New to diving? Here are some Do’s & Don’ts!
Written by Urve Patel, 27 April 2023.
You’ve got your open water license! Congratulations and welcome to the world of scuba diving. Now that you are a scuba diver, here are some do’s and don’ts for newbie diver (or any ‘experienced’ diver who doesn’t want to look like a newbie)! Trust me, this would immediately up your street creds! 😎
Let’s start off with the Do’s, aye?:
- Do prepare defog your mask! This is a simply task to remember. Prepare your mask with soap, toothpaste, anti-fog or even your own saliva before a dive. You don’t want a fogged-up mask to ruin your dive. As you gain experience this will become routine. Additional tip, if you want to break the ice, offer some of your anti-fog or soap to other divers (but not your spit – that’s disgusting 🤮!).
- Do leave your snorkel on the boat! This tip is a personal one. Although school diving clubs and schools recommend a snorkel for surface swims to a dive site, in my experience, you really don’t need it. You have a boat to take you to a dive site so what’s the point in a long surface swim.
- Do a buddy check. This allows you to do your final checks (to ensure all gears are good to go) and to learn your dive buddy’s equipment which will be handy under emergency situations. You also get to learn how different people remember BWRAF. In Malaysia, the divers use ‘Breakfast With Fish and Rice’. I’ve also heard people use ‘Beer, Wine, Rum Are Fun!’
- Do use the correct amount of weights. Being overweighted will mean your buoyancy will be off and this will lead you to use your LPI more often. Knowing the correct amount of weight to take on dives will take some time, but don’t be afraid to add/remove weights between dives. You can also ask your DM to take an extra weight on a dive for you just in case until you feel comfortable – but don’t make this a habit.
- Do Relax. Relax! The more excited you are in the water, the more energy and air you will use. And it’s a good chance you will annoy others on the boat and during the dive. So just go with the flow, and your energy and air consumption will reflect this.
- Do cover up! Cover your body with the right amount of neoprene because you will feel colder as the dive progresses. Your body temp is 37 °C while seawater in tropical locations reaches 30 ° That is a huge difference and can let to a dive being cut short.
- Check you gauge frequently. A common newbie mistake is not checking your gauge frequently or only checking when your instructor/DM asks. You need to check your gauge frequently and monitor the changes so you can work-out how quickly you are breathing your gas. A good frequency is checking every 5 minutes…
- Do turn on your air. New divers forget to open their tank valve before getting into the water. This happens too often, especially when people forget to do the buddy check. You need air to breath, so please open the tank valve.
- Do be open minded about the dive site. What may have seemed like a good location the night before may not be suitable the next day due to weather conditions or the skill level of your diving companions. Respect the recommendations of local dive experts, and don’t push for a dive site that may cause a safety issue for you or others.
- Do keep a log book. Not all divers keep a dive log, especially past 100 dives, but I think it is really helpful when starting out for a few reasons. A dive log is a useful tool to note down important points or experience gained from a dive e.g., keeping track of amount of air consumed, type of wet suit and thickness, type of water entry, type of dives, mistakes to avoid in the future, amount of weights, marine life encountered etc. Every dive is unique and it is a good habit to write in your logbook all the different things you did or saw that made it stand out. I personally like to collect the various stamps from the DMs, instructors and dive centres, some of which are pretty cool!
- Do make friends & have fun! You are bound to meet new people while on a dive trip and there is no better way than to keep an open mind and mingle! The encounters and experience you share on a dive trip would last for a long time. And hey, you may even meet your other half if you just muster up your courage to say “Hi!”
Don’t:
- Don’t leave your tank upright on a boat! It’s an unwritten rule that if you leave your tank upright on a boat, you will have to pay a beer fine to the entire boat full of divers. Jokes aside, a tank left upright on a boat is likely to fall over. They are incredibly heavy and can hurt someone! Trust me on this…I speak from personal experience.
- Don’t overuse the power inflator. Your lungs and thus your breath technique is all you require to maintain good buoyancy. Newbie divers are often overly-dependent on the LPI to inflate and dump air. This uses up air from the tank and reduces your bottom time, with the added consequence of reducing the bottom time for all divers in your group.
- Don’t chase after fish. Fish are fast swimmers! There is no way you can catch-up. You will only tire yourself out, and maybe even lose track of your dive buddy (which I’m sure they will not be pleased with).
- Don’t exceed the limits of your training and experiences. Certain types of diving require specialist training (sidemount, cave, wreck, decompression dives etc., ), and if you are not qualified for a certain type of dive, you are not only putting yourself (and others) in danger.
- Don’t bow to peer pressure. As a new diver, don’t feel obligated to prove yourself to others. If you are nervous, or feel uncomfortable about a dive because it is beyond your training or experience, feel free to say no. You will gain the respect of more experienced divers and they will in turn will want to dive with you in the future.
- Don’t touch the marine life (or pull out whip corals!). Just don’t be THAT person! Marine life is precious, especially in this day and age when the entire reef ecosystem is under threat. Even touching is a big no-no. You may carry bacteria that may be harmful to them! FYI what you touch may take years to recover (especially coral), if it recovers at all! Also, some marine organisms are highly venomous – just saying.
- Don’t use poor fitting/unfamiliar gear. Poorly fitted gear or gear you don’t know how to use screams ‘newbie diver’. Poorly fitting or unfamiliar gear can be a hassle and a distraction, and distractions can be dangerous. There’s nothing wrong with using rental gear, but it’s important to know how your equipment works, whether it’s your personal gear or rental.
- Don’t over use the pointers. Don’t overuse the pointers to either touch or bang your tank to get attention. The former will lead to damage to the coral reef, while the latter will scare away the fish (and annoy divers)!
- Don’t say ‘oxygen tank’, ‘flippers’, or ‘goggles’. Using these terms will make your DM or instructor cringe. The correct terms are scuba tank or cylinder, fins, and mask, respectively.
- Don’t skip the diving briefing. Even if you are an experienced diver and have been to the dive site before, listen to the dive briefing. There may be key differences to the safety procedures and hazards of a particular dive site.
- Use the correct rinse bucket. Most dive centres will have separate rinse buckets for different equipment – be thoughtful about what you dunk and where you dunk it (no pun intended). No one wants to dip their regulator mouthpiece in the same water used to rinse a urine-soaked wetsuit. And be sure to close that regulator dust cap before you dunk it in!
Give these tips a try on your next trip with us! And if you have a great tip to share, let us know! Remember, sharing is caring!