When do you graduate from a diver-in-training to a good buddy (or what others call a team diver)?

SCUBA is a fun and relaxing sport, but the reality is that we don’t belongin the underwater environment. For this reason, we have to ensure that all our systems are working properly and that our dive buddy will not cause us stress, but rather be there to assist us competently in the event of an emergency.

How comfortable would you be if your buddy was constantly leaving you behind, changing positions and speed, and you never knew where they were? What if they got disoriented and headed the wrong way, but made no attempt to find you? How about if they were always running out of air or their equipment was so poorly maintained that it was not reliable? These are not comforting thoughts to me and I hope they are not to you, either!

When our sport first came to be, the original underwater explorers were single/solo divers. These brave and adventurous men made incredible dives, and some of them lost their life as a result. Many new explorers have found that when diving with a well trained team that shares a single common goal, exploration dives are safer and the explorers get to go farther. They also get to go home! Many in the sport diving community have watched the success of theses explorers and have tried to translate the philosophy to non-exploration/recreational sport divers.

So what exactly is a good buddy?

A diver that actively participates on the dive planning.
A diver that will agree to assign a dive leader, but will still be self-sufficient during the dive.
A diver with well maintained equipment that is suitable for their type of diving and their area conditions.
A diver that will follow the plan, and maintain a position in the water in relation to the dive leader (so that he does not have to always be looking for the buddy diver).
A diver that would not hesitate to call the dive if they had a problem.
A diver with good gas management and buoyancy control.

All of these are qualities for a really good buddy. You may never appreciate the skills of a good buddy if you always dive with one person, but if you don’t have a regular buddy, you will most definitely appreciate good skills when and if you should ever need them!

Information and communication is the key: agreeing before the dive on dive plan and the what ifs, and checking gear and reviewing hand signals before starting the dive. There is nothing more difficult than trying to deal with a problem when you are not able to communicate with your buddy underwater.

On some dives, it is very possible to have a buddy assigned to you by a DM on a dive boat. It may be difficult to assess this divers ability. Here are some questions should you ask this diver up front, BEFORE you enter the water with them:

What are they hoping to get out of the dive (cover and see as much territory as possible, slow dive to take pictures, etc.)
What is their training level, and how recent is their experience?
What is their air consumption rate, and are they willing to end the dive as a team, based on a pre-agreed gas limit?
What parameters do they see for the dive “ How deep, how long, and what activities? If they propose things youre uncomfortable with (like penetrating wrecks) are they willing to forego that to keep the team together?

Remember, you can’t ask to dive with a good buddy if you are not one yourself. If your buddies always have to look for you because you get easily distracted, easily lose the group, tend to lose your buoyancy, or you run low or out of air, you should do everyone a favor (ESPECIALLY YOURSELF!) and get some more training!

Here are a couple simple training recommendations:

Practice your basic skills on every dive, even when you are diving on your favorite spot where you have 100 logged dives. Skills include good buoyancy control and hovering quietly, as well as mask flooding and gas sharing.
Take some entry level tech diving classes even if you’re not interested in tech diving. The skills you learn will help you on every dive and may just save you or your buddy somewhere down the road.

In a perfect world, we all would work hard to improve our diving skills and we would always dive with more experienced divers. Unfortunately not everyone takes diving seriously; many divers get the quick three-day vacation/resort certification and never consider expanding their training.

Once I actually overheard a diver bragging about how his air consumption was so bad that he routinely cut his buddies; dives short. This wouldn’t be a big deal if not for the fact that sooner or later you or I might end up diving with this irresponsible diver.

I can remember a trip to the Bahamas when my buddy had equipment problems. She asked me to go on the first dive while she worked on her problem, and then she would join me on the second dive. I was quickly buddied up with a single diver and started the dive. We were supposed to follow the Divemaster, first to a small plane, and later to a wall. In no time we had lost the group. As we followed in their general direction, we found the plane. After that we attempted to get to the wall. As the time for the dive was nearing the end, I gave him the signal to start heading back to the boat and he agreed. As soon as we made the turn to go back, he started heading in a 90 degree angle away from the boat. I made all attempts to communicate that he was going the wrong way but he wouldn’t listen. Now I had to make my decision: be a good buddy and get lost with him, or not.

