When you re new to scuba diving it can be easy to make mistakes because you ve never
done it before. But, I ve seen my fair share of new divers and mistakes they can make through
the students that I ve taught and if I bring light to the mistakes it can help you get
a head start and some mistakes to avoid when you re first starting your scuba diving career.
Don t Rush A lot of new scuba divers are so keen to either
just get into the water as soon as possible or not want to look that they re struggling
that they rush into getting ready far too early and end up standing around, fully kitted
up, waiting for everybody else to get ready or the boat to be in the right position. When
you re getting ready for a dive look around and see when and how quickly other divers
are getting ready. Exposure suits like wetsuits and drysuits are made to keep you warm and
comfortable in the water. Outside of the water you re going to cook inside waiting to get
into the water.
Set up your BCD and regulators and organize all of the kit that you re going to need for
the dive first and then get into your wetsuit. If you get into your wetsuit first, you ll
get hot and sweaty waiting for everybody else to get ready. That being said, on colder dives,
it usually better to get in your drysuit early to warm it up so that you re not wasting body
heat just before the dive and start the dive cold. But, always pay attention to what state
of dress or readiness the experienced divers or dive guides are and don t rush to put your
wetsuit on too early.
Renting Equipment Renting dive gear is a good choice when you
re very first starting out so you can build knowledge and don t have to invest in absolutely
everything. However, rental and school equipment is not built for comfort, it s built to be
cheap and tough so it will last the dive centre for a long time. People don t tend to buy
gear that s designed for school use. Now, yes you can dive perfectly well in rental
gear but, trust me, it s so much better in your own gear.
Masks will have better silicone, so your mask fits you better and you get a choice of mask
style and features. Regulators will have better performance, you also know when they were
last serviced and you can feel is something is off with your
own regulator. BCDs and wetsuits will fit you better and will be made from softer, more
ergonomic materials. Now, don t go crazy and buy absolutely everything all at the start
because you might buy something that you later don t get on with but, invest in your own
equipment over time starting with a nice mask.
Task Loading Delegation is the key to success, especially
when complicated tasks need to be done and when you re first learning to dive, everything
is a complicated task. Most scuba diving accidents are the result of multiple little things adding
up until the diver is too flustered or distracted and something terrible happens. When you re
new to diving everything is taxing so don t expect to be able to do this and that and
something else all at the same time or even on the same dive, try to make your dive as
easy as possible by either delegating tasks and asking somebody else to help, or skip
it all together if it s not essential. I used to use a bubble analogy with students.
When you first start diving, your bubble is very small and only you are inside that bubble.
As you gain experience your bubble expands and includes your dive gear and a little of
your surroundings. And eventually, with experience, your bubble includes your buddy, the dive
site and things that might happen. When you re new, don t rush into doing everything all
at once, add one new skill at a time, perfect it, and build those strong foundations.
Moving About Scuba diving equipment can barely be described
as nimble in the water but, outside of the water it s downright clunky and you should
spend as little time as possible fully kitted up outside of the water. If you can, assemble
your equipment as close to the water as possible and put it on as close to the water as possible
also so you re not wearing the weight of your tank and weightbelt on your body because that
can do a number on your back over time. Your fins as well, most people struggle to
walk around on a boat without stumbling at the best of times but, while wearing fins,
you re just begging to fall over. If you need to walk in fins, hold onto a rail, take your
time and walk sideways or backwards while paying particular attention to where your
fins are going so you don t stub your fins into something and trip. Be very grounded
and don t shift your weight until you re absolutely certain you can maintain your balance.
Mouthpiece Up Regulators are designed to give you air at
moment s notice, and they work best when submerged. But, on the surface they can get a little
confused and think that you re breathing, even when out of your mouth. When you re in
the water and you take your regulator out of your mouth, point the mouthpiece downwards.
If you point it upwards the regulator will spit, and it can lead to a freeflow, it s
just how regulators work. When you re getting ready to jump into the
water, you don t have to worry about the regulator in your mouth but, your alternate, turn the
pre-dive lever on and increase the breathing resistance if you can and try to point the
mouthpiece downwards so that when you jump in, the purge button isn t the first thing
that hits the water. And at the end of the dive, when you take that regulator out, point
the mouthpiece down and then pop it in the water.
