There's no doubt about it, us divers, we're a funny bunch, and we have.. should we say..
an ability to make the innate things seem really awesome! I mean, if you disagree,
imagine if I showed you a photo of my bathroom. You'd think "that guy's pretty weird!". However,
if I show you a photo of this bad boy right here, it's just awesome! Sometimes it's the
little things that matter. So with this, I guess you could call it a "positioning
statement" now delivered, let's build on these little things. Things that, as seasoned divers,
or maybe not seasoned divers, we tend to completely take for granted, but they're
oh so very useful. So with all that said, I'm Nico Lurot from Global Underwater Explorers,
please be sure to like the video, share the video, hit that subscribe button, because
these are the top 10 useful dive skills - in no particular order. A proper pre-dive safety check.
Kind of stating the obvious here, I know, but yeah, you do actually want to make sure that both
yourself, and the people you're diving with, are actually safe and ready to get in the water. No,
but real talk, I've seen too many times over the years, divers not do a proper pre-dive safety
check. They just jump in the water, they forget an important piece of dive gear, I don't know, like a
dive computer, like a compass, or they get in the water and they haven't checked their air properly,
and they haven't seen if they've got their tank filled properly, and even when they just get in
the water without even having done a check, they just enter, there's not a proper plan
in place and, POOF, they go off in all single directions. I have seen this with my own eyes,
naughty! The mind does boggle at this one, because you don't do this pre-dive safety check,
aside from the fact that divers just go off in every single direction they want,
you forget a piece of equipment, or you forget to check your air, like I've said,
you know, take it up a level: what if you forget to actually check that the regulator that you may
need to donate when your gas sharing isn't working, or maybe a long hose is entangled,
or any of the above things I've just said. Use your imagination. But fear not,
GUE is here to help, because we do have a very, very easy to follow routine for every pre-dive
safety check called "GUE EDGE". And you'll be really happy to find out that, if you click the
link above me right now, there's even a video on how to do a proper GUE EDGE. Gas Sharing.
Okay, hands up who has ever run out of air on a dive?
Appreciate I may not see you but I do imagine that you've all kept your hands down, and to that I say
well done, well done. This is hopefully something you will never actually need to do because, see
previous point, you'll be doing proper pre-dive checks, right? But in the unlikely event that
this does happen, and you're in a scenario where you or your buddy do run out of air,
you do want this skill to be second nature. Realistically there is obviously a series of
steps to follow and you don't want to be in that position where, someone gives you this signal,
and you're stuck there going "Right... out of air.. how do we do this again?.. let me see.."
Nope! Nope, nope, nope. This is something you want to practice regularly,
gas sharing, because if the situation does arise, as I said, make it second nature, make it so that
you're actually in a position that you can help give gas to the person who needs gas. Oh and
side note: obviously you would expect the same courtesy from your buddy, but simple solution:
practice, practice, practice, and there's really nothing more to it. Just keep practicing. Whenever
you have an opportunity to practice this skill, do it! Make it second nature. Task Management
Now it doesn't really matter if you're above the water, below the water,
this just remains constant: no one likes stress. Don't care who you are, no one likes stress,
and I think there's a good, age-old saying that's applicable here: if you fail to plan,
you plan to fail. And I do believe that divers get that more than most.
Remember how something underwater is way cooler than something on the surface? Well
unknowingly, it works in reverse too, and what do I mean by that? It's really simple. Basically
something that could be really easy on the surface, take it underwater, get it? Much harder,
much, much, much harder. Now there's a load of fun examples, or I guess not fun examples,
I could go with here, such as breathing the wrong gas at depth, causing it to become narcotic,
not having a proper fundamentals foundation, which means that easy things like buoyancy control are
really difficult, but these are just examples. The point I'm making is you essentially don't want to
overload yourself with tasks underwater, there's a really simple solution, just do that which you're
comfortable with, and more importantly I guess, trained to do. Gain experience at a speed and
rate which you're happy with, before you move on to the more complex stuff and, you know,
don't be pressured into doing something that you aren't either comfortable or trained with.
Task Management: do what you're comfortable with, and make sure you communicate properly
said tasks with your buddies. Which brings me on to my next point! Underwater Communication.
The same way that we've all been calling our family and friends during lockdown,
the same way that your boss needs to give you clear instructions in order for you to do your job
properly, and the same way that my fiancee keeps going on about how communication is so important..
