Diving Resources | Atlantis Bali Diving

Navigation can seem pretty overwhelming when you consider that you’re trying to keep up with where the rest of the world is. And that’s, without mentioning how it feels to get lost and realize you just lost track of an entire planet. 

 

By learning to navigate underwater you’ll minimize how often you get disoriented, and if it does happen, you’ll more quickly figure out where you mislaid the whole of existence. Don’t let it intimidate you there an, two kinds of divers: those who have been lost underwater, and those who won’t admit it Basic Compass Navigation | Atlantis Bali Diving Navigation makes your underwater adventure more fun in several ways. 

 

It lets you plan your dive so you don’t waste time and air trying to find the best parts of the reef, and so you end your dive near your exit point with ample reserve air left. By knowing where you are at all times, you can head straight for the boat or shore if a problem crops up, and you know where you haven’t explored yet. If there’s anything in the area you want to avoid, navigation helps you do so. 

 

Compass navigation helps you swim a straight line when you’re lost, you tend to swim in a circle. With experience you’ll learn to navigate by following cues you find in the environment (a scuba diver who has been there a gazillion times is a great cue to follow), but an underwater compass makes navigating easier and more accurate, and the more you use it. the more true this is. 

How Does it work?

Basically, compass navigation works like this: your compass remembers where the North Pole is, and you remember where everything is in relation to the North Pole. Okay, more detail will help, but that’s the essential principle of compass navigation. Let’s start with the four basic features you’ll find on most underwater compasses. 

 

Lubber line: the lubber line indicates your travel direction and runs straight down the center of your compass. It may be imaginary you draw the line mentally through the 0 degree and 180 degree marks. Or, the compass may have an actual line there or along one side of the compass. Any time you navigate with your compass. you have the lubber line pointed where you’re headed, or you’re using the compass to point the lubber line in the direction you should head. If you’re navigating with your compass and you’re not traveling along the lubber line, then … well. then you’re not actually navigating with your compass. Magnetic north needle: In the center of the compass is a needle (or an arrow printed on a disk) that is free to rotate inside the compass. This magnetic north needle, or compass needle, always points to magnetic north. By doing this, it creates an angle with the lubber line that you use to maintain a straight line as you swim. 

 

Bezel: Most underwater compasses have a rotating bezel. To set the compass, align the two small, parallel index marks on the bezel over the compass needle. These help you maintain a straight direction of travel.Heading References: Most underwater compasses numbers so you can record your heading (your direction of travel as measured in degrees from magnetic north). 

 

A few compasses have only general markings for north, south, east and west: you can use these for general navigation but for precision want one with degree headings. Electronic compasses provide the same information and functions, but use digital readouts. See the manufacturer instructions if you’re using an underwater electronic compass.

 

To navigate with a compass, the first step is to hold it correctly. Hold the compass so the lubber line aligns with the centerline of your body. If you wear your compass on your wrist, hold the arm without the compass straight out and grasp it with your opposite hand near or above the elbow, solidly placing the compass rides in front of you. If your compass rides in front, hold the console squarely in front with both hands. When using your compass, keep the lubber line aligned with Your body center line. Otherwise you won’t swim along the lubber line, and you’ll throw off your navigation even if you use the compass correctly other respects. 

 

To navigate a straight line, simply point the lubber line in the direction you want to go and align your body with the lubber line. Hold the compass reasonably level (otherwise the needle locks) and allow the needle to settle. Next, turn the bezel so the index marks align over the compass needle. (For swimming in a straight line, you don’t need to use heading degrees or north, south, east and west.) Lubber line leans to navigate a straight line, point the lubber line in the direction you want to go and allow the needle to settle. Next, turn the bezel so the index marks align over the compass needle. Travel along the lubber line keeping the needle within the marks. Now, swim along the lubber line (your desired direction of travel) while keeping the compass the HA the needle within the index marks. If the needle begins to leave the index marks, you’re turning off course. Adjust your direction so the needle stays within the index marks. 

 

Remember that the compass needle never really turns it always points to magnetic north. If the needle appears to have moved, it’s you who moved from the course. For Bali scuba diving in many environments, you’ll use the compass to swim out, then set a reciprocal heading to return to the boat or shore at the end of the Bali scuba dive. With a little practice, ,you’ll find compass navigation not only useful. but a fun challenge it’s the kind of skill that’s pretty easy to get down the basic you need, but takes a lot of practice and experience to attain the to-the-metre/foot precision that sets the master apart from the average.

 

 

It doesn’t make much sense to form a Bali scuba dive plan not to use it. You have more fun and fewer problems when your Bali scuba dive follows what you agreed upon. You’ll get what you want out of the Bali scuba dive when you and your buddy understand what to do when because you discussed it before the Bali scuba dive. By following a solid Bali scuba dive plan, you’re much less likely to run into any hazards, and more likely to handle then if you do. A Bali scuba dive plan does not have to be complicated nor does it need to take a lot of work, nor does it need to be inflexible. It can be very simple, take only a couple of minutes to discuss, and offer plenty of options depending on what you find underwater but you should follow it.

 

Get the most out of Bali scuba diving by planning your Bali scuba dive with your buddy, and then Bali scuba diving the plan. This is important for your safety and fun- no one can plan a Bali scuba dive and follow that for you- you and your buddy have to do it.

 

Chances are, you’ll make a lot of Bali scuba dives from boats. In some areas, it takes a Bali scuba dive boat to reach the sites he best clarity, the most aquatic life, and the interesting reefs.

Boats take you to Bali scuba dive sites inaccessible from shore, and in some places you reach most Bali scuba dive sites only by boat. Boat Bali scuba diving eliminates tiresome surface swims, dealing with surf and hikes to and from the water. Beyond all this, it’s boating with other scuba divers. You get to know new people, sight see on the way to and from the Bali scuba dive generally enjoy the whole experience.

Before heading out a boat, spend some time getting ready:

 

  • Inspect your equipment for potential problems,
  • Fill your tank and pack spare parts.
  • Once you’re out there, missing or broken gear often means you miss the Bali scuba dive.
  • Having spares can make you immensely popular with other scuba divers who need something but don’t have their own spares.
  • Be sure you’ve marked your stuff so it doesn’t get confused with someone else’s on a crowded boat.
  • Use a Bali scuba dive bag for carrying your equipment to and from the boat.
  • Pack your equipment so what you need first ends up on top.
  • Take ample warm/dry clothing, as appropriate for the region.

Be prepared because in many places, it’s common to experience abrupt weather changes out on the water.

Prepare yourself as well as your equipment. Be well rested, especially if the boat departs early.

It’s best to avoid excessive alcohol the night before, and avoid foods you don’t digest well. It’s important to be well hydrated with lots of water or juices. Make sure you have your ticket, money, lunch and warm clothes, etc. All rounded up as necessary.

 

If you’ve not spent much time around boats, you’re going to want to learn some new terms so that when the captain says, “the head is forward, on the portside o’ the galley and aft o’ the wheelhouse, mate,” you don’t respond, “Eh?” The bow is the front of the boat, And the rear is called the stern.

Going toward the bow is going forward, and aft is toward the stern. The port side of the boat is the boat’s left when you stand facing the bow.

The starboard side is the right.( to help you remember, port and left have the same number of letters. Think of left port).

When the wind blows across the boat, the wind comes from the windward side and the side away is the leeward ( pronounced looard in many areas) side.

A boat’s bathroom is called the head, and the kitchen is called the gallery. The steering wheel is the helm, which is found in the bridge. The bridge is often in the wheelhouse, a cabin with all the controls that make the boat do what the captain wants (most of the time).

 

On charter boats, you may find areas off limits, or just off limits when you’re wet. Check with the crew or captain before entering the bridge, galley or sleeping area when you’re wet.

Try to arrive at least a half hour before departure. This gives you time the check with the crew, sign in and secure your Bali scuba dive equipment, on some character boats, you’ll also pick out a bund or a cabin space to stow your dry clothes and personal items.

 

You need to think about seasickness before it happens.

 

Seasickness is like sunburn in that it’s one of those things that makes you absolutely miserable, but you can take precautions. So if you may be prone to seasickness, avoid it by taking seasickness medication ( as advised by your physician ) before you get underway and avoid greasy foods prior to boarding.

Underway, stay in the fresh air on deck and out of the boat exhaust. It helps to stay in the center of the boat, which moves the least, and watch the horizon. Try to stay busy setting up your equipment so you’ll be prepared to enter the water as soon as possible. Reading and intricate tasks tend to promote seasickness, so leave the needlepoint at home. If you do get sick, go to the leeward side (wind at your back) and have someone come with you (no joke – to hold on to you for safety when you lean over the side. Stay out of the head (that’s about the worst place to go), and try to relax. To avoid seasickness, many scuba divers take seasickness medication if it might be a problem – check with your physician or pharmacist if you need a recommendation on the type that’s best for you.

 

The ride to the Bali scuba dive site can take minutes or hours, depending on where you are. Once the boat anchors at the site, Bali scuba diving begins only after the captain or crew give the okay. Typically a crew member brief’s you about Bali scuba dive procedures, which you’ll need to listen to closely. Pay attention to crew briefings, because they include important information you’ll use to plan your Bali scuba dive with your buddy, such as current strength and direction, the depth, emergency procedures and similar information. If you fail to pay attention to crew briefings, you can put yourself and your buddy at risk.

As you gear up, be careful with heavy equipment. On a pitching boat, it’s easy to lose your balance and hurt yourself, and dropping tanks or weight belts can damage the deck. When putting on your scuba unit, get someone to assist you and help you stay balanced. Many Bali scuba dive boats have benches and racks that make it easy to slip into your gear while seated. To don a weight belt, step over it rather than swing it around your waist. Be careful walking with equipment on. Equipment changes your center of gravity and makes your balance awkward, all the more difficult if the deck is slippery and the boat rolls. If necessary, hang onto railings and handholds as you move, and don’t try to walk with fins on. Put your fins on immediately before entering the water, using a rail or your buddy for balance.

 

When you and your buddy are ready to enter, check with the Bali scuba dive master or a crew member, and enter where they tell you to. The most common entry when you Bali scuba dive from large Bali scuba dive boats is the When you and your buddy are ready to enter, check with the Bali scuba dive master or a crew member, and enter where they tell you to.

 

The most common entry when you Bali scuba dive from large Bali scuba dive boats is the giant stride, but from smaller vessels you may use a controlled seated entry or a back roll. If you have a physical challenge that requires a different entry, let the crew know so they can accommodate you. Be certain the entry area is clear before entering. If you’re using a camera or other accessory, don’t enter the water with it. Have someone hand it to you after you get in. Note the current direction so you can swim into it on the bottom. and then descend, preferably along the anchor line or other descent line to the bottom.

 

On the bottom, get your bearings and ,win into the current. Plan your Bali scuba dive and navigate so you finish near the boat with enough air so you’ll be back on board with 20-40 bar/300 to 600 psi left in your tank. If there’s a current, you’ll find it easiest to ascend the anchor line, which keeps you from being carried past the boat. If you hear the boat’s underwater recall during the Bali scuba dive, remember to surface and look toward the boat for instructions, or as they direct during the briefing. At the end of the Bali scuba dive, you usually surface in front of the boat, keeping one hand over your head for protection. When you break the surface, establish buoyancy and signal to the Bali scuba dive master or crew that you’re okay. Avoid swimming back to the boat immediately below the surface because if there are other boats underway in the area, they will not be able to see you. If you’re at the surface away from the boat, watch out for boat traffic. You can use an inflatable signal tube, whistle or other signalling device to attract the attention of the Bali scuba dive boat, or of other boats that might not see you. It’s not very likely, but if ,you surface and the boat’s not in sight, stay calm and get buoyant. The boat may have slipped anchor or the captain may have needed to leave for an emergency. Relax and wait to be picked up. If the shore and a reasonable exit area are close, slowly swim in that direction. When you reach the boat’s exit area, don’t crowd it.

 

Exit one at a time and stay clear scuba divers climbing the ladder ahead of you because they can fall, drop a weight belt or have a tank slip loose, which you wouldn’t enjoy one bit if you’re directly beneath. Hand accessory equipment up before climbing the ladder, but keep all your other equipment in place until you’re aboard (mask on, breathing from snorkel or regulator, etc). You’ll usually need to take off your fins, but don’t do so until you have a firm hold of the boat, because a current can carry you away from it and without your fins . Once aboard, clear your stuff off the deck. A cluttered deck can cause people to trip, and stuff gets broken when scuba divers step on it. Stow your gear directly into your equipment bag as you remove it, secure your tank and store accessories appropriately. After the last Bali scuba dive, try to get your gear packed before the boat gets underway, since it’s usually easier to pack at anchor. On a charter boat, pay attention to the crew’s directions regarding pre and post Bali scuba dive roll calls, equipment stowage and other instructions. On your first few a boat Bali scuba dives, watch experienced boat scuba divers and learn from them.

 

Boat Bali scuba diving procedures are mostly common sense and not particularly difficult and they allow boat Bali scuba dives to rank among your best Bali scuba dive experiences. The ride to the Bali scuba dive site can take minutes or hours, depending on where you are. Once the boat anchors at the site, Bali scuba diving begins only after the captain or crew give the okay. Typically a crew member brief’s you about Bali scuba dive procedures, which you’ll need to listen to closely. Pay attention to crew briefings, because they include important information you’ll use to plan your Bali scuba dive with your buddy, such as current strength and direction, the depth, emergency procedures and similar information. If you fail to pay attention to crew briefings, you can put yourself and your buddy at risk. If you’re using a camera or other accessory, don’t enter the water with it. Have someone hand it to you after you get in. Note the current direction so you can swim into it on the bottom. and then descend, preferably along the anchor line or other descent line to the bottom. On the bottom, get your bearings and ,win into the current.

 

Plan your Bali scuba dive and navigate so you finish near the boat with enough air so you’ll be back on board with 20-40 bar/300 to 600 psi left in your tank. If there’s a current, you’ll find it easiest to ascend the anchor line, which keeps you from being carried past the boat.

Bali scuba Dive health also includes taking care of yourself in other ways – including keeping your skills and knowledge sharp. The best way to do this is to be an active scuba diver – Bali scuba dive – this helps maintain your Bali scuba dive skills. Take part in new underwater adventures, like Bali scuba dive travel and special activities and courses. You’ll have fun while developing new Bali scuba Bali scuba dive skills and improving and refining those you have. If possible, swim with fins in a pool regularly to keep your leg muscles toned – and it’s a good aerobic exercise. Practice the skills you learn in this course frequently.

 

If you’re away from Bali scuba diving for awhile, no sweat – it happens to all scuba divers once in a while – refresh your Bali scuba dive skills and knowledge. Review this manual, the Open Water scuba Diver Video and practice your skills with a PADI Bali Scuba Divemaster, Assistant Instructor or Instructor. The PADI Scuba Review program refreshes your knowledge and skills, and it’s quick and easy – one evening or a morning is usually all you need.

 

Tune up, Bali scuba dive in

 

If you’re away from Bali scuba diving for awhile, no sweat – it happens to all scuba divers once in a while – refresh your Bali scuba dive skills and knowledge. The PADI Scuba Review program refreshes your knowledge and skills, and it’s quick and easy – one evening or a morning is usually all you need.

 

If you’re a woman, you have some special health considerations, including menstruation and pregnancy. As long as menstruation doesn’t normally keep you from participating in other active recreations, there’s no reason why it should keep you from Bali scuba diving either. Bali scuba Diving while pregnant is another story. There’s not much known about how Bali scuba diving may affect a developing fetus. It’s generally agreed that it’s not worth the risk; so discontinue Bali scuba diving while pregnant, or if you’re trying to become pregnant you’re breathing now. The filling process filters the air to remove chemical and particle impurities, and it removes most of the moisture, which can damage scuba tanks and cause other problems.

 

The first possible problem involved with breathing air under pressure (underwater) involves contaminates that aren’t supposed to be there. This problem is rare, but possible.

 

Compressors for filling scuba tanks (breathing air) use special filters and separators to keep contaminants such as carbon monoxide or oil vapor out of your breathing air. This is important because pressure proportionately increases the effects of a gas you breathe, so that traces of contaminants that would be harmless at the surface can be toxic underwater.

 

Contaminated air generally results from a problem with the compressor or its filtering system, and as a result often tastes and smells bad – but it can also be odorless and tasteless. A scuba diver breathing contaminated air may experience headaches, nausea, dizziness and even unconsciousness. A scuba diver afflicted by contaminated air may have cherry-red lips and fingernail beds, though this may be hard to see underwater.

 

Give a person suspected of breathing contaminated air fresh air, and administer oxygen if available. In severe cases, rescue breathing may be necessary. The scuba diver should have medical attention in Breathe easy all cases. 

 

Fortunately, as mentioned, contaminated air is rare as long as you buy your air from reputable air sources, such as professional Bali scuba dive stores. These stores recognize the seriousness of contaminated air and have their air checked frequently to be sure of its quality. Don’t fill your tank from a compressor or other air source that isn’t intended specifically as a breathing air compressor system; for example, you wouldn’t use industrial air systems such as those used for filling tires or powering sandblasters. To avoid contaminated air, be certain you have your tanks filled only with pure, dry, filtered compressed air from a reputable air station.

 

Even though you have a proper air source fill your tank, if the air tastes or smells bad, don’t use it. If you feel ill or get a headache during a Bali scuba dive, end the Bali scuba dive immediately. If you suspect you may have contaminated air in your tank for any reason, save the air for analysis and don’t Bali scuba dive with it.

There’s another way to suffer contaminated air poisoning, and that’s by breathing exhaust fumes aboard a bout. Try to stay out of boat’s exhaust and in fresh air.

 

Because you need oxygen to live, it may seem strange that oxygen can become toxic if you breathe it under pressure. But in fact, you can get “too much of a good thing” – if you were to fill your scuba tank with pure oxygen instead of compressed air, you could suffer oxygen poisoning in water as shallow as 6 metres/20 feet. This is why you should never have your tank filled with pure oxygen.