6 Keep it on
So many divers as soon as they reach the surface, off with their mask, regulator comes out and
they just focus on life on the surface again. But, if you still have gas in your tank it
can be really useful to keep it in place, the same with your mask. I ve watched so many
divers struggle on the surface as waves slap them in the face, they choke it down trying
to get back on the boat and see where they re going.
If it s nice and calm you can take your reg out to chat and get some fresh air and take
your mask off to rub your face. But, on your exit or if the waves are jumping up it s nice
to keep your eyes covered and be able to breathe if you re suddenly dunked underwater, like
when you re holding onto the ladder of a boat. It s also handy so you don t fumble your mask
or a rogue wave snatches it from you
Ditch Gear There is no dive equipment that is worth more
than your life. If I feel like I can t stay on the surface and something I m wearing is
weighing me down, I will not hesitate to drop it. If you re lucky, your insurance will pay
for it anyway and it s a good excuse to go shopping for some new dive equipment. Ideally,
you should only wear enough lead so that you can submerge but be able to stay on the surface
even with an empty BCD with minimal effort. Ditching your weightbelt is the first option,
that s a no brainer but, you ll still see divers from time to time, struggle on the
surface and literally risk their lives instead of dropping their weights. The last things
that I ll ditch would be my fins, my mask and my dive knife. Everything else is dead
to me if I can t float on the surface. And it can make for an interesting search and
recovery dive to find your lost gear if it s shallow enough so you can fid it again.
Weightbelts While we re on the
subject of weightbelts, your toes will thank you if you always carry them by the strap
end and never by the buckle. Coated lead blocks are better for the environment but the smooth
surface can be slippery and when you hold a basic weightbelt upright, they can slip
right off, onto whatever is underneath. Weight retainers are handy to prevent this
but they re a bit of a pain if it s not your lead and you have to unthread it all the time.
If you re in a rush a single twist in the webbing mid-way through can help to hold the
lead block in place. But, I d still always hold the weightbelt by the loose strap end
because even if the lead does slip it won t slip over the buckle.
Bringing a camera This one is a little heart breaking because
when you re new, you re experiencing all of this amazing new underwater world and, especially
in today s social media life, all you want to do is share it with others. But, when you
re first learning to dive you need to practice your buoyancy and a camera can ruin it in
a few different ways and it goes back to task loading.
The first thing a camera does is narrow your vision. Without your peripheral vision to
see if you re floating or sinking as the background moves, you can easily end up in a runaway
ascent. The other way a camera can ruin your buoyancy is a lot of people naturally hold
their breath to hold the camera steady and now they re floating. Try to leave your camera
behind until you re at something like 20 or 30 dives and more confident with your buoyancy
and maybe ask your buddy to keep an eye on you when you re taking a picture to alert
you if you re drifting off.
10 Practice Skills
I don t think I know anybody who enjoys removing their mask underwater or other fundamental
skills. But it s important that you actually do them from time to time so that should the
time come where you actually need to disconnect a pressurized low pressure inflator hose and
reconnect it underwater. To drop and find a regulator or clear a flooded mask.
The best time is somewhere nice and shallow where you can ascend to the surface should
you need to. The safety stop seems to be the perfect time as you re just hanging there
with little else to do sometimes but, it s best to actually practice the skill at the
end of the 3 minutes and tell your buddy that you re going to practice
skills, so they know what you re doing. The more you do it, the less of a problem it will
be should something happen during the next dive.
If you have any mistakes that you ve seen or grown out of let us know in the comments
section below and do me a favor and give this video a thumbs up please and subscribe to
the channel if you want to see more scuba diving advice videos. If you have a question
that you d like me to answer pop that in the comments with the askmark hashtag and I ll
respond in a video as soon as possible. I also have to mention the website and magazine
that you should check out, we publish three different magazines around the world that
YOU CAN ALSO SUBSCRIBE TO. That s it for today, thanks for watching everybody and safe diving.