Don't judge me.. Underwater, we need to be able to communicate. To most of us, I guess this is second
nature. Obviously the longer you dive, the more this becomes second nature, but let me ask you
this: have you ever been underwater with someone and they've just thrown a load of signals at you,
and you're left thinking "Huh?". And at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if this is to signal
a buddy that you've just found a really cool Rhinopias - yes, that's one for the fish geeks out
there, it doesn't matter if it's to signal a team the formation in which you're entering a wreck,
it doesn't matter if it's to signal a scientist who you're working with and collecting sediments
with and samples with - yes, i'm doing shameless plugs here, because these are all things you can
do with Global Underwater Explorers, and more to the point, clear underwater communication,
it can be a lot of fun! If you know, you know. Mask Clearing.
Okay let's just get this one out of the way shall we? We've all been there.
Who's ever had a mask that leaks due to bad fitting? Who's ever had that mask that fogs,
and no matter how many times you clear it, and put water in, and clear it, put water in,
and clear, and it goes clear, just for a moment and then it fogs up again and... Grrr! And guys,
for the men out there, who's ever let their beard grow a little bit too long, and then once again,
leakage.. We have all been there, and I think most of us, myself included, have come to dub
these lovely experiences "mask dives", because it seems you spend more time dealing with your
damn mask than actually enjoying the dive. But we're not just going to stop the dive are we?
You know, we're not going to be "that guy" back on the boat who decided to go up because his mask
was leaking and didn't see the whale shark are we? So what do we do? Roll the footage please!
You see what I said at the beginning? it's the simple things!
Backward Kicking. I mean I could literally make an entire video on the benefits of backward kicking,
but I go back once again to my previous point, how cool things look underwater versus on land. I
mean, have you ever seen someone walking backwards - aside from this guy - I mean, I really hope not,
but have you ever seen someone do it underwater? All sorts of awesome, and actually pretty useful!
Use it for things like staying on the same level as your teammates when you're ascending,
or descending a line, reversing after you've taken a photo, or maybe got into an "Oops, shouldn't be
quite that close to the reef", or maybe even reversing once you've collected fragile samples
on a scientific dive. Okay I appreciate most of the examples I gave there were reversing, but
still cool! And as I said, super useful from a from a safety point of view,
from a practical point of view, from being environmentally cautious point of view,
backward kicking's good! Combining compass and natural navigation. Well we just briefly touched
on environment, so let's build on that with one of my personal favourite things that I loved to teach
back when I was an instructor: navigation. Now your mind, it can play tricks on you underwater!
You can be assured that "that's the way I'm going, I know that's where I came from, I'm
going the right way", and it doesn't matter how right you think you are, I am here to tell you,
you are wrong. The compass is right. Back when I was a novice diver I'd been in this situation
so many times, embarrassingly so, that I thought I'd come from one way, I was like "Now the compass
must be broken" and I went back the way I thought was correct, came up in completely the wrong
place, shock horror. Doesn't matter how many dives you have, doesn't matter how experienced you are,
the compass knows better. Unless of course it's broken, which kind of makes my previous point
redundant, but then I'd still be questioning why are you diving with a broken compass, and
anyway.. Compass is right! But let's go down the scenario where it does fail. I mean okay, fine,
your compass is an incredibly useful tool, but it's not the only tool. You've got the underwater
environment around you. I mean, obviously depends on what, you know, the relief of the dive plan is,
whether you're on a wall, a flat bottom, that obviously are things to factor in. But the natural
environment, and the natural references around you, could be really helpful. Let's say you're
going in a forward line and having to come back, and that's the dive plan you made. Well look at
the coral bomies around you, because they don't move. So as long as you're paying close attention
to what's around you, and depending on the dive plan of course, you could quite easily find your
way back, or find your way to the point you've agreed on using natural environment. And we can
go even deeper here. Let's say you're doing a project dive, and you need to navigate to some
sort of lost anchor to, you know, to find the coordinates for it, and then you can give those
coordinates back to the team on land, all sorts of cool stuff you can do with Global Underwater
Explorers. So ideally, have a compass, make sure you know how to use it, make sure it's working,
use the natural environment around you, and yeah, you're pretty much good to go. Navigation!
Trim. Trim, trim, it's a wonderful thing. What does it actually allow me to do?
Maybe stating the obvious here, but uh... Water is denser than air.
In order to cut through the water, you want to be as streamlined as possible. Now personally
speaking, I've dived on all sorts of different equipment. I've dived on the traditional bcd
jackets, but I really, really think the bc wings that we use at Global Underwater Explorers (not
going to throw out any brand names because we've all got our personal preferences, personally
speaking, I've got a halcyon, absolutely love it), the way they sit on your body, and the way that
they position you in the water, it really does allow you to be super, super, super,
super streamlined. And it's not just the actual wings that we're wearing. Another thing that I
personally.. I'm.. haven't been a GUE diver all that long, but it's something that,
when I did my fundamentals course I discovered, I questioned it at first, and now I swear by it.