 

The 21 percent oxygen in compressed air can also be toxic, but not until you descend well past the recommended maximum limits for recreational Bali scuba diving. So when Bali scuba diving with air within recreational depth limits, oxygen toxicity isn’t an issue.

 

Recreational scuba divers sometimes use enriched air (also known as “enriched air nitrox” or “nitrox”), which has more. than 21 percent oxygen. Enriched air has some advantages regarding how long you can stay underwater at a given depth, but you can have oxygen problems using it within recreational depth limits. For this reason, enriched air Bali scuba diving requires special training and some special equipment requirements (to avoid combustion problems possible with high oxygen levels); reputable Bali scuba dive centers will not, provide enriched air without proof of enriched air certification.

 

So, to avoid oxygen toxicity problems, don’t have (or try to have) your cylinder filled with enriched air, unless you’re properly trained and certified. Don’t use a cylinder that’s marked as being an enriched air cylinder, (again, unless you’re properly trained and certified).

 

Nitrogen Narcosis

 

Although nitrogen has no direct influence at the surface, that changes as you breathe it under sure. Underwater, at depths approaching 30metres/100 feet, nitrogen has a noticeable intoxicating effect that intensities as you go deeper.

 

A scuba diver affected by nitrogen narcosis behaves as you might expect someone to behave if intoxicated. Narcosis impairs the scuba diver’s judgment and coordination, and may create a false sense of security, cause disregard for safety and other foolish behavior. Nitrogen narcosis can make a scuba diver feel anxious or uncomfortable, which can lead to panic or other poor decisions.

Signs and symptoms include paralysis, shock, weakness, dizziness. numbness, tingling, difficulty breathing, and varying degrees of joint and limb pain. In the most severe cases, unconsciousness and death can result.

Decompression sickness can also manifest subtly. Symptoms can include a mild to moderate dull ache, usually but not necessarily in the joints, mild to moderate tingling or numbness, usually, but not necessarily, in the limbs. Weakness and prolonged fatigue may result from DC’S. Decompression sickness symptoms can occur together or individually, occur anywhere in the body, and may be accompanied by lightheadedness.

 

Symptoms usually occur anywhere from 15 minutes to 12 hours after a dive, though they can occur later. They tend to come on gradually and persist, though they can be intermittent. Regardless of the severity of the symptoms. consider all cases of decompression sickness serious.

 

Lung overexpansion injuries and decompression sickness can produce very similar signs and symptoms, even though they result from two different causes (holding the breath versus exceeding time and depth limits). The dive medical community lumps DCS and lung overexpansion in, jury under the clinical term decompression illness (DCI). They do this because the first aid and treatment are identical for both, and there’s no need to distinguish between them when assisting a diver. 

 

If a diver has symptoms of decompression illness, or isn’t sure, the diver should discontinue diving, seek medical attention and consult a dive physician. As you learned in Section Three, some areas have special diver emergency services that provide consultation and coordinate with local medical services to assist the diver.

 

The dive medical community lumps DCS and lung overexpansion injury under the clinical term decompression illness (DCI). They do this because the first aid and treatment are identical for both, and there’s no need to distinguish between them when assisting a diver.

 

First aid for decompression illness includes having the diver lie down and breathe oxygen. Contact local emergency medical care, and the local diver emergency service (if available – or the closest recompression chamber). Your instructor will tell you the emergency contact information for your local diving areas.

 

Signs and symptoms of DCS include limb and joint pain, tingling, numbness, paralysis, shock, weakness, dizziness, difficulty breathing, unconsciousness and death. Decompression illness (DCI) is a clinical term for both decompression sickness and lung overexpansion injuries.A diver with DCI should receive emergency oxygen, rescue breathing and CPR if necessary, and will require treatment in a recompression chamber.

 

Almost all cases of decompression illness require treatment in a recompression chamber, during which the diver is put back under pressure to help the body absorb bubbles in the tissues. This treatment usually takes several hours, requires the use of pure oxygen, and often drug therapies. Don’t allow a diver suspected of having decompression illness to go back underwater. Attempts to treat a diver underwater typically end with worsened symptom and disastrous results, and only delay getting to proper treatment.

 

Although decompression sickness is a serious condition, both painful and potentially life threatening, it is avoided by properly following the established safe time and depth limits of dive tables and dive computers. Lung overexpansion injuries are also serious, painful and potentially life-threatening, but avoided by breathing continuously and never holding your breath. Additionally important in preventing decompression illness (both DCS and lung overexpansion injuries) is a slow, safe ascent rate with a stop for safety at 5 metres/15 feet. You’ll learn more about this stop in Section Five.

 

BREATHING DEEP 

 

The first possible problem involved with breathing air under pressure (underwater) involves contaminates that aren’t supposed to be there. This problem is rare, but possible.

 

Contaminated air generally results from a problem with the compressor or its filtering system, and as a result often tastes and smells bad – but it can also be odorless and tasteless. A scuba diver breathing contaminated air may experience headaches, nausea, dizziness and even unconsciousness. A scuba diver afflicted by contaminated air may have cherry-red lips and fingernail beds, though this may be hard to see underwater.

 

Give a person suspected of breathing contaminated air fresh air, and administer oxygen if available. In severe cases, rescue breathing may be necessary. The scuba diver should have medical attention in Breathe easy all cases. 

 

Fortunately, as mentioned, contaminated air is rare as long as you buy your air from reputable air sources, such as professional Bali scuba dive stores. These stores recognize the seriousness of contaminated air and have their air checked frequently to be sure of its quality. Don’t fill your tank from a compressor or other air source that isn’t intended specifically as a breathing air compressor system; for example, you wouldn’t use industrial air systems such as those used for filling tires or powering sandblasters. To avoid contaminated air, be certain you have your tanks filled only with pure, dry, filtered compressed air from a reputable air station.

 

Even though you have a proper air source fill your tank, if the air tastes or smells bad, don’t use it. If you feel ill or get a headache during a Bali scuba dive, end the Bali scuba dive immediately. If you suspect you may have contaminated air in your tank for any reason, save the air for analysis and don’t Bali scuba dive with it.

 

There’s another way to suffer contaminated air poisoning, and that’s by breathing exhaust fumes aboard a bout. Try to stay out of boat’s exhaust and in fresh air.

Because you need oxygen to live, it may seem strange that oxygen can become toxic if you breathe it under pressure. But in fact, you can get “too much of a good thing” – if you were to fill your scuba tank with pure oxygen instead of compressed air, you could suffer oxygen poisoning in water as shallow as 6 metres/20 feet. This is why you should never have your tank filled with pure oxygen.

 

BREATHING DEEP 2

 

The 21 percent oxygen in compressed air can also be toxic, but not until you descend well past the recommended maximum limits for recreational Bali scuba diving. So when Bali scuba diving with air within recreational depth limits, oxygen toxicity isn’t an issue.

 

Recreational scuba divers sometimes use enriched air (also known as “enriched air nitrox” or “nitrox”), which has more. than 21 percent oxygen. Enriched air has some advantages regarding how long you can stay underwater at a given depth, but you can have oxygen problems using it within recreational depth limits. For this reason, enriched air Bali scuba diving requires special training and some special equipment requirements (to avoid combustion problems possible with high oxygen levels); reputable Bali scuba dive centers will not, provide enriched air without proof of enriched air certification.

 

So, to avoid oxygen toxicity problems, don’t have (or try to have) your cylinder filled with enriched air, unless you’re properly trained and certified. Don’t use a cylinder that’s marked as being an enriched air cylinder, (again, unless you’re properly trained and certified).

 

BREATHING DEEP 3

 

Signs and symptoms include paralysis, shock, weakness, dizziness. numbness, tingling, difficulty breathing, and varying degrees of joint and limb pain. In the most severe cases, unconsciousness and death can result.

 

Decompression sickness can also manifest subtly. Symptoms can include a mild to moderate dull ache, usually but not necessarily in the joints, mild to moderate tingling or numbness, usually, but not necessarily, in the limbs. Weakness and prolonged fatigue may result from DC’S. Decompression sickness symptoms can occur together or individually, occur anywhere in the body, and may be accompanied by lightheadedness.

 

Symptoms usually occur anywhere from 15 minutes to 12 hours after a dive, though they can occur later. They tend to come on gradually and persist, though they can be intermittent. Regardless of the severity of the symptoms. consider all cases of decompression sickness serious.

Lung overexpansion injuries and decompression sickness can produce very similar signs and symptoms, even though they result from two different causes (holding the breath versus exceeding time and depth limits). The dive medical community lumps DCS and lung overexpansion in, jury under the clinical term decompression illness (DCI). They do this because the first aid and treatment are identical for both, and there’s no need to distinguish between them when assisting a diver. 

 

BREATHING DEEP 4

 

If a diver has symptoms of decompression illness, or isn’t sure, the diver should discontinue diving, seek medical attention and consult a dive physician. As you learned in Section Three, some areas have special diver emergency services that provide consultation and coordinate with local medical services to assist the diver.

 

The dive medical community lumps DCS and lung overexpansion injury under the clinical term decompression illness (DCI). They do this because the first aid and treatment are identical for both, and there’s no need to distinguish between them when assisting a diver.

 

First aid for decompression illness includes having the diver lie down and breathe oxygen. Contact local emergency medical care, and the local diver emergency service (if available – or the closest recompression chamber). Your instructor will tell you the emergency contact information for your local diving areas.

Signs and symptoms of DCS include limb and joint pain, tingling, numbness, paralysis, shock, weakness, dizziness, difficulty breathing, unconsciousness and death. Decompression illness (DCI) is a clinical term for both decompression sickness and lung overexpansion injuries.A diver with DCI should receive emergency oxygen, rescue breathing and CPR if necessary, and will require treatment in a recompression chamber.

 

BREATHING DEEP 5

 

Almost all cases of decompression illness require treatment in a recompression chamber, during which the diver is put back under pressure to help the body absorb bubbles in the tissues. This treatment usually takes several hours, requires the use of pure oxygen, and often drug therapies. Don’t allow a diver suspected of having decompression illness to go back underwater. Attempts to treat a diver underwater typically end with worsened symptom and disastrous results, and only delay getting to proper treatment.

 

Although decompression sickness is a serious condition, both painful and potentially life threatening, it is avoided by properly following the established safe time and depth limits of dive tables and dive computers. Lung overexpansion injuries are also serious, painful and potentially life-threatening, but avoided by breathing continuously and never holding your breath. Additionally important in preventing decompression illness (both DCS and lung overexpansion injuries) is a slow, safe ascent rate with a stop for safety at 5 metres/15 feet. You’ll learn more about this stop in Section Five.

In Section Four you learned the basics for diving with dive tables and dive computers, but there are some additional procedures that you need to know about. These involve procedures for enhanced safety, for accidentally exceeding your no-stop limit, and for diving at altitude or ascending to altitude after diving.

Safety Stop 
Although as a recreational diver you plan only no decompression dives that allow you to ascend directly and continuously to the surface, most of the time you’ll want to make a safety stop for added conservatism. A safety up provides extra time for your body to eliminate nitrogen, and it gives you a moment to stabilize and control your ascent tie before continuing to the surface.
 


To make a safety stop, you stop your ascent the 3 to 6 metre/10 to 20 foot range usually at 5 metres/15 feet for three minutes or longer. It’s easiest to do this holding into or on an ascending slope, but you can also hover in midwater where appropriate.

You plan your dive so you can make a safety stop and still reach the surface with 20-40 bar/300-500 psi or more air remaining in your cylinder.

You may make a safety stop at the end of any dive, and in fact, you should consider it a standard practice on virtually all your dives. However, consider a safety stop required if:

  • Your dive has been to 30 metres/100 feet or deeper.
  •  
  • Your pressure group at the end of the dive is within three pressure groups of the no decompression limit on the RDP.
  •  
  • You reach any limit on the Recreational Dive planner or your dive computer. With a dive computer, this would be if your computer shows zero NDL time remaining at any point in the dive.

When using the RDP, in these circumstances the safety stop is considered required.
You may wonder whether you need to account I for safety stop time when using the RDP. You don’t need to add safety stop to your bottom time when using the Recreational Dive Planner. A computer will process safety stop time automatically.

Keep in mind that, although you should make safety stops a regular procedure for all your dives, it’s optional under circumstances such as very low air (due to unforeseen circumstances during the dive), assisting another diver, or rising bad weather make it more important to get to the surface immediately.

Emergency Decompression
You plan your dive as a no decompression dive but emergency decompression stop to allow your body to eliminate nitrogen; without this stop, you face an unacceptable of DCS when you surface.

You exceed a no decompression limit or an adjusted no decompression limit by more than five minutes, 5 metre/15 foot stop for no less than 15 minutes is strongly urged, air supply permitting, you must remain out of the water at least 24 hours before diving again, due to the excess nitrogen in your body.

When making a emergency as close to 5 metres/15 feet as possible. If you don’t have enough air for the emergency decompression stop, stay as long as you can, saving enough air to surface and exit safely. Discontinue diving for no less than 24 hours. Breathe pure oxygen if available and monitor yourself for decompression sickness symptoms.

Using a dive computer: If you exceed your computer’s no decompression limits, it will go into decompression mode, which guides you through the emergency decompression top. Computers differ in how they function in decompression mode. So consult the manufacturer’s literature for the specifics for your computer. Many will show emergency decompression stops at 3 metres/10 feet instead of 5 metres/15 feet: stopping at 5 metres/15 feet until the computer says you can surface will still work, though, because the computer calculates the stop based on your actual depth. It may take a bit 1 on; than the time indicated for a stop at 3 metres/10 feet.

It’s not recommended that you make a repetitive after a dive requiring emergency decompression. Emergency decompression stops differ from safety stops in that an emergency decompression stop must be made or there is an excessive risk of decompression sickness, and that is an emergency procedure.

Altitude Diving. Thinking back to Section One, you recall that as you ascend in air, pressure decreases. Dive tables and most computers give you their no decompression limits based on a dive ending at sea level: if you’re under less pressure at altitude, nitrogen comes out of solution more following a given dive, making decompression sickness more likely.

You can use the Recreational Dive Planner for diving to altitudes as high as 300 metres/1000 feet. Above 300 metres/1000 feet, you need special conversion tables and procedures to account for the decreased atmospheric pressure or you can run an unacceptable risk of DCI.
 


The procedures for diving at altitude with a dive computer vary with the computer. Some automatically compensate for altitude, where as with others You’ll need to tell the computer your altitude. There are a few older models that you can’t use at altitude.

You also need to think about lowered atmospheric pressure if you plan to fly after diving. While this concern is similar to altitude diving, it’s not identical. When you dive at altitude, you dive and return to reduced atmospheric pressure. When you fly after diving, you dive and return to normal atmospheric pressure, then expose yourself to further pressure reduction.

The dive medical community offers the following general recommendations for flying after diving. whether you’re using the RDP. another table or a dive computer:

For Dives within the No-Decompression Limits. 

  • Single Dives – A minimum pre interval of’ 12 hours is suggested.
  •  
  • Repetitive Dives and/or Multiday Dives A minimum preflight surface interval of 18 hours in suggested For Dives Requiring Decompression Stop.
  •  
  • A minimum preflight surface interval of 18 hours in suggested.

Flying after diving recommendations change over time. These are current at the time of printing. Always check with your instructor to stay apprised of the most current ones.

For Dives Requiring Decompression Stops
As with dive tables and computers, no flaying diving after diving recommendation can guarantee that decompression sickness will never occur. These guidelines represent the best estimate presently known for a conservative. safe surface interval for the vast majority of divers. There always may be an occasional diver whose physiological makeup or special dive circum tances result in decompression sickness despite following the recommendations.

You’re responsible for your own dive safety and behavior. Flying after diving recommendations change as we learn more about how pressure changes affect the body: stay current and follow the most current recommendations.

There are currently no recommendations for driving to altitude after diving, so the most prudent practice is to be conservative. The longer you wait before you go, the lower your risk. You may check with a local dive center, resort or instructor to see if divers in the area follow a particular recommended or protocol.

If you get cold or exercise a lot during a dive, you may end your dive with more excess nitrogen in your body than calculated by your dive table or computer. When using the RDP for planning a dive in cold water or under conditions that may be more strenuous than usualy, plan our dive as though the depth were 4 metres/10 feet deeper than it actually is.

How you handle this with a dive computer depends on the computer. A few sophisticated models track the water temperature and your breathing rate and automatically readjust to more conservative no stop times when necessary. For others, you can set the computer to be more conservative by using the altitude setting and setting it to an altitude higher than, you actually are, or by connecting the dive computer to a personal computer (requires special hardware and software). However. you have to make these setting before the dive. If you can t set your computer to be more conservative

1.When using the RDP. you need to use special dive procedures above what altitude?
2 The minimum recommended surface interval for flying after diving is
3.Using the RDP. under cold and strenuous conditions you plan your dive as though:

a. It were at altitude.
b. It were 4 m/10 ft deeper than actual.
c. It were 4 m/10 ft shallower than actual.
d. None of the above.

Computer Procedures 2

You may make a safety stop at the end of any dive, and in fact, you should consider it a standard practice on virtually all your dives. However, consider a safety stop required if:

  • Your dive has been to 30 metres/100 feet or deeper.
  •  
  • Your pressure group at the end of the dive is within three pressure groups of the no decompression limit on the RDP.
  •  
  • You reach any limit on the Recreational Dive planner or your dive computer. With a dive computer, this would be if your computer shows zero NDL time remaining at any point in the dive.

When using the RDP, in these circumstances the safety stop is considered required.
You may wonder whether you need to account I for safety stop time when using the RDP. You don’t need to add safety stop to your bottom time when using the Recreational Dive Planner. A computer will process safety stop time automatically.

Keep in mind that, although you should make safety stops a regular procedure for all your dives, it’s optional under circumstances such as very low air (due to unforeseen circumstances during the dive), assisting another diver, or rising bad weather make it more important to get to the surface immediately.

Emergency Decompression
You plan your dive as a no decompression dive but emergency decompression stop to allow your body to eliminate nitrogen; without this stop, you face an unacceptable of DCS when you surface.

