Hi everybody, and welcome to Scuba Diving Magazine. I'm Mark, a British dive instructor,
and I've been diving a good while now so I have lots of tips and tricks to help you guys
out. In this series, we're focusing on beginner skills that you don't necessarily get taught
in your courses, but they're very important to actually know.
In this video, we're going to take a look at five things that you should, and five things
that you shouldn't do after a dive, because so much of your training is usually focused
on what you should or shouldn't do on the dive itself. Don't touch that. Don't put your
head in there. Stop doing that strange thing with your hands. But after a dive, there are
actually a few things that you need to consider. If you're just starting out your scuba diving
career, or even if you're just trying to get back into the scuba diving world, Scuba Diving
Magazine channel is the best place for you. So remember to click that like button and
subscribe to the Scuba Diving Magazine channel to see more diving videos just like this one.
Anyway, let's dive into what you should and shouldn't do straight after a dive.
One of the thirst things that you should be taught in your scuba diving training is not
to go flying after scuba diving, because of the reduction in pressure. There's even an
episode of House that covers this. Because your tissues have been absorbing nitrogen
during your dive, you have to ascend slowly so they don't form bubbles, but you're not
magically safe once you hit the surface. If you hop in an airplane or even climb up a
mountain, that drop in pressure can cause trouble. So if you're planning a trip that
includes scuba diving, then don't book any zip-lining tours, any mountain climbs, sightseeing
tours or flights the following day. Most diving trips leave the very last day
completely blank so you can decompress a bit before hopping on the flight back home. For
a single dive, give it 12 hours. Multi-dive trips, 18 hours. But ideally, give it a good
24 hours to make sure that your tissues are completely cleared and you won't hurt yourself.
Some divers are so excited to get out of the water and chat with their friends that their
dive gear just gets left lying around and doesn't get properly looked after. If you
have access to clean, fresh water, give all of your gear a good, old rinse down to remove
as much salt water and nasties as possible. Drain the bladder of your BCD, because it
can quite often fill up with sea water just kind of sloshing around inside of it. Once
you're out of your BCD, depressurize your regulators and swap your tank over for a fresh
one and check that it's full. If you do this early enough and find that
your fresh tank is actually empty, then you have plenty of time to track down a full tank,
or at least get that one topped up. If you pressurize your regulators, just close the
tank valve, but don't purge your regulators. This is actually a great way to check for
any leaks in your regs. Because, if you come back to your regulators after an hour or so,
and your pressure gauge has actually dropped, it means that there might be a small leak
in your regulators. Pop your mask in your foot pocket of your
fins, add any other gear with them in your box so they're organized and you don't lose
anything. Loose dive equipment on the deck of a boat can very easily get broken and just
washed overboard if you leave things just lying around.
After a long or a cold dive, your first instinct is usually to hug a radiator or hop in a warm
shower. This can actually be quite dangerous, because quickly warming your body up after
a dive is going to excite everything in your body and can actually speed up gases from
leaving your tissues. Speeding up is bad. Studies have shown that rapid warmth increases
your chances of decompression sickness. One study on Navy divers actually changed the
water temperature at different parts of the dive and found that divers who warmed up during
the later stages of the dive had much higher chances of decompression issues.
The same goes for sunbathing, I'm afraid. You can work on your tan on your dive trip,
don't worry. Just give it a few hours after a dive so that you don't warm up too fast.
Whilst I was teaching, I went through a phase where I didn't actually log all of my dives.
I seriously regret it now, because I have a big chunk of my log book that's just missing.
A lot of scuba divers just kind of skim over their log book pages too, and only fill in
what they see as the important bits, like your maximum depth and your dive time. But
the important things that you'll actually refer back to one day is all of the other
bits. Write down the water temperature and what you were wearing. Write down how warm
or how cold you were. That way, in a few years time, when you're planning a dive in similar
water temperature, you know what to bring and what to wear.
Also, write down how much lead you were wearing and how buoyant you were. Again, for the next
time that you're diving somewhere similar or you're wearing similar dive gear, you know
roughly how much lead you're going to need. That's what your log book should really be
for, something that you can refer back to for practical information.