This is a good example of an overly confident diver that is willing to put himself and others in danger. He had not idea of my experience level. What if I had panicked or was unable to physically return to the boat from longer surface swim.

In the past couple of months I have heard from two other Instructors in the area who were diving with unfamiliar buddies. These divers responded completely wrong to simple problems underwater. Both of my friends had their air shut off at depth, for some still unexplained reasons, while they were trying to resolve a minor problem. Fortunately both of my friends are fine, but I would love to know how these two individuals thought that the correct response to a problem underwater is shut off tanks!

Many of these inept divers are quick to blame others for their problems; claiming it was a bad instructor or a bad agency that made them bad divers. Every time I hear this complaint I like to ask these divers just how much research they did on the course they were signing up for. Did they bother to research their Instructor’s credentials? Remember that the open water class is not designed to cover emergency procedures in depth. You may practice a few scenarios, but you are lucky if you have your buoyancy under control at the end of the class. It is YOUR job to practice!

So, just how do we all protect ourselves from these dangerous divers? Talk to potential buddies, ask about their dive and training experience, and even check their log book. Check the divers equipment, make sure it fits the local conditions (tropical vs. cold water diving.) If you are uncomfortable with any buddy assignment, or the dive plan, talk to the Divemaster in charge and get a new buddy. The most important thing you can do is continue learning and practicing. The better diver you are, the better chances you have to survive “the buddy from hell”.

It really makes me wonder if these divers may be the reason why SOLO diving seems to have become more popular in the last few years. Some Agencies are actually now offering SOLO diving certifications.

Last but not least, consider these statistics:

40% of dive accidents happen to Open Water certified divers;
30% of dive accidents happen to Advanced certified divers;
6% of dive accidents happen to Rescue certified divers;
2% of dive accidents happen to Technical certified divers.

Never stop learning! If taking classes is not your thing, read books, talk to more experienced divers, and work on your skills.

Nitrox, after all these years, is still a misunderstood gas.

We can trace back to the 1960s and find Nitrox in use, but it was mostly used for rebreathers. The use of Nitrox for the recreational diving community (open circuit) started in the early 1970s, but most SCUBA agencies did not accept it until 1996.

There many names for Nitrox: Enriched air, EANx, Safe Air, Nitrox32, Oxygen enriched air, and even “voodoo gas!”

Probably the most accurate name is Oxygen Enriched Air Nitrox, but most likely you will call it Nitrox like most of us do. The reason there is so much disagreement with the name is because the name Nitrox was originally designated for a gas that contained less oxygen and more nitrogen.

For the recreational diving purposes, Nitrox is ANY mixture of Oxygen and Nitrogen, so technically air can be considered Nitrox. And just like air, Nitrox is colorless, odorless, doesn’t have any taste, and it will not improve your air consumption (but you will look cool to you friends!)

Over the years, many incredible claims have been made about Nitrox: prevents nitrogen narcosis, you will feel less fatigued at the end of the dive, it will keep you warmer, it will improve your air consumption, it is safer than air, it will improve your sex life (okay, I made that one up! LOL) But seriously, none of these are true statements about the use of Nitrox.

So why use it? Because Nitrox will allow you to have longer no decompression dives with shorter surface intervals.

Most divers believe that Nitrox is safer because of the added oxygen in the mix, but the real reason is the reduction in nitrogen. If you remember back to your beginning/Open Water SCUBA class lessons, it is nitrogen that limits our no decompression dives, and it is nitrogen that will create bubbles in your system and cause DCI (the bends).

By reducing the amount of nitrogen in your gas mix, you increase your bottom time. Take a quick look at air tables. The max no decompression time for 60 feet is 55 minutes. Now look at a 36% Nitrox table and you will find that the max no decompression time is 115 minutes—more than double the time!

