Hey SD fans, welcome back, and for those here for the first time, my name s Mark, I am the
editor-in-chief of the Scuba Diver media brand, and welcome to the Scuba Diver YouTube
Channel. Today I am going to be talking about dive
essentials, those things you absolutely will not go
diving without. I am not talking about regulators, BCDs, masks and the like, that s a given,
I am talking about accessories and so on that
are a must-have in your kit bag when you go diving. I ll be giving you the five things
I will not go on a dive trip without. Right, let s talk diving essentials. Ok, so
we know you need all the basic kit mask, fins, regulator, BCD, exposure protection, dive
computer but what are some of the must-have accessories I think you should always include
in your diving arsenal? First up, a back-up dive computer. I have
been diving with two computers for many, many years. Now, in my role as Editor-in-Chief
of the Scuba Diver magazines, I always have one
or two computers on test, so diving with two computers has never been an issue, but if
you had to buy two computers, why would you want
to? Well, I have been on several trips over the years where one of my computers has died
for one reason or another. Now, if that happens, it is not the end of the world, you
should be able to make a nice, slow ascent, do
your safety stop and then surface, but the pain is when you come to go diving the following
day. The dive centre you are with might have a rental or loan computer they can give to
you, but it hasn t been diving with you, and doesn
t have your dive profiles from previous days in
its memory. So while you will have some residual gases still in your system, it thinks you
are coming in fresh, and that can be asking for
trouble. And you don t want to have to miss a day
of your diving holiday by sitting out for 24hrs. So, diving with two computers, if you
are unlucky and one does die on you, you can just
continue diving on the other one. Obviously, it makes sense to try and have
two computers on the same algorithm, so that the
NDLs are much the same, otherwise you could end up as I have on occasion while testing
with one still showing remaining NDL while the other is into decompression. You don t
want to be the one in the group hanging at 5m waiting
to clear your back-up computer! Dive computers used to be one of the more-expensive
investments for a diver, and yes, there are some units out there which are still a
considerable cost, but equally, the overall price of
dive computers has dropped massively, and you can get basic wrist-mounted units for
a couple of hundred pounds or dollars. These
are more than adequate as a recreational back-up dive computer.
One piece of advice wear both of the dive computers on all of your dives. I remember
being on a liveaboard in the Caribbean and another
diver questioned why I was diving with two computers. I explained, and he just shook
his head, and said that if I wore one for dives 1 and
3, and the other for dives 2 and 4, I would get longer bottom times. Scarily, he was dead
serious. Don t be that guy. Next up cutting tools. I can recall people
taking the mickey as I usually have two or three
cutting implements about my person when diving, but if you ve ever been snagged in
monofilament netting, it is not something you want to repeat, and so I d sooner go into
the water with an array of tools at my disposal
and not need them, than be down there in a predicament wishing I had knives to hand!