 

Computer Procedures 3

You exceed a no decompression limit or an adjusted no decompression limit by more than five minutes, 5 metre/15 foot stop for no less than 15 minutes is strongly urged, air supply permitting, you must remain out of the water at least 24 hours before diving again, due to the excess nitrogen in your body.

When making a emergency as close to 5 metres/15 feet as possible. If you don’t have enough air for the emergency decompression stop, stay as long as you can, saving enough air to surface and exit safely. Discontinue diving for no less than 24 hours. Breathe pure oxygen if available and monitor yourself for decompression sickness symptoms.

Using a dive computer: If you exceed your computer’s no decompression limits, it will go into decompression mode, which guides you through the emergency decompression top. Computers differ in how they function in decompression mode. So consult the manufacturer’s literature for the specifics for your computer. Many will show emergency decompression stops at 3 metres/10 feet instead of 5 metres/15 feet: stopping at 5 metres/15 feet until the computer says you can surface will still work, though, because the computer calculates the stop based on your actual depth. It may take a bit 1 on; than the time indicated for a stop at 3 metres/10 feet.

It’s not recommended that you make a repetitive after a dive requiring emergency decompression. Emergency decompression stops differ from safety stops in that an emergency decompression stop must be made or there is an excessive risk of decompression sickness, and that is an emergency procedure.

 

Computer Procedures 4

Altitude Diving. Thinking back to Section One, you recall that as you ascend in air, pressure decreases. Dive tables and most computers give you their no decompression limits based on a dive ending at sea level: if you’re under less pressure at altitude, nitrogen comes out of solution more following a given dive, making decompression sickness more likely.

You can use the Recreational Dive Planner for diving to altitudes as high as 300 metres/1000 feet. Above 300 metres/1000 feet, you need special conversion tables and procedures to account for the decreased atmospheric pressure or you can run an unacceptable risk of DCI.
 


The procedures for diving at altitude with a dive computer vary with the computer. Some automatically compensate for altitude, where as with others You’ll need to tell the computer your altitude. There are a few older models that you can’t use at altitude.

You also need to think about lowered atmospheric pressure if you plan to fly after diving. While this concern is similar to altitude diving, it’s not identical. When you dive at altitude, you dive and return to reduced atmospheric pressure. When you fly after diving, you dive and return to normal atmospheric pressure, then expose yourself to further pressure reduction.

 

Computer Procedures 5

The dive medical community offers the following general recommendations for flying after diving. whether you’re using the RDP. another table or a dive computer:

For Dives within the No-Decompression Limits. 

  • Single Dives – A minimum pre interval of’ 12 hours is suggested.
  •  
  • Repetitive Dives and/or Multiday Dives A minimum preflight surface interval of 18 hours in suggested For Dives Requiring Decompression Stop.
  •  
  • A minimum preflight surface interval of 18 hours in suggested.

Flying after diving recommendations change over time. These are current at the time of printing. Always check with your instructor to stay apprised of the most current ones.

For Dives Requiring Decompression Stops
As with dive tables and computers, no flaying diving after diving recommendation can guarantee that decompression sickness will never occur. These guidelines represent the best estimate presently known for a conservative. safe surface interval for the vast majority of divers. There always may be an occasional diver whose physiological makeup or special dive circum tances result in decompression sickness despite following the recommendations.

You’re responsible for your own dive safety and behavior. Flying after diving recommendations change as we learn more about how pressure changes affect the body: stay current and follow the most current recommendations.

 

Computer Procedures 6

There are currently no recommendations for driving to altitude after diving, so the most prudent practice is to be conservative. The longer you wait before you go, the lower your risk. You may check with a local dive center, resort or instructor to see if divers in the area follow a particular recommended or protocol.

If you get cold or exercise a lot during a dive, you may end your dive with more excess nitrogen in your body than calculated by your dive table or computer. When using the RDP for planning a dive in cold water or under conditions that may be more strenuous than usualy, plan our dive as though the depth were 4 metres/10 feet deeper than it actually is.

How you handle this with a dive computer depends on the computer. A few sophisticated models track the water temperature and your breathing rate and automatically readjust to more conservative no stop times when necessary. For others, you can set the computer to be more conservative by using the altitude setting and setting it to an altitude higher than, you actually are, or by connecting the dive computer to a personal computer (requires special hardware and software). However. you have to make these setting before the dive. If you can t set your computer to be more conservative

1.When using the RDP. you need to use special dive procedures above what altitude?
2 The minimum recommended surface interval for flying after diving is
3.Using the RDP. under cold and strenuous conditions you plan your dive as though:

a. It were at altitude.
b. It were 4 m/10 ft deeper than actual.
c. It were 4 m/10 ft shallower than actual.
d. None of the above.

Although this is a scuba class, you’ll start this confined water dive skin diving without scuba – but you’ll be into your scuba gear and back to breathing underwater soon.

But what does skin diving have to do with learning scuba diving? Actually, quite a bit, because scuba diving often takes you into circumstances where it might be better to snorkel or skin dive. For instance, you may find some very shallow sites where there’s no advantage to scuba. Or, you may want to tour a bit with your buddy to see if it’s worth scuba diving – you can swim much more quickly as a skin diver. Sometimes you may want to dive a site, but the scuba weight and bulk get in the way, such as if diving from a small boat with maximum passengers.

For skin diving, You’ll use all your equipment except your scuba unit, and you’ll either use less weight so you’re positively buoyant, or a snorkeling vest . Your instructor may have you set up your scuba gear while you’re gearing up for skin diving so it’s ready to use later.

Since you don’t use scuba for skin diving, you hold your breath to leave the surface (or not, but you’ll be back in a big hurry ). Most people have trouble holding their breath for more than a minute, especially when they’re doing something that takes lots of energy like swimming underwater.

To hold your breath longer, you can use hyperventilation, which temporarily suppresses your urge to breathe. Intentional hyperventilation is nothing more than taking three or four deep, rapid breaths before a breath-hold skin dive. After hyperventilating, it takes longer for you to feel the urge to breathe, so you can stay down longer

Confined Water Dive Four
Skill Requirement 

Here’s what you’ll be able to do when you successfully complete Confined Water Dive Four:
Note: Skin Diving Skills may be completed on Confined Water Dives Two, Three, Four or Five.

Skin Diving Skills
1. Demonstrate the use of proper hyperventilation when skin diving.
2. Dive vertically headfirst from the surface in water too deep to stand up in (without excessive splashing or arm movement).
3. Clear and breathe from a snorkel upon ascent.

Scuba Skills
4. Swim underwater without a mask for a distance of not less than 15 metres/50 feet, and replace and clear the mask underwater.
5. Using buoyancy control only, hover without kicking or sculling for at least 30 seconds.
6. Buddy breathe sharing a single air source for a distance of at least 1E metres/50 feet underwater both as a donor and a receiver (optional skill).

Hyperventilation works because the urge to breathe comes from rising carbon dioxide in your body, not from low oxygen. The three on four breaths drop your body carbon dioxide levels below normal, so when you hold your breath it takes longer for the levels to rise high enough m trigger breathing.

If you’ve never tried it, you may be amazed how Well hyperventilation works – but it’s important that you limit it to only three or four breaths. Excessive hyperventilation – more than three or four breaths – can be dangerous because you can lower your carbon dioxide levels so far that your body runs out of oxygen before you get the urge to breathe. This would lead to sudden unconsciousness – with –out warning – and drowning. Don’t hyperventilate excessively.

Besides limiting hyperventilation to three or four deep, rapid breaths, rest a minute or so between breath-hold dives so your body can restore its normal oxygen level. If you feel fatigued, dizzy or light-headed, stop diving down. Float, relax and rest.

You may be familiar with unintentional hyperventilation, which results from anxiety or -tress, and causes someone to breathe rapidly Old shallowly. This leads to respiratory difficulty, and contributes to the overexertion and air starvation problems you learned about earlier. By using proper diving techniques, you’ll normally avoid this, but if you find yourself reacting to stress and anxiety with rapid, shallow breathing, force yourself to stop, breathe slowly and relax.

And even better: The Advanced Open Water program Adventure Dive happens to be the first dive of many PADI specialty courses. So if you try, say, a dry suit Adventure Dive (by itself or as part of an Advanced Open Water Diver course) and decide that you just have to have a dry suit and finish the whole course, you’ve already got the first course dive under your weight belt (at the instructor’s discretion).

It works the other way, too. If you know now that you love, say, underwater photography and go straight into the Underwater Photographer course (which is a really great program, by the way . . . but we digress, the first dive from the course counts toward your Advanced. Open Water certification (at the instructor’s discretion). Discover Local Divingh, not a course, and you already know about this from the discussion on getting a local orientation when diving in a new area. The Discover Local Diving Good things to know. The Rescue Diver course refines and further develops your accident prevention and handling skills, plus teaches you to manage an emergency. Experience provides a single, supervised open-water experience to some place new, with a briefing covering local conditions, hazards and points of interest, as well as an orientation to special procedures and techniques used in the area. During the dive, you’ll see some of the interesting points, as well as the potential hazards to avoid. It’s a good way to plug into the local dive community when you go some place new, and find out what activities suit the local environment. Meet people, go places and do things.

Scuba Review. Ditto, you already learned about this, but it’s worth a reminder: If you go several months or longer without diving (it happens, best laid plans notwithstanding), you’ll want to brush up your dive skills and knowledge. In Scuba Review, you complete some short self-study (with a workbook or CD-ROM) and review it with a PADI Divemaster. Assistant Instructor or Instructor. Then you make a confined water dive to put the polish back on your skills. Usually take, only a couple hours – easy way to limber up mentally and physically for diving.

Rescue Diver Course. Serious fun. You learn a pile of skills, most of which you hope you’ll never use. It’s a demanding and challenging course. You’ll love it. Virtually all who take this course cite it as one of the most rewarding courses they’ve taken. Though challenging, you don’t have to he an athlete – you learn rescue techniques suited to your physical characteristics and fitness level – what works for You.

During the Rescue Diver course you learn to refine and further develop your accident prevention and handling skills, plus learn to manage an emergency if you’re even faced with one. Good things to know.

Emergency First Response. Like the Rescue Diver course, in the Emergency First Response program you learn skills you hope you never need, but will be glad you did if you ever do. Emergency First Response combines CPR and first aid into a single course, teaching you (at a lay level i the same emergency protocols used by paramedics and doctors. Your non diving friends can take this course with you, and it can make a big difference – even when you’re not diving.

Master Scuba Diver. The PADI Master Scuba Diver rating is the highest nonprofessional rating in recreational diving. This prestigious rating means you’ve developed skills and experience in a broad number of dive activities and environments. What makes a Master Scuba Diver? Earn the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver, the PADI Rescue Diver and five PADI Specialty Diver certifications.

Turn Pro. At some point, you may decide to make diving a full or part time profession. For a lot of people, it beats working at a desk, and if you love working at a desk, you can still turn pro. Does all this seem too far off`? No worries – you don’t need to look this far ahead yet. But this will give you some idea how Your instructor and the instructor’s staff got where they are.

To hover, first adjust for neutral buoyancy on the bottom (you’ll probably use the. fin pivot). Once you’re neutrally buoyant, push gently off the bottom just about a metre/a couple of feet. Then, without holding your breath. Use lung volume to maintain a stationary position in midswater. 

If you begin to rise a bit, decrease your buoyancy by breathing With your lungs somewhat less full. If you begin to sink a bit, increase your buoyancy by breathing with your lungs a little fuller. It helps to have a stationary visual reference to judge whether you’re rising or sinking, so you may want to do this near a pool side’ next to line, or anything else that gives you this reference. You cant fold your legs under you, stretch out, whatever work. 

As you gain experience diving, you’ll subconsciously and automatically adjust your buoyancy so you remain off the bottom can stop and hover without even thinking about, it. It only takes a little practice, and you’ll find hovering easy.

In Section Three, you learned about the options you have in the unlikely event you run out of air, and you’ve practiced your two primary options, using an alternate air source or making a controlled emergency swimming ascent. Another option you may practice (at your instructor’s discretion ) is buddy breathing, which requires you and your buddy to share a single second stage.

Buddy breathing is a less desirable option than the other options because it is a more complex skill. which increases the possibility of error. By remaining close to Your buddy and making certain you and your buddy ahi-avs equip s ourselves with alternate air sources, you shouldn’t ever need to buddy breathe. However, it remains a practice in a few area; so your instructor may have you learn it.

To initiate buddy breathing, swim to your buddy and signal “out of air” and “share air.” Your buddy – should respond by passing you the second stage and allowing you to take two breaths. Your buddy will not let go, but will hold the second stage by the hose near the mouthpiece without covering the purge button (so you can use it if you need to).

When buddy breathing, remember not to hold your breath and to blow bubbles, when the regulator isn’t in your mouth. Your buddy takes two breaths and returns it to you for two breaths.

As you begin buddy breathing, you and your buddy grasp each other face-to-face for stability. Your buddy holds the second stage with the right hand and grasps your BCD or tank straps with the left. You grasp your buddy similarly with your right hand and guide the second stage to your mouth with your left

After your two breaths, your buddy the second stage back. Remember not to hold your breath and to make an aaaahhh sound, blowing bubbles, when the regulator isn’t in your mouth. Your buddy takes two breaths and returns it to you for to breaths. Continue the exchange back and forth until you and your buddy establish a natural, relaxed rhythm.

Once you’ve got the rhythm set, you and your buddy would ascend to the surface, buddy breathing all the way. Your instructor may have you practice buddy breathing first in a stationary position. and then swimming along the bottom to simulate how long it would take to ascend while buddy breathing.

 

Confined Water Dive Preview 2

Hyperventilation works because the urge to breathe comes from rising carbon dioxide in your body, not from low oxygen. The three on four breaths drop your body carbon dioxide levels below normal, so when you hold your breath it takes longer for the levels to rise high enough m trigger breathing.

If you’ve never tried it, you may be amazed how Well hyperventilation works – but it’s important that you limit it to only three or four breaths. Excessive hyperventilation – more than three or four breaths – can be dangerous because you can lower your carbon dioxide levels so far that your body runs out of oxygen before you get the urge to breathe. This would lead to sudden unconsciousness – with –out warning – and drowning. Don’t hyperventilate excessively.

Besides limiting hyperventilation to three or four deep, rapid breaths, rest a minute or so between breath-hold dives so your body can restore its normal oxygen level. If you feel fatigued, dizzy or light-headed, stop diving down. Float, relax and rest.

You may be familiar with unintentional hyperventilation, which results from anxiety or -tress, and causes someone to breathe rapidly Old shallowly. This leads to respiratory difficulty, and contributes to the overexertion and air starvation problems you learned about earlier. By using proper diving techniques, you’ll normally avoid this, but if you find yourself reacting to stress and anxiety with rapid, shallow breathing, force yourself to stop, breathe slowly and relax.

 

Confined Water Dive Preview 3

And even better: The Advanced Open Water program Adventure Dive happens to be the first dive of many PADI specialty courses. So if you try, say, a dry suit Adventure Dive (by itself or as part of an Advanced Open Water Diver course) and decide that you just have to have a dry suit and finish the whole course, you’ve already got the first course dive under your weight belt (at the instructor’s discretion).

It works the other way, too. If you know now that you love, say, underwater photography and go straight into the Underwater Photographer course (which is a really great program, by the way . . . but we digress, the first dive from the course counts toward your Advanced. Open Water certification (at the instructor’s discretion). Discover Local Divingh, not a course, and you already know about this from the discussion on getting a local orientation when diving in a new area. The Discover Local Diving Good things to know. The Rescue Diver course refines and further develops your accident prevention and handling skills, plus teaches you to manage an emergency. Experience provides a single, supervised open-water experience to some place new, with a briefing covering local conditions, hazards and points of interest, as well as an orientation to special procedures and techniques used in the area. During the dive, you’ll see some of the interesting points, as well as the potential hazards to avoid. It’s a good way to plug into the local dive community when you go some place new, and find out what activities suit the local environment. Meet people, go places and do things.

Scuba Review. Ditto, you already learned about this, but it’s worth a reminder: If you go several months or longer without diving (it happens, best laid plans notwithstanding), you’ll want to brush up your dive skills and knowledge. In Scuba Review, you complete some short self-study (with a workbook or CD-ROM) and review it with a PADI Divemaster. Assistant Instructor or Instructor. Then you make a confined water dive to put the polish back on your skills. Usually take, only a couple hours – easy way to limber up mentally and physically for diving.

 

Confined Water Dive Preview 4

Rescue Diver Course. Serious fun. You learn a pile of skills, most of which you hope you’ll never use. It’s a demanding and challenging course. You’ll love it. Virtually all who take this course cite it as one of the most rewarding courses they’ve taken. Though challenging, you don’t have to he an athlete – you learn rescue techniques suited to your physical characteristics and fitness level – what works for You.

During the Rescue Diver course you learn to refine and further develop your accident prevention and handling skills, plus learn to manage an emergency if you’re even faced with one. Good things to know.

Emergency First Response. Like the Rescue Diver course, in the Emergency First Response program you learn skills you hope you never need, but will be glad you did if you ever do. Emergency First Response combines CPR and first aid into a single course, teaching you (at a lay level i the same emergency protocols used by paramedics and doctors. Your non diving friends can take this course with you, and it can make a big difference – even when you’re not diving.

Master Scuba Diver. The PADI Master Scuba Diver rating is the highest nonprofessional rating in recreational diving. This prestigious rating means you’ve developed skills and experience in a broad number of dive activities and environments. What makes a Master Scuba Diver? Earn the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver, the PADI Rescue Diver and five PADI Specialty Diver certifications.

Turn Pro. At some point, you may decide to make diving a full or part time profession. For a lot of people, it beats working at a desk, and if you love working at a desk, you can still turn pro. Does all this seem too far off`? No worries – you don’t need to look this far ahead yet. But this will give you some idea how Your instructor and the instructor’s staff got where they are.