Be aware: Nitrox is a shallow water gas. Nitrox is best served, compressed, within the 60 to 130 feet depth range. :O)

Many people will tell you that Nitrox diving is either too complex or risky for recreational divers and that you need dedicated equipment. Let’s examine these three supposed disadvantages a bit more closely:

Nitrox is too complex for the recreational diver – With proper training you can learn to do Nitrox dive planning in no time. You will learn to do calculations like “best mix for your dive,” “oxygen exposure time,” etc. in a mater of minutes. Once you’re in the water it doesn’t feel any different.

Nitrox is too risky for the recreational diver – The same safety rules for air apply to Nitrox. Additionally, you must personally verify your mixture by analyzing to determine that your cylinder has the correct mix. You also must make sure you don’t exceed the maximum depth for you mix, and keep track of your oxygen exposure (most Nitrox computers will do this for you.) If you exceed your oxygen exposure, you do run the risk of an oxygen seizure. Oxygen seizures are rare and are more likely to happen to a technical or cave diver. Still, it is a real issue that is not very well documented in the recreational diver community.

Dedicated equipment for Nitrox – This continues to be a very controversial issue, because we don’t have scientific data to base our opinion on. The community is looking to the US Navy for guidelines and their current opinion is that any equipment exposed to more than 23.5% oxygen should be treated and properly clean as if was 100%. Others have looked at the guidelines written for NOAA commercial divers. NOAA recommends that any equipment exposed to more than 40% should be treated and properly cleaned as if was 100% oxygen. My recommendation on this issue is to check with your local dive shop to see what method of gas blending they are using. Also check with your equipment manufacturer for their recommendation, and if your equipment is due for service anyway, have it cleaned and replace the seats and o-rings with oxygen compatible pieces.

It is my personal opinion that the advantages, and disadvantages, of Nitrox are very manageable with the right training. Nitrox has its place in the recreational diving community, not to replace air, but to be used to lessen decompression requirements.

The purpose of the diver down flag is to protect divers from boat traffic. The red flag with the white diagonal stripe is the USA diver down flag, the blue and white Alpha is the international flag. International maritime tradition and law has established a set of signal flags, including flags for each letter of the alphabet. The blue and white flag signals the latter A. When used independently the Alpha flag means diver down. In 1950 a dive shop owner in Michigan, developed the US flag (red with the diagonal white stripe) after finding out that most boaters didn’t respect the red flag used by the US Navy. Over the years he helped promote it, and worked to get the flag recognized by the Michigan State Legislature as a means of protecting SCUBA divers from marine traffic. By 1997 most states had set laws requiring the use of a diver down flag.

Unfortunately, there is still a large discrepancy among the states and municipalities as to the requirements for size of the flag and the distance boater must stay away. Also, dependant upon where you dive, fines can range from $100 to $500.

Some costal states in the US actually require the use of the alpha flag. For us here in Washington State, we are required to use the Alpha flag on state waters (when boat diving), but the city of Seattle requires the red and white flag. For both locations, when shore diving, use the red and white USA flag. There’s a bit more info about these regulations here: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=352-60-060.

When divers are using the flag, boaters are required to stay 100 yards/300 feet away or approach at idle speed. The City of Seattle will allow you to set your flag at a fixed point as long as you don’t surface more than 50 feet away from it. You may also tow your flag to be certain you are never far away from it. When towing the flag, don’t secure it to you or any part of your gear and make sure that it has an easy break away system. Accidents have occured where a boat propeller has gotten wrapped around the line and pulled the diver up, and cases where jet skiers have used our flags as a slalom obstacle course! The best way to carry your flag with you is to attach it to a reel (with enough line for your deepest depth) and keep the reel in your hand. In case it gets caught you can easily let it go.

Recently, a group of my friends got a warning from the Seattle Police Department for suffusing too far away from their flag. (Note: only one dive flag per team of divers is required.) You can read all about the no diving zones and the diver down flag at the Seattle Police Department website:
http://www.seattle.gov/police/units/harbor/harbor_diving.htm

As responsible divers we must follow the rules set by the city or they may use this as a reason to take our dive sites away. We already have places in the country where there is no diving allowed after several incidents made the municipality fear liability and close the site for divers. We also have places where rules are so strict that you can get banned for life. An example: One of my friends was diving at a very popular site in Florida. After a 5 minute safety stop his buddy got out of the water but his computer signaled a few more minutes of required time. To be extra safe he stayed in the water by himself at the 15 foot stop. When he finally exited the water, a park ranger was waiting and gave him a written warning. At this particular location if you get two warnings, you’re no longer permited to dive there.