Now back in the day, when I first started diving, I
had a knife as long as my 12-year-old calf strapped to my leg. It was the done thing
at the time, and it was great for a bit of flatty-stabbing
to get my dinner, but thankfully, the days of
needing Excalibur to go diving are long gone. These days, I have a Trilobite attached to
one shoulder strap of my wing, and a small titanium
dive knife on the other. These are on there all
the time, wherever I am diving, but if I am in the sea off the UK coastline, I also add
a knife I have owned for 20-odd years on to my right
forearm. I also have a set of trauma shears that
go into my drysuit pocket, or the pocket on my tech shorts, if I am in a wetsuit. Between
this selection of cutting tools, I can cover every
eventuality. You might not go to town as much as
I do, but definitely have at least one cutting tool with you on every dive. It could be a
lifesaver. Talking of lifesavers, that brings me onto
my third essential a DSMB and spool. I have spoken about DSMBs before, and I always have
one whenever I am diving in the sea. The only time I dive without one is if I am going
in a local quarry. DSMBs, or delayed surface marker buoys to give them their full name,
are a tube of varying length that can be inflated at
depth from your octopus or by blowing into it, and then sent to the surface to mark your
position for your boat crew. Often you fire them up from your safety stop, and many people
only have six metres or so of line on their spool, or even just a six metre length of
webbing, for this very purpose. However, if the proverbial
hits the fan when you are at depth say you are on a wall at 40m, go into the blue to
get that epic shark shot, and then lose the wall, or get
caught in a current. Well, by the time you get to your safety stop depth and can launch
your DSMB, you could be hundreds of metres away
from your boat. I have a compact spool that has 45m of line on it. This means I can fire
up my DSMB from my max dive depth if necessary, and then at least I am giving my
boat crew a fighting chance of seeing I am heading off over the horizon. I know of countless
times when a diver s DSMB was the difference between them being found, and not
being located, so always take a DSMB and spool with you on a sea dive. Again, better
to have it with you and not need it, rather than
wish you had one as it is all going pear-shaped. One thing make sure you know how to
launch one. There is no point having a DSMB if you cannot safely and efficiently launch
it to the surface. This is something that can be
practiced in your local inland site, or in the
shallows in the sea, and it is not a difficult skill to master. But it is better to have
nailed the technique before you have to fire one up in
anger. I remember being on a liveaboard where they asked everyone to send up a DSMB at the
end of the check-dive, and when they asked if
everyone knew how to do it, all nodded their heads. It became blatantly obvious at the
end of the dive that many had never even handled
a DSMB before, and there were plenty of rapid ascents as they completely messed up the deployment.
So don t be like them - practice, practice, practice.
Fourth essential is a small torch. I always have a back-up size dive light stashed in
a BCD pocket or in a thigh pocket, even on day dives.
One reason is that you never know when you might want to see inside a little cave, under
an overhang or inside a wreck, and so having a
torch on hand at all times is a big bonus. The other reason is that you can t beat a
torch for attracting attention on the surface. Now,
you might be thinking, if I am on a morning dive
and have an issue on the surface, what use is a dive light going to be in trying to attract
attention when it might be bright and sunny? Well, just suppose you have an issue, end
up on the surface and then are not found until the
light starts to fade. You will certainly be glad you
had a dive light then! This is exactly what happened to a group of divers in the Red Sea.
They were blown off the reef into the blue on their
first early morning dive, but then spent the full
day bobbing in a group on the surface. They had DSMBs inflated, and were doing all they
could to attract attention from the searching boats, which they could sometimes see in the
distance, but to no avail. Night fell, and thankfully, as darkness rolled in, one of
the group had a small torch with them, and it was this
that finally caught the eye of one of the rescue
boats. The chances of this happening might be extremely rare, but never say never. As
I said before, better to have it on you and not need
it. My final dive trip essential is a snorkel.
Yes, I know, the humble snorkel. And I don t take it
with me on a dive. So why would I want it on a trip? Well, you never know what might
show up when you are out on the boat and enroute
to the dive site, or on your way back at the end
of the day. It is far easier and more enjoyable jumping in the water for an impromptu
interaction with dolphins, manta rays, whalesharks, etc, if you have a snorkel to go with your
mask and fins. I broke my own rule on this one on our recent trip to the Maldives. As
this was my first and likely only - trip overseas
of 2020, I wasn t in the packing groove, and so
my snorkel remained on the shelf back home. And typically, I regretted it nearly every
day! We saw dolphins every day, and had three memorable
encounters with manta rays feeding at the surface - and I was cursing every moment
I was in the water with them, wishing I had my
snorkel! Even if your snorkel just languishes in the bottom of your kit bag for the entire
trip and never sees the light of day, at least
you have it to hand if something does put in a surprise
appearance. Believe me, you will regret it if you don t bring it with you!
So, that s my five dive trip essentials let us know in the comments below what your must-
have necessities are when you head off on a dive adventure.
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As always, if you are going diving in the coming days, enjoy - and stay safe.