August 2019 Safety Message: Before You Jump!! Last Minute Dive Checklist

What are the most important things you should be doing in the last minutes before jumping off a dive boat into the water?  Let’s call this list our last minute checklist.  These points are key, but you may wish to add some for your circumstances.

• Have you had the appropriate conversations with your dive buddy and with the boat captain?

• Are you wearing the correct dive weights?

• Is your buoyancy inflation/deflation equipment working?

• Are you wearing your mask and fins?

• Have you taken one or 2 quick breaths from your mouthpiece while watching your pressure gage?

• Is your octopus or secondary mouthpiece working?

• Is your air cylinder full of known breathing mix?

• Is your buoyancy adjusted for your desired descent (rapid descent vs floating on the surface)?

• Are you stressed out, or are you wearing a smile because you’re doing what you love to do?

• Is your dive buddy stressed out, or is he/she smiling back at you?

Be Safe & Dive with a Smile!

Dave Wills

July 2019 Safety Message: Fine Tune Your Dive Weights

What type of dive weight system do you dive with?

• How quickly can you remove and discard your weights?

• Do you have integrated weight pockets?

• Does your BC have fixed weight pockets?

• Do you use a combination of captive and discardable weights?

• Are all of your weights on a single belt?

• Are your weights comfortable?

• Do they allow you to float horizontally at neutral buoyancy?

• Have you ever tried tank weights?

• Have you ever tried ankle weights?

• Do you adjust your weight for a wet suite change?

• Do you notice when dive buddies have weight issues?

• Do you carry a portable weight that you could pass to a dive buddy?

You and your dive buddy might benefit from a buoyancy tune up!

Let’s talk!

Be Safe, Dive Safe

Dave Wills

June 2019 Safety Message: What Can Go Wrong!?

An SFDI buddy recently provided this true account of a dive trip gone very wrong.  The names and dates have been changed to protect the innocent.

This dive trip occurred when our buddy (let’s call him Leo) was a beginner.

Leo had become certified some years earlier but had not done any diving, so when he decided he wanted to get back into the sport he booked a refresher course with a dive shop in Miami-Dade County. 

For some unknown reason, the dive was a night dive… and Leo had never before been night diving.

Leo was provided rental gear at the dive shop and then rode together in a van with some other divers who were chatting in Spanish, to the dive boat where he was assigned a dive buddy who spoke little English.  Unfortunately, Leo is an English speaker with minimal Spanish language skills…so there was a significant communication gap.

Leo recalls the diving conditions as being somewhat rough and very dark. 

When he dropped into the water he found the tagline was well above the surface, just out of reach.  He expended a significant amount of energy bobbing up and down before he got a hand on the tagline.  And the water was very dark!

There were people in front and behind Leo on the tagline. Unfortunately, he lost track of his buddy.

When he finally reached the descent line he was out of breath and hyperventilating.   He paused there for 30 seconds or more in an attempt to calm himself, but the hyperventilation persisted. 

Fortunately, Leo decided to terminate the dive and re-boarded the dive boat.  He stripped off his gear and continued to hyperventilate for nearly 10 minutes aboard the dive boat.  He was thereafter completely exhausted.

Leo’s dive experience progressed from isolation in the van, to uncertainty in the boat, anxiety and a fear of drowning in the water, and a panic attack.  Fortunately Leo made it back aboard the boat. This situation could have ended very differently!

There are lots of things we can all learn from Leo’s account of his worst day of diving.  I’d say two of the most significant are:

1) Preparation is everything!

2) Always look out for your dive buddy, and your boating buddies, and your SFDI buddies!

Leo tells me this experience, years ago, still effects the way he dives, and his tolerance for the unexpected during dives.

Please, always be the best dive buddy you are able to be, above water and below.

Be safe!  Dive safe!
Dave Wills

May 2019 Safety Message: Your Dive Mask….Can you still put it back on underwater?

Hey do you remember way back when you were certified to SCUBA dive? During the class the instructor almost certainly ask you to take your mask off and put it back on underwater. This is standard training in all certification classes.

But, when was the last time you did this? Do you still remember how? Do you need a refresher?

If it’s been a few years since you did this exercise I recommend you try it with your dive buddy watching to keep you out of trouble. Or even better, practice in a swimming pool sometime.

I recommend that all you lobster divers practices before the season opens again. You never know when you’re lobster diving buddy might accidentally kick you in the face and knock your mask off.

Be Safe…Dive Safe

Dave Wills

April 2019 Safety Message: Drift Flag or Marker

During a Private Boat Dive on Saturday 3/16/2019 divers on Randy’s boat and on mine witnessed 3 young men free diving on the 2nd reef off Hallandale using only a small float - about 3 times the size of a football - as a marker.  These guys were very inconspicuous, and had a close call with a speeding powerboat while we watched.

We’ve all been trained to take care of our dive buddy.  But when you drift dive, it’s also important to take care of your other dive buddy…your drift diving flag or marker.  It’s the only thing that allows your boat captain to know where you’re at.  And, it’s your 1st line of defense against passing boats. 

Take care not to pull it underwater.  This happens most often when there is current. To prevent submersion of the floating marker, the line should scope out much like an anchor line.  If you are diving in 50 feet of water, you should have about 100 feet of line between you and your dive marker.

In the open ocean a diver is required to stay within 300 feet of the dive flag, and passing boats are required to stay more than 300 feet away from a dive flag.  But, I recommend you stay as close as possible to the dive flag when you surface.  Also, be aware of how the wind is orienting your dive flag.  Does an oncoming boater have a broadside view of your flag…or not?  If not, you can raise the flag above the water and wave it from side to side to get the attention of oncoming boaters.

Be Safe…Dive Safe

Dave Wills