Be safe and sure. When traveling to a new dive site, please check all local SCUBA laws and double check with the local dive shop.

As a new diver, you are going to hear and read various opinions about which agency is better, which you should avoid, or even a comment that you are not a “real diver” if you get certified by XYZ agency. There are people that have dedicated all their free time (which they apparently have way too much of!) to bad mouthing one or more of the certification agencies, via websites or forums.

First let me tell you that there are more agencies out there than you can imagine. Here is a list of ONLY the biggest names:

PADI
NAUI
SSI
YMCA
PSAI
MDEA
IANTD
SDI
TDI
IDEA
BSAC
ESA
GUE
NACD
PDIC
SAA
SSAC
HAS
ANDI

There is no law that mandates an instructor be affiliated with a certain agency, but I can’t imagine any instructor teaching in the US without an affiliation with at least one agency. Outside the US is a different story.

Historically in our sport people associated with one agency whose members, for whatever reason, have had a falling out over a difference of opinion or philosophy within the membership, have moved on to create a new agency. Many of these “offshoot” agencies didn’t last very long, but a number of them did, so it’s very easy to understand why one agency may not necessarily be friendly with the other since their founders have a long-standing feud with the original group. This is not the case with all the agencies, but this kind of animosity does exist. You will also find individuals (instructors) who have left an agency and will spend a considerable amount of time telling their students how bad that particular agency is.

In my opinion there are no bad agencies, especially at the entry level. They all follow the RSTC’s (Recreational SCUBA Training Council) minimum course content guidelines. All agencies are going to teach you how to clear your mask, recover your regulator, control your buoyancy, etc. Some agencies are more appealing to the mainstream, mass market, while others are more boutique-like, with a narrow appeal. Some have been very successful and others not, but that doesn’t make one better than the other.

In a nutshell, the problem isn’t bad agencies, but bad instructors and the SCUBA shops that employ them. Some instructors are so new at the sport that they shouldn’t be teaching yet, while others have spent so many years in the field that they just don’t care anymore. I have always beleived that the responsibility falls on the consumer to find the right instructor and course, and not worry so much about the agency they will be certified through.

Let me tell you about a personal experience. A couple of years ago, I was working at a dive center answering questions from a father who wanted his 13 year old child certified. The most important (ONLY important) factor to him was the price. He could have cared less about what he was getting for his investment, or what the overall quality of a cheaper product might be. Should he have a right to complain about the agency when he opted to save a few bucks without realizing what he was giving up in the process and ended up with a bad experience? Whose fault was it that his discount course with one instructor and twenty students wasn’t what he expected? Unfortunately, most people take the route of blaming someone else for their uninformed mistakes rather than accept personal responsibility…and SCUBA Agencies suffer the brunt of this abuse.

The bottom line is simple, look for the course and instructor that fits you. Find an instructor that will listen to you and be interested in why you are taking the course.
Please don’t base your decision on the price! In the SCUBA store, ask questions, check out the rental department (even if you are not renting), ask to see the compressor room, and check training certificates. Don’t just assume that a dive shop employee is an instructor, many are not, but to a new diver they may appear to be more knowledgable than they really are. If you find hesitation when asking any of your questions, or discover old, outdated gear and/or facilities, please find a different dive center.

It’s funny, but people seem to do more way more reasearch, and even get references, for a contractor who may simply be installing a light bulb in our home, than we do for someone who is going to take you and/or your loved ones underwater. Is it just me, or do you think that’s a little silly?

So in conclusion, what do I think is the good, the bad, and the evil surrounding the topic of SCUBA Agencies?

Good = ALL SCUBA Agencies.
Bad= Instructors and shops who don’t care about their product.
Evil = Anyone who doesn’t take personal responsibility for making the wrong choice in their SCUBA training and blames others for their mistake!