 

Confined Water Dive Preview 5

To hover, first adjust for neutral buoyancy on the bottom (you’ll probably use the. fin pivot). Once you’re neutrally buoyant, push gently off the bottom just about a metre/a couple of feet. Then, without holding your breath. Use lung volume to maintain a stationary position in midswater. 

If you begin to rise a bit, decrease your buoyancy by breathing With your lungs somewhat less full. If you begin to sink a bit, increase your buoyancy by breathing with your lungs a little fuller. It helps to have a stationary visual reference to judge whether you’re rising or sinking, so you may want to do this near a pool side’ next to line, or anything else that gives you this reference. You cant fold your legs under you, stretch out, whatever work. 

As you gain experience diving, you’ll subconsciously and automatically adjust your buoyancy so you remain off the bottom can stop and hover without even thinking about, it. It only takes a little practice, and you’ll find hovering easy.

In Section Three, you learned about the options you have in the unlikely event you run out of air, and you’ve practiced your two primary options, using an alternate air source or making a controlled emergency swimming ascent. Another option you may practice (at your instructor’s discretion ) is buddy breathing, which requires you and your buddy to share a single second stage.

Buddy breathing is a less desirable option than the other options because it is a more complex skill. which increases the possibility of error. By remaining close to Your buddy and making certain you and your buddy ahi-avs equip s ourselves with alternate air sources, you shouldn’t ever need to buddy breathe. However, it remains a practice in a few area; so your instructor may have you learn it.

To initiate buddy breathing, swim to your buddy and signal “out of air” and “share air.” Your buddy – should respond by passing you the second stage and allowing you to take two breaths. Your buddy will not let go, but will hold the second stage by the hose near the mouthpiece without covering the purge button (so you can use it if you need to).

 

Confined Water Dive Preview 6

When buddy breathing, remember not to hold your breath and to blow bubbles, when the regulator isn’t in your mouth. Your buddy takes two breaths and returns it to you for two breaths.

As you begin buddy breathing, you and your buddy grasp each other face-to-face for stability. Your buddy holds the second stage with the right hand and grasps your BCD or tank straps with the left. You grasp your buddy similarly with your right hand and guide the second stage to your mouth with your left

After your two breaths, your buddy the second stage back. Remember not to hold your breath and to make an aaaahhh sound, blowing bubbles, when the regulator isn’t in your mouth. Your buddy takes two breaths and returns it to you for to breaths. Continue the exchange back and forth until you and your buddy establish a natural, relaxed rhythm.

Once you’ve got the rhythm set, you and your buddy would ascend to the surface, buddy breathing all the way. Your instructor may have you practice buddy breathing first in a stationary position. and then swimming along the bottom to simulate how long it would take to ascend while buddy breathing.

Next, join a dive club. Your PADI Dive Center or Resort probably has one or knows of one, which is probably a local chapter of the PADI Diving Society (which you’ll also want to join). Most of these organizations coordinate activities, dives, events and other dive-related fun – and You’ll meet other people to dive with. Don’t worry that you’re new to diving – every dive group has members at all experience levels and they plan activities accordingly.

Go Places
A great way to meet people is to go on a dive trip organized by your PADI Dive Center or Resort. Plus, it takes you diving – which is what you’re trying to accomplish. Although an exotic dive destination has the most appeal, don’t let time and money limit your thinking. Most dive operations offer local dive adventures close to home – and you may be surprised just how much fun you can have.

Do Things
Diving isn’t just about swimming around underwater sightseeing. Diving should be personal. It’s about gaining the skills you need to visit new dive sites you want to see. It’s about having the gear you want so that diving takes you on the adventures that you think worth while; so that it presents you with the challenges that you think deserving, and so that diving grows with you and always rewards you.

Only you can say whether this means taking on artistic challenges like underwater photography and videography, skill challenges like navigating or finding and recovering lost objects, or technical challenges like deep diving or enriched air diving. But recognize that scuba diving isn’t an activity, but a door through which you reach hundreds of underwater pursuits. Find those that ignite your heart, and you’ll experience that which eludes many people – a burning passion for what you do.

 

Continuing your Dive Adventure 2

Looking at a flow chart for the PADI System of diver education. one might conclude that its purpose is to take you to Master Scuba Diver, or to PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor. But that’s not it at all.

Becoming a PADI Master Scuba Diver, or Divemaster, or Instructor. or whatever isn’t the purpose of the system, but a result of achieving its purpose. The purpose of the PADI System is to provide the means by which you 1. meet dive people, 2. go places diving, and 3. do things underwater. Sound familiar?

Continuing your education beyond Open Water Diver has some tangible benefits – doing so introduces you to specialized dive activities. It gets you acquainted with diving in different conditions. and it may get you diving in a wide variety of aquatic environments. But again, these all lead back to the primary purpose of helping you get out of diving what you trot into diving for.

You’ll find that other PADI courses differ from this course. Many – especially those that focus on adventure activities – take only a day or two, and they re mostly diving, with little or no classroom work.

Regardless. by continuing to learn, you meet and get to know other divers. You visit new dive sites (perhaps including dive travel), and you get to try new activities and to develop new skills, helping you find the aspects of diving that mean the most to you. Related to this, you see what types of equipment best suit your preferences and interests.

 

Continuing your Dive Adventure 3

And even better: The Advanced Open Water program Adventure Dive happens to be the first dive of many PADI specialty courses. So if you try, say, a dry suit Adventure Dive (by itself or as part of an Advanced Open Water Diver course) and decide that you just have to have a dry suit and finish the whole course, you’ve already got the first course dive under your weight belt (at the instructor’s discretion).

It works the other way, too. If you know now that you love, say, underwater photography and go straight into the Underwater Photographer course (which is a really great program, by the way . . . but we digress, the first dive from the course counts toward your Advanced. Open Water certification (at the instructor’s discretion). Discover Local Divingh, not a course, and you already know about this from the discussion on getting a local orientation when diving in a new area. The Discover Local Diving Good things to know. The Rescue Diver course refines and further develops your accident prevention and handling skills, plus teaches you to manage an emergency. Experience provides a single, supervised open-water experience to some place new, with a briefing covering local conditions, hazards and points of interest, as well as an orientation to special procedures and techniques used in the area. During the dive, you’ll see some of the interesting points, as well as the potential hazards to avoid. It’s a good way to plug into the local dive community when you go some place new, and find out what activities suit the local environment. Meet people, go places and do things.

Scuba Review. Ditto, you already learned about this, but it’s worth a reminder: If you go several months or longer without diving (it happens, best laid plans notwithstanding), you’ll want to brush up your dive skills and knowledge. In Scuba Review, you complete some short self-study (with a workbook or CD-ROM) and review it with a PADI Divemaster. Assistant Instructor or Instructor. Then you make a confined water dive to put the polish back on your skills. Usually take, only a couple hours – easy way to limber up mentally and physically for diving.

 

Continuing your Dive Adventure 4

Rescue Diver Course. Serious fun. You learn a pile of skills, most of which you hope you’ll never use. It’s a demanding and challenging course. You’ll love it. Virtually all who take this course cite it as one of the most rewarding courses they’ve taken. Though challenging, you don’t have to he an athlete – you learn rescue techniques suited to your physical characteristics and fitness level – what works for You.

During the Rescue Diver course you learn to refine and further develop your accident prevention and handling skills, plus learn to manage an emergency if you’re even faced with one. Good things to know.

Emergency First Response. Like the Rescue Diver course, in the Emergency First Response program you learn skills you hope you never need, but will be glad you did if you ever do. Emergency First Response combines CPR and first aid into a single course, teaching you (at a lay level i the same emergency protocols used by paramedics and doctors. Your non diving friends can take this course with you, and it can make a big difference – even when you’re not diving.

Master Scuba Diver. The PADI Master Scuba Diver rating is the highest nonprofessional rating in recreational diving. This prestigious rating means you’ve developed skills and experience in a broad number of dive activities and environments. What makes a Master Scuba Diver? Earn the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver, the PADI Rescue Diver and five PADI Specialty Diver certifications.

Turn Pro. At some point, you may decide to make diving a full or part time profession. For a lot of people, it beats working at a desk, and if you love working at a desk, you can still turn pro. Does all this seem too far off`? No worries – you don’t need to look this far ahead yet. But this will give you some idea how Your instructor and the instructor’s staff got where they are.

 

Continuing your Dive Adventure 5

After Rescue Diver, your next step is PADI Divemaster. During the Divemaster course, you sharpen your dive skills to demonstration quality, develop a professional-level understanding of dive theory, learn to organize and conduct diving activities, and learn how to assist with divers in training.

After Divemaster comes the PADI Assistant Instructor course. The Assistant Instructor course begins developing the basic knowledge and skills needed to teach diving. Next, you attend a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor Course (OWSI). In this instructor-training course, you learn how to teach scuba diving. After completing the OWSI course, You must pass a two-day.

Some Hard Truths About Diving
Before everything begins to sound too perfect, walk with open eyes about diving and being a diver:

You’ll have dive experience you don’t like. Count on it. The conditions will not be good, you won’t like the boat, you’ll choose a buddy you don’t like, you won’t like the area ,you’re visiting, or you’ll find you don’t like the particular activity you’re trying. But guess what: If’ you play golf, you’ll slice the ball off the course. If you ride horses, one will step on your foot. If you ski, you’ll fling yourself face first into a snow bank. If you play chess, some whiz kid will checkmate you in 12 moves.

Everything worth doing has its less-than-love-it moments. Don’t let a bad day of diving ruin diving for you. Learn from it and do it differently next time. Pursue what you want out of diving and progress in diving at your rate, and you’ll have many, many great dive memories for each one you’d rather forget.

 

Continuing your Dive Adventure 6

It’s better to have your own gear. It really is. Divers who own their own equipment dive more often and dive more comfortably. They avoid the hassles of fitting into rental gear every time they go.

This isn’t to say you need to drop everything and go get set up head-to-toe in gear at this moment ( but if you want to, go for it) . However, keep it in mind und begin investing as your budget and dive activity can accommodate.

You get out of diving what you put into it. You’ve just read about a lot of different things you can do underwater, and there are others not mentioned. if you ever find yourself bored it h diving, you need m look closely at what you want out of diving and what you’re doing. If you’re not satisfied, you need to turn your diving in a new direction. There are people who have made more than 1000 dives over more than 30 years – and they’re still meeting new people. Going new places. Doing new things. Only you can make yourself reach for what’s new and exciting in diving.

The approprite flag depends on where and under what conditions you dive. A dive flag is either a red rectangle with a white diagonal stripe or a blue and white double – tailed pennant (Alpha flag), and large enough to see from at least 100 metres/yards away. In some instances you may be required to fly both flags, particulary when boat diving.

When diving from a boat, place the dive flag on a mast, radio antenna or other elevated location for maximum visibility. If you’re diving from shore or have a long swim from the boat, you’ll fly the flag.From a surface float. In this case, your flag should have a wire to extend it into the “flying” position, and should ride at least a metre/three feet high so boaters can see it in choppy water.

Local laws regulate how close you have to stay to your flag. and how far boaters and skiers must stay- away. For areas where no laws stipulate these distances, the rule of thumb is for you to stay within 15 metres/50 feet of your flag and for boats to stay at least 30 to 60 metres/100 to 200 feet away. Also, don’t display the dive flag unless divers are actually in the water.Yourinstructor will All you in on local dive flag laws.

Unfortunately, many boaters don’t know what a dive flag means, and sometimes they can’t see your flag (like when they’re coming from directly up wind so that it files directly away from them). These boaters may come much closer to you and your flag than they should, so don’t assume that just because you have a flag that all boats will stay away. Even with a flag, always ascend cautiously, and if a boat sounds particularly loud and close, stay down, deep enough to be safe until it clears the area. Remember, too, that as a diver, you have an obligation to remain in the area with the flag. You can’t complain about a boat zooming directly overhead if you’re 300 metres/1000 feet from your flag.

As mentioned in Section Two, be careful of boat traffic. In addition to staying near the flag, you may want consider carrying an inflatable signal tube that allows you to alert boats to Your presence in the water.

You can get various types and sizes. with the typical collecting bag made from mesh nylon, so it drains quickly, and a wire frame to hold the top open or closed. Most have a lock so they stay shut.

When you’re using a collecting bag, keep in mind that once it’s full and heavy, you carry it in one hand so you can give it the heave-ho if necessary in an emergency. Don’t attach it to yourself or your equipment. When you’re not diving, you can use a large collecting bag for carrying your mask, fins and snorkel.

Besides their usefulness for diving in the dark at night, you’ll find underwater lights have uses in broad daylight. A compact underwater light is useful for illuminating and restoring color at depth (remember that water absorbs color), as well as for looking into dark cracks and crevices (so you don’t reach in without checking whether anyone’s home).

An underwater light is both watertight and pressure-proof; you can take an ordinary flashlight.

There’s nothing quite so frustrating as missing an entire day’s diving because of something inane like breaking a fin strap and having no spare. It doesn’t take much effort or investment to make a spare parts kit and with it, you minimize the probability of missing dives due to minor problems like a broken fin strap

You make a spare parts kit by collecting those sundries that war out, break or vanish at the worst time, and storing them, with a few basic tools, in a moisture proof container in your equipment bag. At first you won’t need much room for this, but as you again experience, you’ll add to it never throwing anything away until it’s basically and equipment locker you need a fork lift to move. But that won’t happen for a few years, so here are a few suggestions to get you started :

  1. Mask strap tip : fabric/Velcro type straps fit virtually all masks, making them “universal”,
  2. Fin strap tip : when one goes, the other’s close behind. Carry two and replace them at the same time,
  3. O-rings tip : different tank valves take slightly different sizes ; carry and assortment,
  4. Silicone lubricant tip : carry silicone grease, but spray and use it very sparingly according to the manufacturer or the particular equipment. A small container will last a decade or more, or until you lose it,
  5. Snorkel keeper,
  6. Cement for exposure suit repairs tip : different suits require different cements,
  7. Waterproof plastic tape,
  8. Quick release buckle, 
  9.  Pocket knife, 
  10. Pliers tip : even better, a plier-tool, like the leatherman tool,
  11. Adjustanle wrench, 
  12. Spare sunglasses, sunscreen ( will sealed so it doesn’t goop up your kit), motion sickness medication. ( these aren’t spare parts, but things you really don’t want to be without so make them a permanent part of your kit).

Your instructor can suggest other items for your spare parts kits.

The certification you earn in this course indicates that you’re a qualified scuba diver. It’s sort of like a diploma it indicates that you’ve successfully completed the education. But if you were interviewing for a job, a prospective employer would want to see what you’ve done with your education a resume listing your experiences since you received your diploma. In diving, your ” resume” is your log book.

Your log shows a dive master or charter crew how frequently you dive, what type of dives you’ve made, the environments that you have experience with and so on diver training, and when diving at resorts or on boats. It helps you assess how your experiences contribute to your diving ability and the dive opportunities open to you. And, you can check it once in a while to see how far the dive stories you tell depart from reality.

The three primary reasons to have a log book are to remember you dive experiences, to document your history as a diver, and to note specific details about a dive site for future references. Make a habit of filling out your instructor or buddy sign it ( your instructor will sign your log book after each open water dive you make in You can choose from log books ranging from simple ones with room for descriptions, to ones such as the PADI adventure log with more features such as space to record training, equipment purchases and maintenance, air use, dive site maps, personal information, and more.

 

Dive Accesories 2

You can get various types and sizes. with the typical collecting bag made from mesh nylon, so it drains quickly, and a wire frame to hold the top open or closed. Most have a lock so they stay shut.

When you’re using a collecting bag, keep in mind that once it’s full and heavy, you carry it in one hand so you can give it the heave-ho if necessary in an emergency. Don’t attach it to yourself or your equipment. When you’re not diving, you can use a large collecting bag for carrying your mask, fins and snorkel.

Besides their usefulness for diving in the dark at night, you’ll find underwater lights have uses in broad daylight. A compact underwater light is useful for illuminating and restoring color at depth (remember that water absorbs color), as well as for looking into dark cracks and crevices (so you don’t reach in without checking whether anyone’s home).

An underwater light is both watertight and pressure-proof; you can take an ordinary flashlight.

 

Dive Accesories 3

There’s nothing quite so frustrating as missing an entire day’s diving because of something inane like breaking a fin strap and having no spare. It doesn’t take much effort or investment to make a spare parts kit and with it, you minimize the probability of missing dives due to minor problems like a broken fin strap

You make a spare parts kit by collecting those sundries that war out, break or vanish at the worst time, and storing them, with a few basic tools, in a moisture proof container in your equipment bag. At first you won’t need much room for this, but as you again experience, you’ll add to it never throwing anything away until it’s basically and equipment locker you need a fork lift to move. But that won’t happen for a few years, so here are a few suggestions to get you started :

  1. Mask strap tip : fabric/Velcro type straps fit virtually all masks, making them “universal”,
  2. Fin strap tip : when one goes, the other’s close behind. Carry two and replace them at the same time,
  3. O-rings tip : different tank valves take slightly different sizes ; carry and assortment,
  4. Silicone lubricant tip : carry silicone grease, but spray and use it very sparingly according to the manufacturer or the particular equipment. A small container will last a decade or more, or until you lose it,
  5. Snorkel keeper,
  6. Cement for exposure suit repairs tip : different suits require different cements,
  7. Waterproof plastic tape,
  8. Quick release buckle, 
  9.  Pocket knife, 
  10. Pliers tip : even better, a plier-tool, like the leatherman tool,
  11. Adjustanle wrench, 
  12. Spare sunglasses, sunscreen ( will sealed so it doesn’t goop up your kit), motion sickness medication. ( these aren’t spare parts, but things you really don’t want to be without so make them a permanent part of your kit).


Your instructor can suggest other items for your spare parts kits.

 

Dive Accesories 4

The certification you earn in this course indicates that you’re a qualified scuba diver. It’s sort of like a diploma it indicates that you’ve successfully completed the education. But if you were interviewing for a job, a prospective employer would want to see what you’ve done with your education a resume listing your experiences since you received your diploma. In diving, your ” resume” is your log book.

