don’t have to worry about things like lung overexpansion unless you found an air pocket underwater and took a breath at depth for example. I think the general idea of not being complacent applies regardless though. Free dive with a buddy, be mindful of what can cause shallow water blackouts, etc
The sad part is I would say 90% of divers don’t want to do the pre-dive safety check with your buddy. Especially if you’re relying on a guide. If I’m on a dive with someone I don’t know, it really depends on their personality. A lot of times people just want to avoid it , guess they think it’s a big bother or they already know everything. Really sad because it could save your life.
I just insist honestly. It’s tough with some people but still. At least check your own stuff. Air up before a giant stride, check your primary reg as you breathe in before a giant stride and secondary as you secure it. Check weight pockets/belt. Tank pressure.
The dry suit inflator case, Linnea Mills Was the fault of the instructor not the person who died, so to say they failed their pre dive safety check is false, the instructor failed them, the instructor was negligent, and the instructor is no longer an instructor.
I hear you on that, but I believe I said a predive safety check may have caught that. I don’t think I blamed Linnea at all, and if it did come off that way I very much didn’t mean it that way. Thanks for calling it out. I definitely don’t blame Linnea, specifically meant a proper check could have caught that.
@@CircleHScuba My hubby and I just got certified last September and have been on about 12 dives including the Maldives! We are Americans that moved to the country of Panama, which, as you may know, has the Caribbean to the north and the Pacific to the south. Tomorrow we are driving about 4 1/2 hours with plans to dive a place called COIBA on the Pacific side. I found your videos just to remind myself of some of the basics! You have a nice, easy to understand demeanor... and come across as one's "favorite high school teacher!" Thanks again for your instruction and insight (spelled correctly this time!) Thank you for reaching out... I look forward to continuing to learn through your videos, which I subscribed to! 🐠🐠🐠
Wow that’s some awesome diving for only 12 dives in! I’m jealous! I’m in North Carolina and get to dive off the coast with charters occasionally, but my normal local spot is a quarry. I get to the Caribbean a few times a year at a minimum though, but haven’t been to Panama yet! Next year I’ll do Costa Rica and finally get into the pacific, but otherwise haven’t been! Favorite high school teacher, I love it haha. Thanks for subscribing and commenting! I am hoping to do a few more “refresher” type of videos soon to help people that have the same desire of you, a quick reminder on how to mask clear, assemble gear, etc. I may do a full “skills circuit” too that would be similar to a “Reactivate.” I hope you find it all useful too!
@@CircleHScuba those refresher courses would be great and helpful to people at all different levels particularly if they haven't been active for a while. I apologize… You mentioned your name and one of the videos I watched… What is your name again? Looking forward to continuing to watch and telling others about your videos!
👍😎🤿! Very well put together video 👍! I have to admit I have made some complacent mistakes but I shocked me enough to tell my self that I know better and after a while those mistakes are drilled in! As the more we dive the more second nature we become aware of the subjects you have covered! Well done!!!
Thanks Joseph!!! I think we all get complacent sometimes but gosh, the “second nature” part can be dangerous because we sometimes just ignore things haha. I hope the video helps new divers but also experienced ones!
During mistake #2 you discuss the linnea mills case. This had nothing to do with a lack of pre-dive check. She was told by a qualified instructor that she would be fine without a drysuit hose. Its why Padi has changed the requirement to be a drysuit trainer. And dodged liability yet again. Edit: Spelling Correction
I didn’t look at the full resolution after it was settled outside of court so I didn’t hear that specific evidence being confirmed (since there wasn’t a full court hearing from my understanding). That’s crazy though. I’m a drysuit instructor and I can’t imagine overweighting someone so much and then saying to not use the hose. So sad
@CircleHScuba The failings of the Instructors in this case were really quite disturbing. I think DiveTalk did a really good video on it it's worth watching. Aside from that great video! It's upsetting to me that it was settled outside of court though and those involved (at least as far as I'm aware) have avoided criminal responsibility.
I did watch @DiveTalk discuss it when they posted but it has been awhile too. I also would've like to have seen it go through court to set some precedence around this stuff. I mean, I'm a PADI instructor, haven't crossed over to any other agencies yet and may in the future; But regardless of the agency, they all follow the same standards basically from the WRSTC and ISO and as far as I'm aware, every agency treats instructors as independent contractors to keep liability away from them. A court case with criminal charges or even the civil charges could've let some legal precedence in, but alas.
