Diving Safety

Diving safety is all about mitigating and controlling the risks associated with scuba diving. We hopefully learned early in life that in order to survive in risky situations obtaining knowledge and exercising prevention will get us through those risks well.

You should have taken a Beginning Scuba course or look for one to take if you haven’t yet. There is likely training available at rental shops at resorts or vacation destinations specializing in training beginners. There are hours of material to be covered in a good scuba diving safety class.

Consider these Don’ts, the rules for subbing diving safety:
•    Don't dive alone.
•    Don't hold your breath.
•    Don't ascend faster than your smallest exhaled bubbles.
•    Don't stay down too long.
•    Don't dive too deep.
•    Don't dive with malfunctioning equipment.
•    Don't destroy the environment.
•    Don't plan a decompression dive as a recreational scuba diver.
•    Don't go in overhead environments.
•    Don't dive beyond your training.
•    Don't forget your safety stop.
•    Don't forget to log your dives.

Turing them into Do’s now we can explore what they are all about!

Don’t dive alone is as simple as finding a buddy who is as skilled as you are or maybe more so. Practice & discuss how you would handle emergencies. You are each others backup. The skills best obtained here would be: air sharing, locating a lost buddy, first aid and CPR procedures.

Don’t hold your breath is obvious. Breathe normally, as you would on land, as lung-expansion injuries are possible. Breathing deeply and slowly will get the right amount of oxygen in your system and exchange the carbon dioxide properly. All the problems of the various forms of toxicity can be controlled and avoided.

Ascending slowly is necessary to allow the nitrogen that has collected in your blood and tissues to be expelled. Enjoying the scenery as you ascend is one way to slow down your ascent. Watching the rate at which your smallest exhaled bubbles are rising to the surface and not beating them to the surface is a good measure of the proper rate of ascent.

Planning your dive is essential, then execute your plan or as they say “dive your plan.” Nothing in your dive area is worth the risk of running out of air.

The deeper you dive the shorter amount of time you can stay down, so enjoy the better-lit scenery at shallower depths longer.

Make sure your equipment is functioning properly, has been tested and certified. It is your life support system!

Making sure the environment is preserved by not allowing you or your equipment to inavertedly touch areas you are close to. Some of the areas you dive in have taken years to form and can be damaged easily by divers unaware of their surroundings.

As a recreational scuba diver don’t perform the more technical decompression dives unless you have sought proper training and are ready for it.

Don’t go in caves, caverns etc, stay out in open water. While it may be exciting to watch on tv or in the movies this isn’t for the recreational diver.

Make sure your training supports your diving plan.

Make your safety stop at 15 feet for 3-5 minutes.

Log your dives accurately. Blog about them if you’re into that.