Your log shows a dive master or charter crew how frequently you dive, what type of dives you’ve made, the environments that you have experience with and so on diver training, and when diving at resorts or on boats. It helps you assess how your experiences contribute to your diving ability and the dive opportunities open to you. And, you can check it once in a while to see how far the dive stories you tell depart from reality.

The three primary reasons to have a log book are to remember you dive experiences, to document your history as a diver, and to note specific details about a dive site for future references. Make a habit of filling out your instructor or buddy sign it ( your instructor will sign your log book after each open water dive you make in You can choose from log books ranging from simple ones with room for descriptions, to ones such as the PADI adventure log with more features such as space to record training, equipment purchases and maintenance, air use, dive site maps, personal information, and more.

Now let’s start looking at what you’ll be doing during your open water dives. Depending on the course location, schedule, your preferences and other logistical concerns, you may have already made Open Water Dive 1, or may make Open Water Dives 1 and 2 after you successfully complete Confined Water Dive Three. You’ll do this ifyou’re completing only the Scuba Diver certification. Alternatively, you may make all your open-water dives after completing all five confined water dives.

During your open water dives, you’ll apply and further develop the skills you’ve learned during the confined water dives, and you’ll start picking up some new skills that you can’t practically learn in a confined water environment. Skills in both categories may include : 1) evaluating dive conditions. 2 ) gearing up for a dive in open water, 3) making entries and exits through mild surf, 4) swimming on the surface and 5) descending/ascending in open water.

Evaluating Dive Conditions
When you arrive at a dive site, you want 16 know whether the diving conditions are within your training and experience limitations. As you learned earlier, you normally check out the point unpacking and putting everything on only to find conditions don’t warrant diving. Your instructor will show you how to account for considerations like weather, water temperature, bottom composition, waves, depth, local area hazards and anything else that has direct bearing on the dive. You’ll also preplan your entry and exit points and procedures as part of this evaluation.

Decide whether you can make the dive safely. Remember: This is your decision – you are ultimately responsible for your safety, and only you can make the final decision to dive. If You don’t feel confident about it, your instructor may have you check your alternate site for acceptable conditions. If conditions aren’t good, it’s best to go do something else – diving in poor or potentially hazardous conditions isn’t fun. You’re doing this for fun, adventure and challenge – not to expose yourself to unreasonable risks.

In the discussion on exposure suits you learned ways to avoid overheating in your exposure suit as you get ready to dive. During your open water dives, you’ll put this kno«-ledge to use. Poor timing and sequence when you kit up can cause you to become somewhat frustrated, tired, breathless and overheated.Ideally, you want to suit up so that you and your buddy finish simultaneously. This never happens, of course, but you can time it so you’re both ready at about the same time while staying cool and rested, ready to enter the water.First, it helps if you checked and paeked your equipment properly before the dive. Start putting everything together, but take your time and rest as needed. In hot weather, cool otf m the water you need to. Pace yourself with your buddy, but be as self-reliant and independent as possible, so you become familiar with your equipment. As a suggestion, prepare and don your equipment like this:

Finally, just before entering the water (boat diving) or in waist deep water (shore diving) put on your fins; fins should’ve been preadjusted.Suiting up requires thought at first, but after one or two dives, You’ll be more familiar with your equipment and it becomes second nature.

Entry techniques vary from place to place according to the dive environment. If a dive site requires entry techniques that you don’t know, always get an orientation to them so you can enter (and exit) safely. If your open water dives will be from shore, your instructor will teach you the proper entries for the dive site.

The following practices are generally recommended for most scuba entries from shore:
1. Have everything on before entering the water. Depending on the environment and conditions, you may have your fins on when you enter the water about waist to chest deep.

2. As a ganeral rule, breathe from your regulator until yo’re floating in deeper water. This way, if you stumble, you can still breathe, even if you end up with your BCD, switch to your snorkel to conserve air if you have a surface swim before descending.

3. If you’re walking in with your fins on, walk backward or sideways and shuffle your feet. This helps you find obstructions or holes, scares away bottom-dwelling animals that could sting if you stepped on one, and helps minimize the chances of falling. In some environments, however, you may want to avoid shuffling your feet because it will disturb the visibility. Your instructor will teach you which is appropriate for your open water dives.

4. Swim as soon as the water is deep enough. Swimming is often easier than wading.

Surf Entries and Exits
Surf entries and exits require special training and shouldn’t be attempted unless you have had that training. It is possible, though, that you’ll enter and exit through mild surf as part of your open water dives. Here are a few simple general procedures.

First, watch the waves and note where they’re breaking and how often. Do this during suiting up so you’ll be familiar with the surf’s pattern when you’re ready to enter. As you enter the water breathe from your regulator. If wearing fins, walk backward looking over your shoulder to watch where You’re going and to see on coming waves. Your buddy should be next to you, and if’ ou re towing a float, it should be between you and the shore so a wave can t push it into you. The idea is to get through the surf zone as quickly as possible.

You’ve been simulating the right habits during your confined water cl ives, Lt’ here are a few reminders:
1. Swirn with your BCD about tzalli Pull so you wont LA4 08 struggle to stay at the surface. Don’t over inflate your BCD, though because it creates unnecessary drag,

2. Pace yourself. Swim at a steady, comfortable pace. Surface swimming tires you more than swimming underwater, so don’t try to go as fast.

3. Streamline yourself as much as possible. Keep your arms at your sides.

4. Use your snorkel, breathing cautiously to avoid choking on water that may enter the snorkel due to small waves.

5. Keep your fins below the surface when kicking. You may wish to swim on your side or back if conditions allow.

6. Check your location, direction and your buddy every 30 seconds or so. Stay close to your buddy, maintaining physical contact if necessary. Use something on shore, or an anchored boat. for orientation. D on’t wait until you reach the bottom. Add small amounts of air as you descend so you reach the bottom neutrally buoyant. This minimizes kicking and stirring up the bottom.

For control and reference, it’s a good practice to use a line during descents, or follow the bottom contour. If you descend along the anchor line of a boat. hold the line at arm’s length so it won’t. strike you as the boat pitches up and down in the waves. Let your arm swing up and down with the line like a shock absorber so it doesn’t jerk you up and down.

You want to descend steadily minimal effort, while maintaining neutral buovancv so can stop your descent at any time. Maintain buddy contact and oriented so you have Your sense of direction when voive reach thcehottom don’t wait until you reach the bottom. Add small amounts of air as you descend so you reach the bottom neutrally buoyant. This minimizes kicking and stirring up the bottom.

 

General Open Water Skills 2

In the discussion on exposure suits you learned ways to avoid overheating in your exposure suit as you get ready to dive. During your open water dives, you’ll put this kno«-ledge to use. Poor timing and sequence when you kit up can cause you to become somewhat frustrated, tired, breathless and overheated.Ideally, you want to suit up so that you and your buddy finish simultaneously. This never happens, of course, but you can time it so you’re both ready at about the same time while staying cool and rested, ready to enter the water.First, it helps if you checked and paeked your equipment properly before the dive. Start putting everything together, but take your time and rest as needed. In hot weather, cool otf m the water you need to. Pace yourself with your buddy, but be as self-reliant and independent as possible, so you become familiar with your equipment. As a suggestion, prepare and don your equipment like this:

Finally, just before entering the water (boat diving) or in waist deep water (shore diving) put on your fins; fins should’ve been preadjusted.Suiting up requires thought at first, but after one or two dives, You’ll be more familiar with your equipment and it becomes second nature.

 

General Open Water Skills 3

Entry techniques vary from place to place according to the dive environment. If a dive site requires entry techniques that you don’t know, always get an orientation to them so you can enter (and exit) safely. If your open water dives will be from shore, your instructor will teach you the proper entries for the dive site.

The following practices are generally recommended for most scuba entries from shore:
1. Have everything on before entering the water. Depending on the environment and conditions, you may have your fins on when you enter the water about waist to chest deep.

2. As a ganeral rule, breathe from your regulator until yo’re floating in deeper water. This way, if you stumble, you can still breathe, even if you end up with your BCD, switch to your snorkel to conserve air if you have a surface swim before descending.

3. If you’re walking in with your fins on, walk backward or sideways and shuffle your feet. This helps you find obstructions or holes, scares away bottom-dwelling animals that could sting if you stepped on one, and helps minimize the chances of falling. In some environments, however, you may want to avoid shuffling your feet because it will disturb the visibility. Your instructor will teach you which is appropriate for your open water dives.

4. Swim as soon as the water is deep enough. Swimming is often easier than wading.

Surf Entries and Exits
Surf entries and exits require special training and shouldn’t be attempted unless you have had that training. It is possible, though, that you’ll enter and exit through mild surf as part of your open water dives. Here are a few simple general procedures.

First, watch the waves and note where they’re breaking and how often. Do this during suiting up so you’ll be familiar with the surf’s pattern when you’re ready to enter. As you enter the water breathe from your regulator. If wearing fins, walk backward looking over your shoulder to watch where You’re going and to see on coming waves. Your buddy should be next to you, and if’ ou re towing a float, it should be between you and the shore so a wave can t push it into you. The idea is to get through the surf zone as quickly as possible.

 

General Open Water Skills 4

You’ve been simulating the right habits during your confined water cl ives, Lt’ here are a few reminders:
1. Swirn with your BCD about tzalli Pull so you wont LA4 08 struggle to stay at the surface. Don’t over inflate your BCD, though because it creates unnecessary drag,

2. Pace yourself. Swim at a steady, comfortable pace. Surface swimming tires you more than swimming underwater, so don’t try to go as fast.

3. Streamline yourself as much as possible. Keep your arms at your sides.

4. Use your snorkel, breathing cautiously to avoid choking on water that may enter the snorkel due to small waves.

5. Keep your fins below the surface when kicking. You may wish to swim on your side or back if conditions allow.

6. Check your location, direction and your buddy every 30 seconds or so. Stay close to your buddy, maintaining physical contact if necessary. Use something on shore, or an anchored boat. for orientation. D on’t wait until you reach the bottom. Add small amounts of air as you descend so you reach the bottom neutrally buoyant. This minimizes kicking and stirring up the bottom.

For control and reference, it’s a good practice to use a line during descents, or follow the bottom contour. If you descend along the anchor line of a boat. hold the line at arm’s length so it won’t. strike you as the boat pitches up and down in the waves. Let your arm swing up and down with the line like a shock absorber so it doesn’t jerk you up and down.

You want to descend steadily minimal effort, while maintaining neutral buovancv so can stop your descent at any time. Maintain buddy contact and oriented so you have Your sense of direction when voive reach thcehottom don’t wait until you reach the bottom. Add small amounts of air as you descend so you reach the bottom neutrally buoyant. This minimizes kicking and stirring up the bottom.

From what you’ve to this point, you know that diving is relaxing, but not sedate, and you need to be in good health. You also realize that there are times when strenuous activity comes into play, so you need to have levels of health , fitness and conditioning sufficient to handle moderately strenuous activity, which could include an emergency or other unanticipated physical demands. Being in good health helps assure that you can meet these demands, which in turn affects your safety.

General diving health recommendations follow the same recommendations regarding rest and diet for everyday life. Never use alcohol, drugs or tobacco prior to diving. Alcohol and drugs, even in quantities that have minimal effect on the surface, can impair your judgment at depth, where pressure can increase their effects. 

Also, alcohol before or immediately after a dive also increases your risk of decompression sickness (discussed later in this section). Be conservative if drinking the night before diving; alcohol tends to dehydrate you, which can also predispose you to decompression sickness.

If you’re taking a prescription drug, discuss its effects with your physician prior to diving. If in doubt, don’t dive until you’re no longer using the medication.

Avoid smoking, which tend to interfere with having an active lifestyle. Smoking is undeniably detrimental your health. If you do smoke, abstain for several hours before and after diving because smoking significantly decreases the efficiency of your circulatory and respiratory systems. It can also promote air trapping within your lungs, theoretically raising your risk of lung over expansion injury – even when breathing normally.

Don’t dive if you don’t feel well, including (as you learned in Section One) diving with a cold. Doing so can cause ear and sinus squeeze or reverse blocks due to equalization difficulties. Diving with a chest cold can produce air trapping, with a risk of lung over expansion injury. No one wants to miss out on a dive, but you should be in good health to dive safely Don’t use medication to combat symptoms so you can make a dive when you’re not tell.

Maintain a reasonable degree of physical fitness and have a complete physical examination when you first enter diving, and at least every two years thereafter. Ideally, you should be examined by a physician knowledgeable in dive medicine. Keep your immunizations current; this is especially important for your tetanus and typhoid immunizations. Keep a well-balanced diet and get proper rest. Maintain a regular exercise program – you don’t have to be an Olympian, just in good average health

Dive health also includes taking care of yourself in other ways – including keeping your skills and knowledge sharp. The best way to do this is to be an active diver – dive – this helps maintain your dive skills. Take part in new underwater adventures, like dive travel and special activities and courses. You’ll have fun while developing new dive skills and improving and refining those you have. If possible, swim with fins in a pool regularly to keep your leg muscles toned – and it’s a good aerobic exercise. Practice the skills you learn in this course frequently.

If you’re away from diving for awhile, no sweat – it happens to all divers once in a while – refresh your dive skills and knowledge. Review this manual, the Open Water Diver- Video and practice your skills with a PADI Dive master, Assistant Instructor or Instructor. The PADI Scuba Review program refreshes your knowledge and skills, and it’s quick and easy – one evening or a morning is usually all you need.

Tune up, dive in.
If you’re away from diving for awhile. no sweat – it happens to all divers once in a while – refresh your dive skills and knowledge. The PADI Scuba Review program refreshes your knowledge and skills, and it’s quick and easy – one evening or a morning is usually all you need.

If you’re a woman, you have some special health considerations, including menstruation and pregnancy. As long as menstruation doesn’t normally keep you from participating in other active recreations, there’s no reason why it should keep you from diving either. Diving while pregnant is another story. 

There’s not much known about how diving may affect a developing fetus. It’s generally agreed that it’s not worth the risk; so discontinue diving while pregnant, or if you’re trying to become pregnant.

Dive health also includes taking care of yourself in other ways – including keeping your skills and knowledge sharp. The best way to do this is to be an active diver – dive – this helps maintain your dive skills. Take part in new underwater adventures, like dive travel and special activities and courses. You’ll have fun while developing new dive skills and improving and refining those you have. If possible, swim with fins in a pool regularly to keep your leg muscles toned – and it’s a good aerobic exercise. Practice the skills you learn in this course frequently.

If you’re away from diving for awhile, no sweat – it happens to all divers once in a while – refresh your dive skills and knowledge. Review this manual, the Open Water Diver- Video and practice your skills with a PADI Dive master, Assistant Instructor or Instructor. The PADI Scuba Review program refreshes your knowledge and skills, and it’s quick and easy – one evening or a morning is usually all you need.

Tune up, dive in.


If you’re away from diving for awhile. no sweat – it happens to all divers once in a while – refresh your dive skills and knowledge. The PADI Scuba Review program refreshes your knowledge and skills, and it’s quick and easy – one evening or a morning is usually all you need.

If you’re a woman, you have some special health considerations, including menstruation and pregnancy. As long as menstruation doesn’t normally keep you from participating in other active recreations, there’s no reason why it should keep you from diving either. Diving while pregnant is another story. 

There’s not much known about how diving may affect a developing fetus. It’s generally agreed that it’s not worth the risk; so discontinue diving while pregnant, or if you’re trying to become pregnant.

 

Health for Diving 2

Dive health also includes taking care of yourself in other ways – including keeping your skills and knowledge sharp. The best way to do this is to be an active diver – dive – this helps maintain your dive skills. Take part in new underwater adventures, like dive travel and special activities and courses. You’ll have fun while developing new dive skills and improving and refining those you have. If possible, swim with fins in a pool regularly to keep your leg muscles toned – and it’s a good aerobic exercise. Practice the skills you learn in this course frequently.

If you’re away from diving for awhile, no sweat – it happens to all divers once in a while – refresh your dive skills and knowledge. Review this manual, the Open Water Diver- Video and practice your skills with a PADI Dive master, Assistant Instructor or Instructor. The PADI Scuba Review program refreshes your knowledge and skills, and it’s quick and easy – one evening or a morning is usually all you need.

Tune up, dive in.
If you’re away from diving for awhile. no sweat – it happens to all divers once in a while – refresh your dive skills and knowledge. The PADI Scuba Review program refreshes your knowledge and skills, and it’s quick and easy – one evening or a morning is usually all you need.

If you’re a woman, you have some special health considerations, including menstruation and pregnancy. As long as menstruation doesn’t normally keep you from participating in other active recreations, there’s no reason why it should keep you from diving either. Diving while pregnant is another story. 

There’s not much known about how diving may affect a developing fetus. It’s generally agreed that it’s not worth the risk; so discontinue diving while pregnant, or if you’re trying to become pregnant.

By now you’re aware that you need to maintain neutral buoyancy while diving to avoid bottom tact, so you can relax and maneuver easily, and – you can prevent rapid, uncontrolled ascents and descents. In the last confined water dive, you adjusted your weight for neutral buoyancy at t1 surface. During this dive, you’ll develop your n buoyancy skills further.

You’ve undoubtedly found that you need to use your BCD to trim and fine-tune buoyancy when you descend and ascend. due to exposure suit compression, and due to air compressing and expanding in your BCD. When making changes to your buoyancy, whether adding or releasing air, do it slowly. Rapid changes make it difficult for you to control buoyancy and can lead to runaway ascents or descents.

You’ve probably been using mainly your low pressure inflator to fill your BCDunderwater. To orally inflate your BCD underwater – which you might do if You had a low pressure inflator problem for instance, take your second stage in your right hand and the BCD inflator in your left. Take a breath, remove the regulator and blow about two thirds of this air into your BCD, operating the controls just like you did when orally inflating it at the surface. Save enough air to clear the regulator, and don’t forget to blow a stream of bubbles as you switch back and forth – never hold your breath. Do this until you’ve inflated the BCD sufficiently to attain neutral buoyancy.