She was only going for her advanced certification. She was not taking a dry suit class, and should never have been put in one. I know the dive site water was too cold for wet suits, so she should not have been allowed to take the course at that location, and/or time. The dive shop should have been firm on that issue ! This incident really makes my blood boil ! I didn't even get my dive master credentials, until I had over 500 dives, over several years of diving, and that was just to help out my friend who owned a dive shop. The dive instructor, in the Mills case had less than 100 dives under her belt. Maybe less than 50 ! My original certification was NAUI, back in 1974. I got a bunch successive certifications under PADI (in the 1990s), as that's what agency, my buddy was working under. I was always leery of instructors with less than 50 dives. Some as low as 20. And of PADI allowing it. I know all the agencies are suppose to be equal, and that the main concern is the competency of the actual instructor. But PADI seems to have gotten way too complacent !
I completely agree that some DMs and Instructors I’ve met just shouldn’t be in those roles and I wish standards were higher for pros. I will say as a current PADI Instructor in active status, you need 100 logged dives to attend the IE (instructor evaluation). The issue is no one knows if the 100 dives happened or not, if you just did 20 min dips at 20 feet 100 times, etc. I do local private instruction on the side currently and some day soon I am hoping to start advertising it a bit more as it’s just word of mouth. My goal will be to train good divers, not worry about time constraints that shops put on instructors, not just meet a minimum standard by “giving” it to the student. Too many times I’ve seen people look the other way on something that could be safety related because of 3.5 hour pool session constraints and too large of classes with no assistant instructors or DMs. I’ll have to charge a premium but I think it’s justified for one on one training (or small group for a family or couple) that isn’t forced into a small window regardless of how comfortable the student is with skills.
I use only compressed air up to 20m no need for nitrox or what ever . To enjoy the marine life i never need to go deeper it getting darker and cant see nothing . About accent ,i remember the simple rule to never accent faster than the slowest bubble when you exhale.
Yep, those are generally good rules of thumb. I have a video on dive myths and one is that you don’t have to go deep to see stuff. Ascent rates are more accurate with computers, and should be used over the bubble method imo. The bubble method is a good backup though if you have a computer failure, and it was taught before computers were so prevalent and now is sometimes taught depending on the instructor
Thanks! I definitely never want to scare folks from getting into diving but it’s important they know there are risks if we get complacent on some basics.
I’ve heard that as well, and I think it’s a good way to keep your ascent controlled if you don’t have a computer that can be more accurate for your ascent rate
@CircleHScuba the fast a bubble will assend is just a fraction over 1 second. It's not good to rely on computers if it fails and you don't have the physics down. You can't be aware of what's going on around you staring at a console. Dive tables must be memorized again, a failure, and not knowing if need to decompress.
Right, when I said “if you don’t have a computer” I meant more so if you had a failure since most people aren’t diving with tables nowadays. I mostly just meant you should use a computer vs bubbles for accuracy, but absolutely in a failure or emergency you may not have the option and bubbles are a great way to help measure your ascent rate too.
Oh no need to apologize at all! I love the engagement and the fact that you took time to comment to start with! I appreciate your time, see you in the other videos! 🎉
Video shows team dive-checking each other at the same time - DO NOT dive-check each other at the same time. Let one concentrate without interference, THEN the other. No one is in any rush, and with all the equipment and tentacles, checking each other at the same time is recipe for missing something.
@@CircleHScuba Thanks, my pleasur - Over 25 years (6 of those in the Navy), just shy of 12K dives. Try to do local dives at least once a week, but prices are getting silly. Been doing a lot of shore dives lately.
Thank you for your service, and that’s an awesome history of diving! My local dives are quarry dives, the shore is a few hours away if I want to do a charter, otherwise it’s dive trips for bigger sites. Some day maybe I’ll be close enough to shore diving
@@CircleHScuba My pleasure. Yeah I am super lucky to live minutes from the beach, but I have been half a fish all of my life. I lived away from the ocean for 2 years and I was miserable. Do it!
Excellent video. I have never taken a class but dive 25 times a year solo with the BLU3 Nemo system. I understand the risk; and agree I should probably take some schooling
@@CircleHScuba thank you as this confirms my decision to look at classes and getting certified. Just got to the 7th part of the video addressing this. When diving for work we often wouldnt be below 5-20 feet. We were debating getting the gear but I felt it was best to take some training and get at least 2 of us certified. this way our safety on the shore is familiar with procedures.
