5 Tips For Newbie Divers

Okay, so you asked for it, so we're doing it. It can always be nerve wracking when going on your first dive. Apart from me, I smashed it. My parents always said I was a natural. I spent way too much time in the bath as a kid. Anyway, enough about me, this is all about you guys. You voted for it, so hi, I'm Mark from Simply Scuba, and this is five tips for newbie divers. Number one, put your wetsuit on last. Now, we don't mean put your wetsuit on over all of your gear as Sean thought. We mean don't be the first to put your wetsuit on because you'll have to wait for everybody else to get kitted up. Read the group, and you'll see if there are any slowpokes on the boat, so try and wait to put your suit on and get kitted up last. That way, you won't be in a skin-tight rubber suit in the sun any longer than you have to be. That is, unless you are the slowpoke. In that case, hurry up. Everybody's waiting on you to get kitted up. Just make sure that you assemble your BCD and everything before you put your suit on. Number two, don't use your BCD. Not literally, you can use your BCD, but try to use it as little as possible. Use your lung volume for minor adjustments in the water, but if you find yourself using and inflating your BCD a lot, then chances are you're wearing too much lead. Every time you inflate your BCD, you're using up valuable breathing gas. To try and minimize how much you use your BCD, work on your correct weighting and wear as little as possible. Yeah, as little lead as possible. When weighted correctly, the only time you'll have a lot of gas in your BCD is on the surface. Whilst you're underwater, you should only need a squirt or two to compensate for a wetsuit compressing. Number three, don't listen to the mermaids. My friend Beth always warned of the dangers of listening to the mermaid's call. Not by luring you to crash on rocks, but there's always something tempting a little deeper down to go look at and it's very easy to go beyond your max depth if you're not paying attention. Dive computers will have a depth alarm to alert you if you go deeper than planned, but if you don't use this feature, then it's best to pay attention to your computer or depth gauge often. To this day, no matter how deep I've been, I still haven't found any mermaids, but the search continues. Just be sure to use the correct mix when diving down deeper. Number four, Frankie says relax. The more excitable you are in the water, the more air and energy you'll use and you'll annoy the other divers on the boat more too. Much like surfing, whilst scuba diving, the best method is to just go with the flow and your gas and energy levels will reflect this. Just remember that you can't control everything. If there's a current, then don't fight it. You'll just end up back where you started, but even more tired. The more you work, the more heat your body will produce and the water will just sap that away from you just as fast. So take it easy and relax and you'll enjoy your diving a lot more. Number five, cover up. Both in and out of the water, you'll get cold faster than you're used to on the dive site. In the water, it's obvious. Water conducts heat away from your body about 25 times faster as air. So by covering as much of your body as possible with neoprene, the warmer you'll be. Most divers forget about the surface interval though. You need to bring warm clothes and keep dry in between dives too. A nice woolly hat in between dives will keep your head warm and hair dry. That is if you have hair. A decent coat too will keep you dry and warm and definitely a bacon sandwich makes all the difference. But don't go rushing to the radiators as there's some research that suggests that a rapid warming can increase your chances of a bend. So there were five tips for newbie divers, but what recommendations do you boys and girls have for them? Please comment below, but keep it serious. Thanks for watching and safe diving. We are an online dive store, serving the UK and the world for all your diving equipment needs. So why not visit us at simplyscuba.com or click the box on your screen.