Let’s look at the fin pivot method for establishing neutral buoyancy. This method guides you in getting the feel of neutral buoyancy. You’ll practice doing this several times in the course, using both your low pressure inflator and your oral inflator. When you use your low pressure inflator, remember to add air in short bursts. Don’t hold the button down continuously, and release air from your BCD in small amounts, too.
Basically, here’s how you fin pivot: 

1) lie face down on the bottom, 

2) breathe slowly and deeply and 

3) add air in small amounts to your BCD (or dry suit – your instructor will give you more ,detail on this if you’ll be using a dry suit), gradually increasing your buoyancy until you slowly pivot upward on.

Your fin tips as you inhale (buoyancy increasing with lung volume), and slowly pivot downward as you exhale (buoyancy decreasing with lung volume). This means you’re neutrally buoyant at that depth and can fine tune your buoyancy by controlling your lung volume. Be sure you don’t hold your breath at any time.

If you have a physical challenge that makes it difficult to pivot on your fin tips, you can use your knees or another contact point for pivoting. However, use your fin tips if you can because it puts all your body mass on.

After you’ve established neutral buoyancy, your instructor will have you swim 10 meters/yards or farther, remaining neutrally buoyant. During this swim, pretend you’re swimming over a reef with sensitive aquatic organisms and avoid any contact with the bottom. This simulates how you swim avoiding damage to the environment when making open water dives.

Cramp Removal


A cramp is a painful, involuntary muscle contraction, which, as a diver, you may experience in your leg or foot muscles. Several things can contribute to cramps: dehydration, working the muscle beyond its fitness level, restricted circulation, cold water, and all of these working together. Your fins can contribute to cramping if the blade is too large for your leg strength, or if the foot pockets are too small and your feet don’t go in them properly. Fitness, proper fin selection, practice, proper insulation and pacing your activity, will help you avoid cramps.

But they can happen anyway. Like most problems, it’s more of an irritation than an emergency if you stop and think about what to do. For a cramp, stop and rest the cramped muscle. Stretch and gently massage it to increase circulation and pull out the cramp. If you have a leg cramp in your calf muscle, you can stretch it by grasping the fin tip and pulling it toward you while you push with your leg. Your buddy can also brace the fin tip for you

After relieving the cramp, rest the muscle for a few minutes before continuing at a slower pace – with about 50 to 75 percent of the load you had on the muscle before. A cramped muscle usually recovers better if you resume using it at a reduced pace after a brief rest than if’ you stop using it completely.

TIRED DIVER TWO


Sometimes divers become so tired and out of breath they can’t swim to the boat or shore. Or, they may have severe leg cramps that prohibit swimming, you can assist such a diver by establishing positive buoyancy and having the diver do the same, that helping the diver to the boat or shore using one of several tows, such as the tank value tow or the tired diver push, sometimes called the modified tired swimmer carry. Your instructor will demonstrate these and let you practice them

AIR DEPLETION/ALTERNATE AIR SOURCE COMBINED EXERCISE


During your first two confined water dives, you learned how to use an alternate air source, and you learned what it feels like to run out of air. Now you’re going to put these together to practice responding to running out of air. Your instructor will turn off your air like when you did the air depletion exercise. 

Don’t look at your SPG – but as soon as you feel breathing resistance, signal “out of air” and “share air” to your buddy. Secure and start breathing from your buddy’s alternate; after you take a moment to get situated and make contact with each other, your instructor will have you swim together for at least one minute while you continue to use the alternate. This simulates swimming to the surface from 18 metres/60 feet deep.

As soon as you secure your buddy’s alternate and remove your regulator from your mouth, your instructor will turn your air back on. That way, if you need to you can . Itch back to it. Confirm that the valve is open by checkin,,,Your SPG, which should not be on (or near) zero if it is.

 

Earlier you learned that it’s not likely that vour regulator will fail so that it would cut off your air, but that a failure would most likely cause an air free flow. You can breathe from a free flowing regulator if you don’t seal your lips on the mouthpiece. During this confined water dive, your instructor will have you
practice breathing this way

Since your regulator probably won’t cooperate by spontaneously malfunctioning right when you need to practice this, you’ll simulate the free flow by (you guessed it) holding in the purge button.

Remember to breathe withont sealing your mouth on the regulator, “sipping” the air you need while allowing excess air to escape. A free flowing regulator can really rush – don’t be surprised if it jostles and floods your mask a bit. You’ll breathe from your simulated free flow for at least 30 seconds, and your instructor may have you practice turning off your air after surfacing like you would with a real free flow. If you can’t reach your tank valve unless you remove the scuba unit, do so for practice. Although your buddy might do this for you, doing it yourself develops self-reliance. Check your SPG when you’re done; you’ll be amazed how much air a free flow eats up in only 30 seconds – which is why you head straight for the surface if it happens.

Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent


As you learned, the controlled emergency swimming ascent (also called CESA – pronounced “see-sa”) is one option if you lose your air supply at 6 to 9 metres/20 to 30 feet or less, and your buddy is too far away to provide an alternate air source (Buddy system, buddy system! You shouldn’t be that far from your buddy!).

Emergency swimming ascents are interesting because you start with air in your lungs, exhale all the way to the surface and still have air in your lungs when you get there. This happens because air expands in your lungs as you ascend; the potential hazard is a lung over expansion injury, which you avoid by not holding your breath.

To make a controlled emergency swimming ascent, simply swim upward with all your equipment in place, including your regulator. Look up, reach up and come up, swimming at 18 metres/60 feet per minute or slower. Exhale the entire time by making a continuous sound through your regulator as you ascend.

By saving, you exhale air at the right rate to prevent lung over expansion injury, but you don’t exhale too much either The idea is to maintain a lung volume

Since you won’t be 9 metres/30 feet deep during your confined water dive, you’ll simulate the controlled emergency swimming ascent first horizontaly, then diagonally from deeper to shal lower water. You’ll have enough air in your lungs to swim a long way horizontally while exhaling continuously, but 9 metres/30 feet will be ample for practice. After you do this horizontally, you can be more than sure that you can do it uerticallv assisted by air expanding in your BCD and lungs. After an actual controlled emergency swimming ascent, you don’t feel out of breath-you still have air in your lungs. You’ll get a chance to practice CESA vertically during your open water dives and may be surprised how much easier it is than simulating it horizontally.

Perhaps the greatest value of controlled emergency swimming ascent training is knowing you can do it. When you realize you can reach the surface without difficulty, even if you suddenly lose your air supply, you can relax and enjoy diving more. But watch your SPG and stay close to your buddy so you never need to.

 
NETURAL BUOYANCY 2


Let’s look at the fin pivot method for establishing neutral buoyancy. This method guides you in getting the feel of neutral buoyancy. You’ll practice doing this several times in the course, using both your low pressure inflator and your oral inflator. When you use your low pressure inflator, remember to add air in short bursts. Don’t hold the button down continuously, and release air from your BCD in small amounts, too.
Basically, here’s how you fin pivot: 

1) lie face down on the bottom, 

2) breathe slowly and deeply and 

3) add air in small amounts to your BCD (or dry suit – your instructor will give you more ,detail on this if you’ll be using a dry suit), gradually increasing your buoyancy until you slowly pivot upward on.

Your fin tips as you inhale (buoyancy increasing with lung volume), and slowly pivot downward as you exhale (buoyancy decreasing with lung volume). This means you’re neutrally buoyant at that depth and can fine tune your buoyancy by controlling your lung volume. Be sure you don’t hold your breath at any time.

If you have a physical challenge that makes it difficult to pivot on your fin tips, you can use your knees or another contact point for pivoting. However, use your fin tips if you can because it puts all your body mass on.

 
NETURAL BUOYANCY 3


After you’ve established neutral buoyancy, your instructor will have you swim 10 meters/yards or farther, remaining neutrally buoyant. During this swim, pretend you’re swimming over a reef with sensitive aquatic organisms and avoid any contact with the bottom. This simulates how you swim avoiding damage to the environment when making open water dives.

Cramp Removal


A cramp is a painful, involuntary muscle contraction, which, as a diver, you may experience in your leg or foot muscles. Several things can contribute to cramps: dehydration, working the muscle beyond its fitness level, restricted circulation, cold water, and all of these working together. Your fins can contribute to cramping if the blade is too large for your leg strength, or if the foot pockets are too small and your feet don’t go in them properly. Fitness, proper fin selection, practice, proper insulation and pacing your activity, will help you avoid cramps.

But they can happen anyway. Like most problems, it’s more of an irritation than an emergency if you stop and think about what to do. For a cramp, stop and rest the cramped muscle. Stretch and gently massage it to increase circulation and pull out the cramp. If you have a leg cramp in your calf muscle, you can stretch it by grasping the fin tip and pulling it toward you while you push with your leg. Your buddy can also brace the fin tip for you

 
NETURAL BUOYANCY 4

 

After relieving the cramp, rest the muscle for a few minutes before continuing at a slower pace – with about 50 to 75 percent of the load you had on the muscle before. A cramped muscle usually recovers better if you resume using it at a reduced pace after a brief rest than if’ you stop using it completely.

TIRED DIVER TWO


Sometimes divers become so tired and out of breath they can’t swim to the boat or shore. Or, they may have severe leg cramps that prohibit swimming, you can assist such a diver by establishing positive buoyancy and having the diver do the same, that helping the diver to the boat or shore using one of several tows, such as the tank value tow or the tired diver push, sometimes called the modified tired swimmer carry. Your instructor will demonstrate these and let you practice them

AIR DEPLETION/ALTERNATE AIR SOURCE COMBINED EXERCISE


During your first two confined water dives, you learned how to use an alternate air source, and you learned what it feels like to run out of air. Now you’re going to put these together to practice responding to running out of air. Your instructor will turn off your air like when you did the air depletion exercise. 

Don’t look at your SPG – but as soon as you feel breathing resistance, signal “out of air” and “share air” to your buddy. Secure and start breathing from your buddy’s alternate; after you take a moment to get situated and make contact with each other, your instructor will have you swim together for at least one minute while you continue to use the alternate. This simulates swimming to the surface from 18 metres/60 feet deep.

As soon as you secure your buddy’s alternate and remove your regulator from your mouth, your instructor will turn your air back on. That way, if you need to you can . Itch back to it. Confirm that the valve is open by checkin,,,Your SPG, which should not be on (or near) zero if it is.

 

NETURAL BUOYANCY 5


Earlier you learned that it’s not likely that vour regulator will fail so that it would cut off your air, but that a failure would most likely cause an air free flow. You can breathe from a free flowing regulator if you don’t seal your lips on the mouthpiece. During this confined water dive, your instructor will have you
practice breathing this way

Since your regulator probably won’t cooperate by spontaneously malfunctioning right when you need to practice this, you’ll simulate the free flow by (you guessed it) holding in the purge button.

Remember to breathe withont sealing your mouth on the regulator, “sipping” the air you need while allowing excess air to escape. A free flowing regulator can really rush – don’t be surprised if it jostles and floods your mask a bit. You’ll breathe from your simulated free flow for at least 30 seconds, and your instructor may have you practice turning off your air after surfacing like you would with a real free flow. If you can’t reach your tank valve unless you remove the scuba unit, do so for practice. Although your buddy might do this for you, doing it yourself develops self-reliance. Check your SPG when you’re done; you’ll be amazed how much air a free flow eats up in only 30 seconds – which is why you head straight for the surface if it happens.

Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent


As you learned, the controlled emergency swimming ascent (also called CESA – pronounced “see-sa”) is one option if you lose your air supply at 6 to 9 metres/20 to 30 feet or less, and your buddy is too far away to provide an alternate air source (Buddy system, buddy system! You shouldn’t be that far from your buddy!).

Emergency swimming ascents are interesting because you start with air in your lungs, exhale all the way to the surface and still have air in your lungs when you get there. This happens because air expands in your lungs as you ascend; the potential hazard is a lung over expansion injury, which you avoid by not holding your breath.

 
NETURAL BUOYANCY 6
 
To make a controlled emergency swimming ascent, simply swim upward with all your equipment in place, including your regulator. Look up, reach up and come up, swimming at 18 metres/60 feet per minute or slower. Exhale the entire time by making a continuous sound through your regulator as you ascend.

By saving, you exhale air at the right rate to prevent lung over expansion injury, but you don’t exhale too much either The idea is to maintain a lung volume

Since you won’t be 9 metres/30 feet deep during your confined water dive, you’ll simulate the controlled emergency swimming ascent first horizontaly, then diagonally from deeper to shal lower water. You’ll have enough air in your lungs to swim a long way horizontally while exhaling continuously, but 9 metres/30 feet will be ample for practice. After you do this horizontally, you can be more than sure that you can do it uerticallv assisted by air expanding in your BCD and lungs. After an actual controlled emergency swimming ascent, you don’t feel out of breath-you still have air in your lungs. You’ll get a chance to practice CESA vertically during your open water dives and may be surprised how much easier it is than simulating it horizontally.

Perhaps the greatest value of controlled emergency swimming ascent training is knowing you can do it. When you realize you can reach the surface without difficulty, even if you suddenly lose your air supply, you can relax and enjoy diving more. But watch your SPG and stay close to your buddy so you never need to.

Here’s a preview of the skills and procedures you’ll practice during your first two Open Water Dives. The sequence within each dive will vary, depending on the logistics, and your instructor may sequence some skills in different dives. Before each dive, your instructor will brief you about what you’re going to do and when, along with other information you need for the dive, like communication signals, an environmental orientation, emergency procedures, safety rules, and so on Open Water Dive 1 introduces you to the skills you’ll use on virtually all dives, to the experience of exploring underwater, and to the differences between confined water and open water. Open Water Dive 2 expands on this, plus you’ll practice some of the skills you’ve mastered during the confined water dives.

Open Water Dive 1 
Overview
Briefing
Equipment preparation
Don and adjust equipment
Predive safety check
Controlled descent (max 12m/40ft)
Underwater exploration
Ascent
Exit
Debrief and long dive

Open Water Dive 2
Overview
Briefing
Equipment preparation
Don and adjust equipment
Predive safety check
Entry
Buoyancy/weight check

Diving enjoys safety record better then many other sports and adventure activities but common sense tells you that when you’re under and in water, you face hazards and risks. The guidelines and procedures you learn in the course help you minimize and control ( but never completely eliminate ) these risks, and you’ll find that if you and your buddy dive within your limitations, plan your dives and follow safe diving practices, you’ll avoid problem situations. Keeping yourself physically fit and maintaining your dive skills also play important parts in problem prevention.

Nonetheless, if a problem arise, you’ll want to be able to care for yourself and lend assistance to another diver. Thos section introduces you to some of the basic concepts of dive problem management. In this selection you’ll learn how to prevent and respond to problems such as how to recognize when a diver needs assistance. How to assist another diver, how to respond to problems underwater and the basic procedures for emergencies with an unconscious diver.

Keep in mind, though, that if you plan to dive where secondary assistance(paramedic, lifeguard, dive master or instructor) is wither remote ( by time, distance or both) or completely unavailable, you should have additional training beyond this course in first aid, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and diver rescue. CPR and first aid training provide skills that can help others no matter where you are.making them worth having apart from diving. The Emergency First Response course offered by PADI trains you in CPR and first aid emergency care. Emergency First Response is available through PADI Instructors, Dive Centers and Resorts

 

To learn how to handle the specific and potentially complex problems unique to diving, plan to complete the PADI Rescue Diver course. The Rescue Diver course makes you a more capable diver by expanding and refining your problem prevention, management and handling skills. Although it covers a serious subject, and it is challenging, most divers cite the Rescue Diver course as one other most rewarding courses they’ve taken

But for now as a diver, you need to problem prevention and be prepared with em, contact information: phone numbers fro, local paramedics and police, radio for Coast Guard, contact information for are, diver emergency services like the Divers Alter Network (DAN) and the Diving Emergency Service (DES). 

In areas that lack diver emergency services, have the number and contact information for the nearest recompression chamber and emergency medical services. change, a phone card, a mobile telephone, or whatever is appropriate so you can contact in an emergency. Your instructor will give emergency contact information specific to the, area where you’ll be diving.

Considering that you scuba dive underwater, it may seem odd that the majority of diver distress situations take place at that lace, but that’s exactly what happens. You control or prevent surface problems by within your limitations, by relaxing while , dive and by establishing and maintaining! dive buoyancy when you’re on the surface.

 

PROBLEM MANAGEMENT 2

 

In areas that lack diver emergency services, have the number and contact information for the nearest recompression chamber and emergency medical services. change, a phone card, a mobile telephone, or whatever is appropriate so you can contact in an emergency. Your instructor will give emergency contact information specific to the, area where you’ll be diving.

Considering that you scuba dive underwater, it may seem odd that the majority of diver distress situations take place at that lace, but that’s exactly what happens. You control or prevent surface problems by within your limitations, by relaxing while , dive and by establishing and maintaining! dive buoyancy when you’re on the surface.

Before you can help another diver, you have to recognize that the diver needs help, then follow your recognition with appropriate action. Divers who have a problem. but who are in control of their actions, look pretty much like divers without problems. Generally, if they need help, they signal for it. Divers in control normally appear relatively relaxed and breathe normally. Typically, they keep their equipment in place, move with controlled, deliberate movements, and respond to instructions.

Divers who have a problem and panic lose self control, and sudden, unreasoned fear and instinctive inappropriate actions replace controlled, appropriate action. Panicked divers, fearing drowning, typically struggle to hold their heads high above the water. expending tremendous energy. They usually fail to establish positive buoyancy, and spit out their regulators and shove their masks up on their foreheads, requiring them to fight even harder to breathe. Panicked divers will generally be anxious and breathe rapidly and shallowly.

They pay no attention to their buddy or others and make quick, jerky movements. Their eyes are wide and unseeing, and they don’t usually respond to directions. Divers exhibiting these signs need immediate help, because they will continue to struggle until completely exhausted and unable to remain afloat.