That old long hose which actually sticks to our body and which we tuck in, even things like that
allow you to be way more compact and streamlined than on the traditional scuba setup. You can see
more on the GUE versus the traditional scuba setup at the link here. But i'm a fan, and i think
if you're not a fan, and if you don't quite get why we do it that way, it might very well
be because you haven't experienced it. But honestly, when I first tried the equipment
setup that Global Underwater Explorers use, it hugs you, it holds you, it makes you all compact,
and it makes you streamlined. Now obviously it's not just all about equipment. You want
to make sure you're properly weighted, you want to make sure that things like
your body tension, you want to make sure that things like your positioning in the water,
are all on point. All these factors combined, are what allow you to be aerodynamic underwater,
aerodynamic? Like, these will all contribute to you having a perfect trim, and allow you
to move super gracefully through the water and speaking of moving gracefully. Helicopter Turn
You're gonna have to permit me to fanboy out here because, as I just alluded to, I haven't
been a GUE diver that long. I've been a diver for a long time, but not a GUE diver for a long time,
and when I did my fundamentals course, oh my word, OH MY WORD, when I saw this skill, this helicopter
turn, and I saw my instructor being able to turn on a dime, I think it blew my little mind.
Much like at the beginning, some of you may look at my reaction now and think "that's weird".
Maybe. Now for all the years I've been diving, I just.. I just
wish I had learned this skill earlier, because just for me and my personal needs as a diver,
underwater photography is my big thing. It's something I've been doing for over 10 years,
absolutely love it. That's my main motivation for getting in the water, AH, especially macro
underwater photography. I'm saying "ah" because I'm just visualising how useful this could have
been to my life, underwater, over the years, had I learned it earlier. If I'm
photographing something really, really small and I want to get it at a different angle...
...helicopter turn! Just Awesome! SMB deployment.
We're coming to the end of the video and I thought I would finish off with the
skill that you need to essentially finish off your dive, and to properly talk about
this I need to get serious for a moment: As if, when we're diving, having to deal with
all of the pressures of being underwater was not enough, and we are under pressure..
Nope, back here! When ending the dive, one also has to deal with boat
traffic. Now this can be quite the predicament, as one does not want to be hit by the boat
on the surface, because that could gravely affect one's health. So what does one do when surfacing
from the dive to avoid said boat hitting one in the head? It's very simple. One unleashes this
giant coloured balloon, and one fills it with gas, and it shoots up to the surface. And I must say,
I believe it is an incredibly British creation, even though it may not be a British creation,
I should probably have read my notes and found out if it is a British creation... But the whole manor
feels very polite, it feels very British. You are launching a coloured balloon up to the surface of
the water as if to send a polite message to say to the boat, "would sir kindly move!". Jokes aside,
I'm actually quite sad to say that over the years I have seen just way too many people come
up in busy busy boat traffic areas, just surface willy-nilly, without even launching an SMB up.
Just don't be that person! Much like with the gas sharing, which I alluded to earlier in the video,
it's one of those things that you can practice, and realistically it's not only one of the things
you should be practicing, it's one of the things for your own safety you want to actually be
doing on every single dive. You know, make that part of your plan, integrate it, switch it up
between you and your buddies each time each of you can shoot an SMB so you're all in good practice,
but please, just do not surface from a dive without shooting an SMB. Do not dive without
your SMB, it's it's a no-brainer, and believe it or not, when you're using it with the spool and
the clamps and the d-rings and everything, it's actually really useful skill to know, and much
like with gas sharing, make it second nature. And yeah, that's basically me done. I've had
a lot of fun talking diving, being a bit silly, talking about things that we all know and love.
Let's make this a regular thing, if you guys want me to of course? Comment down below: did you like
this video, but for now, I've been Nico Lurot from Global Underwater Explorers. As always,
please like the video, share the video, hit that subscribe button, and I'm even going to throw up
a poll on our community tab and let you guys decide what our next top 10 will be. There'll
be two choices in the polls once this video has aired, the polls will close a few days after,
so get right on that community tab, and make sure you let me know what you want the next
top 10 show to be. So as always, stay tuned into the channel, and look out for our next
bit of content which is airing next Monday. Stay well, stay safe and I'll see you guys very soon.