I know it sounds daft, but don't over-exert yourself too much right after a dive. It's
a great excuse to take it easy because, much like warming up too quickly, moving around
and getting your heart rate up can actually increase your rate of decompression. You can
sort your dive gear out, but don't go lugging a whole bunch of dive cylinders around. That's
why we have dive masters. So once your dive gear is stowed away, just put your feet up,
get your log book out and spend some time off of your feet. Let your body do its thing
so that it can decompress at a safe rate. Get yourself dry and out of any rain or any
wind and trying to maintain your body temperature. Don't get out of the water and just go for
a hike or do something exciting. Just chill. Being submerged in water can actually be quite
dehydrating. The air that we breathe in our tanks is filtered a lot. Because it's put
into our tanks, they filter out as much of the moisture as possible so your tank doesn't
rust on the inside. But this means that the air that we breathe is very, very dry, and
with each passing breath, we're breathing out moisture-filled air from our lungs and
replacing it with dry air. So you can dehydrate pretty fast.
After a dive, trying to make yourself drink some good old-fashioned water. It's good for
your body, and it can help with decompression too. A lot of our diving takes place in warm
climates too where it's important to stay hydrated, so as soon as you leave the water,
try and get as much water down your neck as possible.
The jury is still kind of split on this one, but because of a lack of research in the area
and the variety and the term massage, it's better to err on the side of caution in my
opinion. Deep tissue massages in particular are warned against by dive doctors because
they stimulate your deep tissues and can potentially release stored gases too quickly, which can
form bubbles. Deep tissue massages can also cause tissue
soreness, which can mask signs and symptoms on actual DCS as you might just write off
as, "Maybe they're a bit too rough with me." Instead of, "Oh, maybe I should talk with
someone and get help for this ache that I'm feeling."
A really easy way to ruin your dive trip and potentially hurt yourself is not to dry your
ears out after a dive. A lot of divers experienced pain or itching in their ears after a dive,
and they usually just put it down to microbes or something nasty in the water getting into
their ears. But it's actually just the water itself.
Water left inside of your ears can cause the ear lining to swell and create gaps for bacteria
that normally live in your ears to reproduce. This is called swimmer's ear and can cause
a lot of grief if you don't get it treated. But after a dive, do your best to dry your
ears out without poking anything into them. Try and invest in some ear drops that are
made to dry your ears out and kill any nasties. There are plenty available for both swimmers
and scuba divers. I know I just told you to drink a lot a few
points ago, but it's important that you drink lots of water and not alcohol or caffeine
or any diuretics. Alcohol and scuba diving do not go very well together, so after a dive,
avoid reaching for the beer fridge. Just have some water or some fruit juice. Coffee, and
a lot of fizzy drinks are diuretics, which means that they increase the urine production
inside your body. So despite you drinking liquids, they're actually making your body
expel more water. So it's a kind of two steps forward, one step back kind of situation.
You can have a soft drink or a coffee after a dive, but just be sure to hydrate properly
beforehand or alongside so that you don't get too dehydrated after you dive.
We've already tidied our gear away so we don't lose anything and washed it down if you can,
but double check battery levels and important parts on your dive gear so they're 100% before
your next dive. Check your dive computer for any low battery warnings. If your dive computer
is rechargeable, then plug it in. You don't want to be on your next dive and your dive
computer just switches off because you didn't top it up.
The same goes for your torch or your camera. If you're in any doubt that the batteries
might not last the entire dive, then it's best to swap the batteries out or charging
them up as soon as possible after your dive. Also, be sure that they're actually turned
off during your surface interval. Too many times. I've come to get kitted up for the
second dive and realize I've actually left my camera on during my surface interval and
there's very little power left and, of course, no time to charge it up. Check your BCD and
your regulators for any kind of wear and tear because a small abrasion from the last dive
could actually lead to a big problem on your next dive.
So there are five things that you should do and five things that you really shouldn't
do after a scuba dive. Hopefully, none of them were too much of a shock to you, but
they are things that you should be thinking about for your next dive trip. Remember that
it's all about diving safely and reducing your chances of decompression sickness. If
you can, don't try to rush anything and push any limits. The times and the guidelines and
your limits are all just that, just guidelines. They're not promises so don't push them on
board your plane at 11 hours and 59 minutes. Try to err on the side of caution if you can.
But what's your post-dive ritual? Do you go get a plate of chips and a bacon sandwich
or a hot chocolate and a Snickers bar? Let us know in the comments below and anything
else you think that you should or shouldn't do after a dive. If you enjoy this video and
want to see more like it, then like and subscribe to the Scuba Diver Magazine channel and, of
course, stay tuned for a little bit to click on one of these little videos that are about
to pop up. Thank you for watching and, of course, save diving.