Assisting Another Diver

There are four basic steps to assisting another diver: 
1) establish ample buoyancy (for both of you),
2) calm the diver, 
3) help the diver reestablish breathing control and
4) if necessary, assist the diver back to the boat or shore.

Always begin with buoyancy you reduce the immediate risk by assuring that neither Open Water Diver Manual

Of you will sink. To do this, ideally throw or extend some flotation to the diver, but if you can’t do that, inflate the diver’s BCD and/or discard the weights. Once you’ve established buoyancy, calm the individual by talking, offering encouragement and persuading the diver to relax and take it easy.

Have the diver take deep, slow breaths to reestablish breathing control, and self-control. After sometime to rest and recover, if necessary assist the diver using the tank valve tow or the modified tired-swimmer carry, which you’ll practice during Confined Water Dive Three.

 

PROBLEM RECOGNITION

 

Always begin with buoyancy you reduce the immediate risk by assuring that neither Open Water Diver Manual

Of you will sink. To do this, ideally throw or extend some flotation to the diver, but if you can’t do that, inflate the diver’s BCD and/or discard the weights. Once you’ve established buoyancy, calm the individual by talking, offering encouragement and persuading the diver to relax and take it easy.

Have the diver take deep, slow breaths to reestablish breathing control, and self-control. After sometime to rest and recover, if necessary assist the diver using the tank valve tow or the modified tired-swimmer carry, which you’ll practice during Confined Water Dive Three.

Your body absorbs nitrogen during a dive: after the dive, your body can tolerate a certain level excess nitrogen without developing decompression sickness. The question is, how do you know what that level is, and then stay within it?

To answer this question, physiologist and another scientists created mathematical decompression models that track the theoretical nitrogen you have in you have in your body before , during and after diving. For practical field use, these models are expressed by dive tables and in dive computers, which as you read earlier, you use primarily to determine your maximum allowable time at given depths.

The fact that you derive your dive time limits your tabled m a model explains why you need to dive conservatively and avoid the maximum limits Your table or computer provides. Theoretical models can’t account for variations front one individual to the next, so it’s prudent to stay well within the limits a table or computer predicts. This is especially true if any of the factors that contribute to decompression sickness (vigorous exercise, cold, age, etc.) apply to you or the dive situation. You want to stay well within limits, AM take extra precautions to avoid the secondary contributed is, you can’t change your age, but you can keep yourself’ from becoming dehydrated.

So, because people differ in their susceptibility to decompression sickness, no dive table or computer can guarantee that decompression sickness will never occur, even though you dive within the table or computer limits. It is always wisest to plan dives well within table and computer limit, especially if any contributing factors apply.

As a recreational diver, you’ll be learning no decompression diving. No decompression diving means that you ll plan your dives and dive so that you can always ascend directly to the surface without stopping, yet without significant risk of decompression sickness. This is also called (somewhat more accurately) no stop diving ,because you don’t have to make ( to make a stop (though you usually will – more about that in Section Five). As a recreational diver, you always plan your dives as no decompression dives.

 

Decompression diving means that the divers absorb so much nitrogen (or other gas) during a dive that it’s not possible to ascend directly surface without a substantial risk of DCS. Instead, diver makes a series of stops, each progressively longer, to allow sufficient time for the body to release dissolved nitrogen. 

Decompression. diving usually calls for using special synthetic breathing gases, requires a good deal of surface support. and even when done proper. compared to recreational diving the diver has more risk from DCS and other hazards. Obviously, this type of during is beyond the scope of the course an : recreational diving, though you’ll learn – procedures for making emergency decompression stops in the unlikely event you accidentally exceed a no decompression limit.

Dive tables have been around since 1907, and until the late 1980 where primary method for planning dive. Although you’ll probably end up using a dive computer for most of ‘your diving tables still have their place for two primary reasons. For one, understanding how to plan dives with table gives a “feel” for what your computer does – it gives you a sense (a precise time) of how long a computer will let you stay at a given depth. 

Second, being electronic, dive computers can malfunction on you due to battery failure, impact. baking in sunlight, you name it Dive tables, being primarily printed plastic, are much less likely to file unless your dog chews them up or something. So you’ll want to have them along as back up – if your computer crashes on a dive trip. (I tables may mean the difference between being in the water, or sitting at the dock in a very foul mood.

Until 1988, the dive tables recreational divers used were really hand-me-downs from commercial and military diving. Although they adequate for planning recreational dives, they were tables for decompression diving and had to accommodate large amounts of theoretical nitrogen, and consequently “penalized” recreational divers, who by making no decompression dives, had far less theoretical nitrogen. Further more, these tables were tested on predominantly young, male military divers, which didn’t fully represent the population spectrum you find in recreational diving.

 

Commercial/military tables worked. but they weren’t ideal. In 1988, DSAT (Diving Science & Technology) introduced the Recreational Dive Planner (RDP) which were the first dive table, designed for planning and making no decompression recreational dives. They were the first (and at this writing. still the only) such tables validated by test dives by volunteer recreational divers – men, women, younger. older, etc. 

This remains one of the largest and most extensive decompression tests in recreational diving. Distributed by PADI, the RDP quickly became (and remains) the world’s most popular dive tables: quite a few popular dive computers even employ 1ZDI’ teat data in their electronic decompression models.

It’s available in a Table(conventional) format, and in The Wheel (circular slide rule) format, in both metric and imperial versions. For divers accustomed to conventional tables, DSAT developed The Wheel. To simplify use and to make multilevel diving possible without a dive computer ‘more about multilevel diving in a moment. MAT developed The Wheel. You’ll he learnig to use one or the other as part of this course – you should know which already.

Dive computers do the same job as dive tables, and they do it in the same way – by using a model to determine how much nitrogen you theoretical have in your body. They’re neither more nor less valid than dive tables, ,so don’t let the electronics, lights, beeps and digital displays impress you. 

The difference between a dive table and a dive computer is this: to be workable on a piece of plastic, a dive table uses a series of enough approximations for possible dives into which You fit Your dive. whereas a dive computer uses a depth gauge, timer and software to write a custom dive table for your exact dive. Throughout the dive. your computer updates this “custom table” as you change depth. constantly showing you how much no stop dive time you have left.

 

A dive computer offers both advantages and disadvantages (which is yet another reason for havin, both a computer and the RDP) :

Advantages:


. They’re easier to use than tables because the track time and depth automatically, avoiding some human error. But you can’t turn your brain off just because you turn your dive computer on.

. They give more no stop time on multilevel profile,. As you ascend. Yon take Up nitrogen more slowly and dive computers credit you for this by increasing your no decompression time. Tables must assume you spend the whole dive at the deepest depth you reach, so your allowable dive time is much shorter. The increased no stop time from a multilevel profile is substantial and the primary benefit of diving with computers. (Note: The Wheel let, you plan multilevel profiles with more dive time, making it the best table backup for your dive computer; it offers more no decompression time than any other table.)

. They track your more no-stop tine by eliminating the rounding and coarse fit that You have with a dive table.

. They track your the oretical nitrogen throughout the entire dive day (or longer). With tables, you have to calculate different allowable no stop times for each dive, which vary depending on the first dive time and depth, how long you’re out of the water, and how deep the next dive will be. This isn’t hard, but dive computers it automatically

Disadvantages


. They can fail. This can happen before a dive, during a dive or after a dive.
. They will “let you do them that, aren’t recommended while happily crunching and displaying the theoretical numbers. (This is why you can’t turn your brain off.) While they eliminate some human errors, they create the opportunity for other.
. You gain dive time by eliminating hounding. but you give up the extra conservatism that the rounding provides.

Don’t let these disadvantages dissuade you from using dive computers – their advantages are overwhelming, and today ifs more unusual to a see diver with motif one than with one. Rather he aware of these problem; in Section Five, you’ll learn how to avoid them.

 

The illustration gives you an idea of this works. Before your first your body has its normal nitrogen. Upon surfacing, your nitrogen level is higher, even though , you’re within the safe limits estab you’re by your computer. After some time at the surface, your body some of the residual nitrogen, but not all of you can also see that you’re still closer to the maximum limit that you were before your dive, so a repetitive dive will have a sorter no decompression limit. After the repetitive dive, you’re still within accepted limits, but your nitrogen level has -en and includes the extra nitrogen absorbed during this dive, Am the residual nitrogen left from your first dive. The RDP d/or your dive computer helps you determine acceptable time and depth limits for your first and repetitive dives. Accounting for theoretical changes in body nitrogen.

How long you have to wait before a dive isn’t a repetitive dive depends on the computer or table. A computer tracks theoretical nitrogen for varying intervals, but it isn’t really important to how long because the computer accounts for it automatic

Using the RDP, if you don’t plan to dive for at least six hours, the residual nitrogen has little consequence. On the other hand, if you do plan to dive within six hours, you must account for the residual nitrogen when you plan your dive – and that’s part of at you’re about to learn to do with the Recreational DivePlanner.

 

During ascent, your body needs time to adjust to changing pressure, and you need time to regulate your buoyancy, keep track of your buddy and watch for obstructions overhead. It’s important to ascend slowly – no faster than 18 metres/60 feet per minute, which is slower than you may realize.

As a new diver, you may find it a little difficult to judge your ascent rate at first. No worries. Star your ascent with plenty of air so you can make a slow, leisurely trip to the surface. Preferably, ascend along a line or follow the bottom contours to give you a visual reference and help you gauge your speed. Use your depth gauge as you ascend to help you know how fast you’re going up, particularly when ascending without a visual reference. It should take you at least 10 seconds to ascend 3 metres/10 feet – but don’t worry about being exact, as long as you’re not exceeding this rate. In fact, it’s a good idea to come up slower – most computers and gauges warn you if you exceed 10 metres/30 feet per minute.

Whenever possible, stop your ascent when you reach 5 metres/15 feet and wait three minutes – more is fine – before continuing your ascent, particularly after deep dives or dives close to the no stop time limit. This is called a safety stop (you’ll learn more about safety stops in Section Five), which gives you an extra margin of safety.

Think of the 18 metre/60 foot per minute rate of ascent as a speed limit. It’s fine to go slower, but don’t go faster. Be a S.A.F.E. diver: Slowly Ascend From Every dive.

Dive tables and dive computers use mathematical models to estimate the theoretical nitrogen in your body before. during and after a dive. People vary in their susceptibility to DCS, so no computer or table can guarantee you’ll never get DCS, even Within its limits. So, dive well within table/computer limits. Dive computer has some use advantages and disadvantages compared to tables, but it is neither more nor less valid. Recreational divers only make no decompression (no stop) dives.

 

SPECIAL DIVE TABLE COMPUTER 2

 

Decompression diving means that the divers absorb so much nitrogen (or other gas) during a dive that it’s not possible to ascend directly surface without a substantial risk of DCS. Instead, diver makes a series of stops, each progressively longer, to allow sufficient time for the body to release dissolved nitrogen. 

Decompression. diving usually calls for using special synthetic breathing gases, requires a good deal of surface support. and even when done proper. compared to recreational diving the diver has more risk from DCS and other hazards. Obviously, this type of during is beyond the scope of the course an : recreational diving, though you’ll learn – procedures for making emergency decompression stops in the unlikely event you accidentally exceed a no decompression limit.

Dive tables have been around since 1907, and until the late 1980 where primary method for planning dive. Although you’ll probably end up using a dive computer for most of ‘your diving tables still have their place for two primary reasons. For one, understanding how to plan dives with table gives a “feel” for what your computer does – it gives you a sense (a precise time) of how long a computer will let you stay at a given depth. 

Second, being electronic, dive computers can malfunction on you due to battery failure, impact. baking in sunlight, you name it Dive tables, being primarily printed plastic, are much less likely to file unless your dog chews them up or something. So you’ll want to have them along as back up – if your computer crashes on a dive trip. (I tables may mean the difference between being in the water, or sitting at the dock in a very foul mood.

Until 1988, the dive tables recreational divers used were really hand-me-downs from commercial and military diving. Although they adequate for planning recreational dives, they were tables for decompression diving and had to accommodate large amounts of theoretical nitrogen, and consequently “penalized” recreational divers, who by making no decompression dives, had far less theoretical nitrogen. Further more, these tables were tested on predominantly young, male military divers, which didn’t fully represent the population spectrum you find in recreational diving.

 

SPECIAL DIVE TABLE COMPUTER 3

 

Commercial/military tables worked. but they weren’t ideal. In 1988, DSAT (Diving Science & Technology) introduced the Recreational Dive Planner (RDP) which were the first dive table, designed for planning and making no decompression recreational dives. They were the first (and at this writing. still the only) such tables validated by test dives by volunteer recreational divers – men, women, younger. older, etc. 

This remains one of the largest and most extensive decompression tests in recreational diving. Distributed by PADI, the RDP quickly became (and remains) the world’s most popular dive tables: quite a few popular dive computers even employ 1ZDI’ teat data in their electronic decompression models.

It’s available in a Table(conventional) format, and in The Wheel (circular slide rule) format, in both metric and imperial versions. For divers accustomed to conventional tables, DSAT developed The Wheel. To simplify use and to make multilevel diving possible without a dive computer ‘more about multilevel diving in a moment. MAT developed The Wheel. You’ll he learnig to use one or the other as part of this course – you should know which already.

Dive computers do the same job as dive tables, and they do it in the same way – by using a model to determine how much nitrogen you theoretical have in your body. They’re neither more nor less valid than dive tables, ,so don’t let the electronics, lights, beeps and digital displays impress you. 

The difference between a dive table and a dive computer is this: to be workable on a piece of plastic, a dive table uses a series of enough approximations for possible dives into which You fit Your dive. whereas a dive computer uses a depth gauge, timer and software to write a custom dive table for your exact dive. Throughout the dive. your computer updates this “custom table” as you change depth. constantly showing you how much no stop dive time you have left.

 

SPECIAL DIVE TABLE COMPUTER 4

 

A dive computer offers both advantages and disadvantages (which is yet another reason for havin, both a computer and the RDP) :

Advantages:
. They’re easier to use than tables because the track time and depth automatically, avoiding some human error. But you can’t turn your brain off just because you turn your dive computer on.

. They give more no stop time on multilevel profile,. As you ascend. Yon take Up nitrogen more slowly and dive computers credit you for this by increasing your no decompression time. Tables must assume you spend the whole dive at the deepest depth you reach, so your allowable dive time is much shorter. The increased no stop time from a multilevel profile is substantial and the primary benefit of diving with computers. (Note: The Wheel let, you plan multilevel profiles with more dive time, making it the best table backup for your dive computer; it offers more no decompression time than any other table.)

. They track your more no-stop tine by eliminating the rounding and coarse fit that You have with a dive table.

. They track your the oretical nitrogen throughout the entire dive day (or longer). With tables, you have to calculate different allowable no stop times for each dive, which vary depending on the first dive time and depth, how long you’re out of the water, and how deep the next dive will be. This isn’t hard, but dive computers it automatically

Disadvantages


. They can fail. This can happen before a dive, during a dive or after a dive.
. They will “let you do them that, aren’t recommended while happily crunching and displaying the theoretical numbers. (This is why you can’t turn your brain off.) While they eliminate some human errors, they create the opportunity for other.
. You gain dive time by eliminating hounding. but you give up the extra conservatism that the rounding provides.

Don’t let these disadvantages dissuade you from using dive computers – their advantages are overwhelming, and today ifs more unusual to a see diver with motif one than with one. Rather he aware of these problem; in Section Five, you’ll learn how to avoid them.

 

SPECIAL DIVE TABLE COMPUTER 5

 

The illustration gives you an idea of this works. Before your first your body has its normal nitrogen. Upon surfacing, your nitrogen level is higher, even though , you’re within the safe limits estab you’re by your computer. After some time at the surface, your body some of the residual nitrogen, but not all of you can also see that you’re still closer to the maximum limit that you were before your dive, so a repetitive dive will have a sorter no decompression limit. After the repetitive dive, you’re still within accepted limits, but your nitrogen level has -en and includes the extra nitrogen absorbed during this dive, Am the residual nitrogen left from your first dive. The RDP d/or your dive computer helps you determine acceptable time and depth limits for your first and repetitive dives. Accounting for theoretical changes in body nitrogen.

How long you have to wait before a dive isn’t a repetitive dive depends on the computer or table. A computer tracks theoretical nitrogen for varying intervals, but it isn’t really important to how long because the computer accounts for it automatic

Using the RDP, if you don’t plan to dive for at least six hours, the residual nitrogen has little consequence. On the other hand, if you do plan to dive within six hours, you must account for the residual nitrogen when you plan your dive – and that’s part of at you’re about to learn to do with the Recreational DivePlanner.

 

SPECIAL DIVE TABLE COMPUTER 6

 

During ascent, your body needs time to adjust to changing pressure, and you need time to regulate your buoyancy, keep track of your buddy and watch for obstructions overhead. It’s important to ascend slowly – no faster than 18 metres/60 feet per minute, which is slower than you may realize.

As a new diver, you may find it a little difficult to judge your ascent rate at first. No worries. Star your ascent with plenty of air so you can make a slow, leisurely trip to the surface. Preferably, ascend along a line or follow the bottom contours to give you a visual reference and help you gauge your speed. Use your depth gauge as you ascend to help you know how fast you’re going up, particularly when ascending without a visual reference. It should take you at least 10 seconds to ascend 3 metres/10 feet – but don’t worry about being exact, as long as you’re not exceeding this rate. In fact, it’s a good idea to come up slower – most computers and gauges warn you if you exceed 10 metres/30 feet per minute.

Whenever possible, stop your ascent when you reach 5 metres/15 feet and wait three minutes – more is fine – before continuing your ascent, particularly after deep dives or dives close to the no stop time limit. This is called a safety stop (you’ll learn more about safety stops in Section Five), which gives you an extra margin of safety.

Think of the 18 metre/60 foot per minute rate of ascent as a speed limit. It’s fine to go slower, but don’t go faster. Be a S.A.F.E. diver: Slowly Ascend From Every dive.

