Skills to practice during a dive

[johndiver999]

I think a few very important skills are missing. The first is right out of the certification class.

Disconnect the LP inflator, dump air, reinflate orally and dive for a while and do an entire ascent with the inflator disconnected. You might try reconnecting underwater as well. This is an extremely important safety skill in my book.

Another is to do a complete ascent using the safe second or for me it is the Air 2. It is essential to be comfortable diving and doing ascents and controlling buoyancy using this back up gear, if you have it.

Another simpler thing to do, is to just practice placing your hand on various items on your rig, in a super fast, smooth and efficient manner and without looking. You may not even need to deploy them, (which can be bothersome), but being able to instantly put your hand on your knife, your back up knife, your rear dump, you weight belt buckle or weight releases from the BC, safe second, smb, light, harness clips, catch bag etc. This kind of reach and touch, is not (or should not) be disruptive to the dive, but it makes sense to practice until it is unproductive and you see no room for significant improvement.

All these things can be done without interfering with your dive, your buddy might not even notice you are doing them.

I also like to practice the scuba unit remove and replace underwater, but this is obviously completely disruptive to the dive, but makes sense to do with a buddy if you often dive solo and have the appropriate environment.

 

[boulderjohn]

I think I remember being asked for tank pressure but didn’t understand the actual math (and I doubt my instructor did) until I started techie diving

No math required. All you have to do is check your SPG regularly and get a modest sense of how fast it is going through the PSIs. When someone asks you your pressure, you should have checked recently enough to give a pretty good estimate.

 

[LI-er]

Another simpler thing to do, is to just practice placing your hand on various items on your rig, in a super fast, smooth and efficient manner and without looking. You may not even need to deploy them, (which can be bothersome), but being able to instantly put your hand on your knife, your back up knife, your rear dump,

I KNEW there was something I forgot to put in my first post on this thread that I do fairly regularly, and you mentioned here, in the quote above. Among the other things to practice putting your hands on, are those rear dumps, both on the opposite shoulder and the bottom of the BCD. For me, they're harder to find than they should be and it's STILL not reflexive. The other problem is, at least for me that those dumps seem to be all or nothing, not much different than flushing a toilet bowl. Once I find them and pull the cord I sink like a stone.

 

[CG43]

Scuba diving is like driving. The license gives you the right to do it ............

Please post a list of which countries have scuba police.
Preferably with pictures of the uniforms so we know when it is better to dive down .

 

[Soloist]

Remove and replace BC. Proper technique should be accomplished with minimal effort while maintaining depth and without twisting hoses. The logic for this exercise is to be proficient at resolving entanglements.

 

[rmssetc]

Special thanks to @John C. Ratliff for giving me the idea for this thread.

Scuba diving is like driving. The license gives you the right to do it but doesn't mean you're competent, or if you are, that you'll stay that way.

Most dives, especially the more mundane, present opportunities to work on skills that were either never properly learned or mastered, or they were, but without practice will get rusty.

Here's stuff that I like to do periodically.

[SNIP!]

Did I miss any good ones?

Great list.

I'd suggest making it very clear to other divers in your group before the dive -- even beyond communicating with your buddy -- that you'll be practicing skills, so that they don't mistake some actions (using octopus regulator, extended swimming w/o mask, sending up a DSMB, BCD oral inflation, gear removal) as indicative of a problem.

 

[Zef]

Great list, especially the mask R&R / no mask breathing. I might add underwater scuba doff and don [although this does require contact with the bottom].

Ummm.....no it doesn't. There is no reason to make contact with bottom when doffing/donning one's kit underwater.

In fact PADI requires Divemaster candidates conduct a complete equipment exchange underwater while maintaining neutral buoyancy:

From the PADI Instructor Manual, Divemaster Course Instructor Guide:

Exercise 5: Equipment Exchange In confned water, demonstrate the ability to effectively respond to an unusual circumstance underwater by exchanging all scuba equipment (except exposure suits and weight belts) with a buddy while neutrally buoyant earning a minimum score of 3. During the exchange, when divers switch scuba kits, they should go to and breathe from their buddy’s alternate air source, not the primary secondstage. Instead of exchanging masks, divers remove and replace their own masks.

-Z

 

[boulderjohn]

Ummm.....no it doesn't. There is no reason to make contact with bottom when doffing/donning one's kit underwater.

Correct.

After I finished developing the processes I used to teach open water classes with students neutrally buoyant, those beginning OW students completed both the weight belt removal and replacement and the scuba unit removal and preplacement in mid water while neutrally buoyant.

 

[TMHeimer]

As my diving now is always shallow solo (30' or less) shore dives, the two skills I do practice are CESA and hovering. One just in case I ever have to use it, the other just because. I don't really consider keeping track of gas, buoyancy, finning, etc. really as "skills", but as simply diving properly.

 

[34109411]

As my diving now is always shallow solo (30' or less) shore dives, the two skills I do practice are CESA and hovering. One just in case I ever have to use it, the other just because. I don't really consider keeping track of gas, buoyancy, finning, etc. really as "skills", but as simply diving properly.

i am like you max depth is 40' ish. Are you practicing cesa from 30' ? I need to practice this...