Dive tables and dive computers use mathematical models to estimate the theoretical nitrogen in your body before. during and after a dive. People vary in their susceptibility to DCS, so no computer or table can guarantee you’ll never get DCS, even Within its limits. So, dive well within table/computer limits. Dive computer has some use advantages and disadvantages compared to tables, but it is neither more nor less valid. Recreational divers only make no decompression (no stop) dives.

You can prevent or control underwater problems by 1) relaxing while you dive, 2 ) keeping close watch on your air supply and 3) diving within your limitations. Of the few problems that do occur under water, the most likely are overexertion, running out of or low on air, regulator free flow and entanglement.

In Section Two, you learned to prevent overexertion by moving and breathing slowly and deliberately, and by pacing yourself: You also learned that if you do get overexerted, stop all activity, rest, relax and breathe slowly until you restore your normal breathing pattern.

 

 

Underwater, overexertion can give you a feeling of air starvation because breathing resistance through the regulator increases as you go deeper. Overexertion i` the problem, but it may feel like your regulator isn’t delivering enough air: Actually, you’re demanding more air than it can deliver – as you recall, you prevent overexertion (and air starvation) by avoiding strenuous activity and by pacing yourself’.

Running out of air is probably the easiest problem to avoid, and air stoppage due to a malfunction is extremely remote (more about this in a moment. To keep from running excessively low on or out, make; habit of checking your SPG frequently. Obviously, your SPG only works if you look at it.

 

Possible surface problems include overexertion, leg muscle cramps and choking on inhaled water. You’ve already learned about handling overexertion and as you recall, if you choke on water, you hold your regulator or snorkel in place and cough through it keep it in you mouth, and keep your mask on. Swallowing sometimes helps relieve choking, too. Be sure you have sufficient buoyancy, because coughing lowers your lung volume, decreasing your tendency to float.

If you have a problem at the surface, immediately establish buoyancy by either inflating your BCD or dropping your weights. Let your equipment do the work – having to swim, tread water or otherwise having to fight to stay above water exhausts you quickly. Don’t hesitate to discard your weights if You can’t stay up with your BCD; weights are easily replaced.
 


Stop, think, then act. Need help? Ask! Whistle, wave and yell. It’s the smart, safe to do. Get help when You need it, before a small problem becomes a big one, and you make it easier on yourself and other divers. Dive masters will tell you it’s not the people who ask for assistance who give them gray hair – it’s those who need it and don’t ask.

 

Buddy breathe with a single regulator: Buddy breathing, which is sharing a single second stage between two divers, was once a standard air-sharing method, but became less and less favored as a viable option over the last 20 years. 

Alternate air sources have made buddy breathing unnecessary, along with the fact that buddy breathing is a moderately complex motor skill to perform in an emergency.If you’re deeper than 12 metres/40 feet and there’s no alternate air source available, buddy breathing may be an option if you and your buddy remain calm, and if you’re both trained and practiced with it. Once you begin buddy breathing, you and your buddy should continue all the way to without attempting to switch to another out-of-air option. Your instructor may have you practice buddy breathing, but keep in mind that sharing air with an alternate air source is far more preferable and makes buddy breathing an unnecessary option. Make a buoyant ascent.

You’re too deep for a controlled emergency swimming ascent and you’re too far for your buddy to help you. You can still make it to the surface, though the situation isn’t ideal. You make a buoyant emergency ascent,. just like a controlled emergency swimming ascent, except you drop your weights. You look up and exhale continuously, making the alaahhh sound into your regulator as you rise to the surface. You’re going to exceed a safe ascent rate, and that has some serious risks – so use this method only when you doubt you can reach the surface any other way. 

You can flare out to create drag and help slow your ascent if you start to rise faster than necessary to reach the surface safely.After reaching the surface using any of these options, remember that you ma ,y need to inflate your BCD orally to establish positive buoyancy. Remember to discuss out-of-air emergency options with your buddy as part of planning your dive, and stay close together so you can assist each other if necessary, especially as you go deeper. Look after one another, watching your air supplies. breathing patterns, and time and depth limits. By remaining alert and monitoring each other, you can avoid air supply and other problems.

 

Buddy breathe with a single regulator: Buddy breathing, which is sharing a single second stage between two divers, was once a standard air-sharing method, but became less and less favored as a viable option over the last 20 years. 

Alternate air sources have made buddy breathing unnecessary, along with the fact that buddy breathing is a moderately complex motor skill to perform in an emergency.If you’re deeper than 12 metres/40 feet and there’s no alternate air source available, buddy breathing may be an option if you and your buddy remain calm, and if you’re both trained and practiced with it. Once you begin buddy breathing, you and your buddy should continue all the way to without attempting to switch to another out-of-air option. Your instructor may have you practice buddy breathing, but keep in mind that sharing air with an alternate air source is far more preferable and makes buddy breathing an unnecessary option. Make a buoyant ascent.

You’re too deep for a controlled emergency swimming ascent and you’re too far for your buddy to help you. You can still make it to the surface, though the situation isn’t ideal. You make a buoyant emergency ascent,. just like a controlled emergency swimming ascent, except you drop your weights. You look up and exhale continuously, making the alaahhh sound into your regulator as you rise to the surface. You’re going to exceed a safe ascent rate, and that has some serious risks – so use this method only when you doubt you can reach the surface any other way. 

You can flare out to create drag and help slow your ascent if you start to rise faster than necessary to reach the surface safely.After reaching the surface using any of these options, remember that you ma ,y need to inflate your BCD orally to establish positive buoyancy. Remember to discuss out-of-air emergency options with your buddy as part of planning your dive, and stay close together so you can assist each other if necessary, especially as you go deeper. Look after one another, watching your air supplies. breathing patterns, and time and depth limits. By remaining alert and monitoring each other, you can avoid air supply and other problems.

 

UNDERWATER PROBLEM MANAGEMENT 2

 

Possible surface problems include overexertion, leg muscle cramps and choking on inhaled water. You’ve already learned about handling overexertion and as you recall, if you choke on water, you hold your regulator or snorkel in place and cough through it keep it in you mouth, and keep your mask on. Swallowing sometimes helps relieve choking, too. Be sure you have sufficient buoyancy, because coughing lowers your lung volume, decreasing your tendency to float.

If you have a problem at the surface, immediately establish buoyancy by either inflating your BCD or dropping your weights. Let your equipment do the work – having to swim, tread water or otherwise having to fight to stay above water exhausts you quickly. Don’t hesitate to discard your weights if You can’t stay up with your BCD; weights are easily replaced.
 


Stop, think, then act. Need help? Ask! Whistle, wave and yell. It’s the smart, safe to do. Get help when You need it, before a small problem becomes a big one, and you make it easier on yourself and other divers. Dive masters will tell you it’s not the people who ask for assistance who give them gray hair – it’s those who need it and don’t ask.

 

UNDERWATER PROBLEM MANAGEMENT 3

 

Buddy breathe with a single regulator: Buddy breathing, which is sharing a single second stage between two divers, was once a standard air-sharing method, but became less and less favored as a viable option over the last 20 years. 

Alternate air sources have made buddy breathing unnecessary, along with the fact that buddy breathing is a moderately complex motor skill to perform in an emergency.If you’re deeper than 12 metres/40 feet and there’s no alternate air source available, buddy breathing may be an option if you and your buddy remain calm, and if you’re both trained and practiced with it. Once you begin buddy breathing, you and your buddy should continue all the way to without attempting to switch to another out-of-air option. Your instructor may have you practice buddy breathing, but keep in mind that sharing air with an alternate air source is far more preferable and makes buddy breathing an unnecessary option. Make a buoyant ascent.

You’re too deep for a controlled emergency swimming ascent and you’re too far for your buddy to help you. You can still make it to the surface, though the situation isn’t ideal. You make a buoyant emergency ascent,. just like a controlled emergency swimming ascent, except you drop your weights. You look up and exhale continuously, making the alaahhh sound into your regulator as you rise to the surface. You’re going to exceed a safe ascent rate, and that has some serious risks – so use this method only when you doubt you can reach the surface any other way. 

You can flare out to create drag and help slow your ascent if you start to rise faster than necessary to reach the surface safely.After reaching the surface using any of these options, remember that you ma ,y need to inflate your BCD orally to establish positive buoyancy. Remember to discuss out-of-air emergency options with your buddy as part of planning your dive, and stay close together so you can assist each other if necessary, especially as you go deeper. Look after one another, watching your air supplies. breathing patterns, and time and depth limits. By remaining alert and monitoring each other, you can avoid air supply and other problems.

 

UNDERWATER PROBLEM MANAGEMENT 4

 

Buddy breathe with a single regulator: Buddy breathing, which is sharing a single second stage between two divers, was once a standard air-sharing method, but became less and less favored as a viable option over the last 20 years. 

Alternate air sources have made buddy breathing unnecessary, along with the fact that buddy breathing is a moderately complex motor skill to perform in an emergency.If you’re deeper than 12 metres/40 feet and there’s no alternate air source available, buddy breathing may be an option if you and your buddy remain calm, and if you’re both trained and practiced with it. Once you begin buddy breathing, you and your buddy should continue all the way to without attempting to switch to another out-of-air option. Your instructor may have you practice buddy breathing, but keep in mind that sharing air with an alternate air source is far more preferable and makes buddy breathing an unnecessary option. Make a buoyant ascent.

You’re too deep for a controlled emergency swimming ascent and you’re too far for your buddy to help you. You can still make it to the surface, though the situation isn’t ideal. You make a buoyant emergency ascent,. just like a controlled emergency swimming ascent, except you drop your weights. You look up and exhale continuously, making the alaahhh sound into your regulator as you rise to the surface. You’re going to exceed a safe ascent rate, and that has some serious risks – so use this method only when you doubt you can reach the surface any other way. 

You can flare out to create drag and help slow your ascent if you start to rise faster than necessary to reach the surface safely.After reaching the surface using any of these options, remember that you ma ,y need to inflate your BCD orally to establish positive buoyancy. Remember to discuss out-of-air emergency options with your buddy as part of planning your dive, and stay close together so you can assist each other if necessary, especially as you go deeper. Look after one another, watching your air supplies. breathing patterns, and time and depth limits. By remaining alert and monitoring each other, you can avoid air supply and other problems.

Near drowning occurs when someone revives a diver or Swimmer who became unresponsive (unconscious, or unable to respond or act coherently) and stopped breathing while submerged. Swallowing water, extreme fatigue, entanglement and long over pressurization may be the cause, with panic, inefficient breathing, throat blockage, exhaustion, heart stoppage and unconsciousness contributing. 

With an unresponsive diver, the primary concern is to check for breathing and to begin rescue breaths if the isn’t breathing. If a diver is unresponsive underwater, bring the diver to the surface; someone may need to perform rescue breathing in the water, and if the victim has no pulse, CPR. You can’t perform CPR effectively in water, so you need to get the diver out of the water.

Here are the four general procedures to follow if a diver appears to lose consciousness and becomes unresponsive in the water:

1. Quickly bring the diver to the surface and check for breathing.
2. Establish ample positive buoyancy for you and the victim.
3. Get assistance as needed in providing rescue breathing.
4. Help remove the diver from the water.

Assistance continues once out of the water, with the following steps also applying to a diver who, after diving, becomes unconscious or experiences symptoms of lung over expansion injury.

These symptoms may include difficulty breathing, confusion, lowered alertness, a change in the level of consciousness, unclear thinking, visual problems, paralysis, and chest pain.

Keep airway open and check for breathing. If necessary, start and continue rescue breathing and/or CPR.Observe the diver constantly, checking breathing and pulse.If the diver doesn’t require CPR or rescue breathing, keep the diver lying level on the left side supporting the head (called the recovery position). Don’t let this position interfere with transportation or other aid, and should not be used :CPR is required. If the diver is responsive and more comfortable lying prone, that’s fine.

Administer emergency oxygen if possible.


Keep the diver still and maintain a normal body temperature by protecting the diver from heat or cold.Seek emergency medical assistance.If unable to accompany the diver to medical treatment, write down as much background information as possible and attach it to a conspicuous place.

 

UNRESPONSIVE DIVER 2

 

These symptoms may include difficulty breathing, confusion, lowered alertness, a change in the level of consciousness, unclear thinking, visual problems, paralysis, and chest pain.

Keep airway open and check for breathing. If necessary, start and continue rescue breathing and/or CPR.Observe the diver constantly, checking breathing and pulse.If the diver doesn’t require CPR or rescue breathing, keep the diver lying level on the left side supporting the head (called the recovery position). Don’t let this position interfere with transportation or other aid, and should not be used :CPR is required. If the diver is responsive and more comfortable lying prone, that’s fine.

Administer emergency oxygen if possible.


Keep the diver still and maintain a normal body temperature by protecting the diver from heat or cold.Seek emergency medical assistance.If unable to accompany the diver to medical treatment, write down as much background information as possible and attach it to a conspicuous place.

The previous discussions about dive tables and computers included a lot about diving with computers. Keep these points and procedures in mind when you use a dive computer:

1. Computers are sophisticated calculators with depth gauges and timers that calculate theoretical nitrogen in the body. They’re no more or less valid than dive tables and they don’t track anything physical in your body. The recommendations for conservative diving with tables apply to computer diving.

2. Don’t share your computer. Each diver needs an individual computer. A computer tracks theoretical body nitrogen

In this subsection on Special Dive Table and Computer Procedures, you learned: only an emergency procedure.


. You should make a safety stop at the end of.
. For recreational divers, decompression is.
. Virtually all dives (except when an emergency prohibits it). 
. Diving at an altitude greater than 300 metres/1000 feet.
. A safety stop is a pause in your ascent between 3 and 6 metres/10 and 20 feet for three minutes or longer. 
. Follow the recommendations for flying after feet for diving conservatively, and stay up to date with the most current recommendations. 
. Plan cold/strenuous dives with the RDP as though the depth were 4 metres/10 feet deeper than actual. With a computer, be conservative using the most appropriate method for your computer.
. Consider a safety stop mandatory if you dive deeper than 30 metres/100 feet or reach any limit on the RDP or your computer as it rises and falls with each dive and surface interval, so it must stay with one diver for the entire dive day – you can’t swap between dives. You can’t share a computer within a buddy team either because it tracks depth quite closely. It will only be accurate for the diver wearing the computer.

3. Follow the most conservative computer. Surface or ascend when either computer – yours or your buddy’s – approaches its no decompression limit. If you follow the least conservative. you’re in effect sharing that computer, which you shouldn’t do.

4. Don’t turn your computer off between dives. Most won’t let you, hut if you take out the battery or shut the computer down, it loses its memory of your previous dives and your residual nitrogen. You’ll have to allow all residual nitrogen to leave your body before resuming use of the computer. Your computer will shut it self when it calculates no significant residual nitrogen remaining.

 

5. Make your deepest dive first and plan successive dives to progressively shallower depths. During a dive, start at the deepest point and work your way shallower. As recommended by the dive medical community, avoid going from shallow to deep. Computers will continue to give you no decompression times if you break this guideline not because it’s okay, but because it’s better than no data at all. Avoid making multiple deep dives with short surface intervals between them.

6. Stay well within computer limits. Always try to have five or more minutes no decompression time remaining. If you let it near or reach zero, you’ve pushed the limits even though you’ll have plenty of no stop time when you ascend to a shallower depth.

7. If your computer quits, you may need to stop diving for 12 to 24 hours. If it quits during a dive and you’ve been staying well within the no decompression limits, ascend immediately to 5 metres/17 feet, make a safety stop for five minutes or more and surface. You can’t simply grab another computer because it won’t know how much residual nitrogen you haw. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

8. Take the RDP for backup on dive trips so you can resume diving the next day if your computer fails. If you computer fails and you’ve been tracking your depths and times. and your dives stay within RDP limits, you can continue diving using the RDP. Otherwise, you’ll probably have to wait until the next day for residual nitrogen to clear before you resume diving. Although it’s computers you dive resort to have dive computers you cant rent, don’t count on it. Take your RDP so you can be sure you won’t miss out. Preferably, take The Wheel so you can plan multilevel dives that maximize your no stop time.

9. Keep thinking. Dive computers can fail just like any other piece of’ equipment. Don’t blindly accept everything your computer says, especially when it appears way out of line with a buddy’s computer or your previous experience. Read the manufacturer’s instructions completely before using your computer, and follow what they say. You can learn more about the theory and use of dive computers in the PADI Multilevel Diver course.

 

USING A DIVE COMPUTER 2

 

5. Make your deepest dive first and plan successive dives to progressively shallower depths. During a dive, start at the deepest point and work your way shallower. As recommended by the dive medical community, avoid going from shallow to deep. Computers will continue to give you no decompression times if you break this guideline not because it’s okay, but because it’s better than no data at all. Avoid making multiple deep dives with short surface intervals between them.

6. Stay well within computer limits. Always try to have five or more minutes no decompression time remaining. If you let it near or reach zero, you’ve pushed the limits even though you’ll have plenty of no stop time when you ascend to a shallower depth.

7. If your computer quits, you may need to stop diving for 12 to 24 hours. If it quits during a dive and you’ve been staying well within the no decompression limits, ascend immediately to 5 metres/17 feet, make a safety stop for five minutes or more and surface. You can’t simply grab another computer because it won’t know how much residual nitrogen you haw. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

8. Take the RDP for backup on dive trips so you can resume diving the next day if your computer fails. If you computer fails and you’ve been tracking your depths and times. and your dives stay within RDP limits, you can continue diving using the RDP. Otherwise, you’ll probably have to wait until the next day for residual nitrogen to clear before you resume diving. Although it’s computers you dive resort to have dive computers you cant rent, don’t count on it. Take your RDP so you can be sure you won’t miss out. Preferably, take The Wheel so you can plan multilevel dives that maximize your no stop time.

9. Keep thinking. Dive computers can fail just like any other piece of’ equipment. Don’t blindly accept everything your computer says, especially when it appears way out of line with a buddy’s computer or your previous experience. Read the manufacturer’s instructions completely before using your computer, and follow what they say. You can learn more about the theory and use of dive computers in the PADI Multilevel Diver course.