Dive Boat Etiquette for Newbies???

[Damselfish]

No one will tell you where you should wear your weights. One thing you may run into someday on a small boat - sometimes the procedure is to take off your gear in the water before climbing up the ladder. Rather than climbing up with it on which is more typical. If that happens they may ask you to remove your weight pouches and hand them up separately. In which case ask if you need to - with <10 pounds good chance they won't care. They just don't want to have to hoist a BC with an extra 30# of weights in it.

 

[dbulmer]

Just a few tips in addition to what's been said already.

1) Avoid sitting next to the boat engines - I find it can help me be sea sick.
2) Drink plenty of water before the dive, on the boat and after the dive.

3) Avoid greasy food - eat cereals and non-acidic fruit.

4) Talk to your buddy - if you need help kitting up don't be afraid to ask - look on it as your pre-dive check and always do your pre-dive check no matter who you are diving with. Try to kit up as soon as you can without rushing - it'll make you more relaxed for your descent and you won't be sweating as much.

5) If you feel uneasy about a dive don't do it - you can always call a dive for any reason. If your buddy gives you grief about it then find a better buddy. Good divers appreciate honesty before a dive - they don't like nasty surprises in the water so if you have any misgivings before you enter the water talk to your DM or buddy first.

6) Plan your dive, dive your plan - talk to your buddy about who is going to do what - make it part of your plan. Review your tables before you dive even if you have a computer and go thru' hand signals. (The DM is likely to do this too but you may need to talk to your buddy too)

7) Listen to the skipper and boat crew - when you surface make sure you establish positive buoyancy before getting back on a ladder/boat and don't rush unless sea conditions dictate otherwise.

8) Take your time, monitor your air and watch your buddy at all times but enjoy the dive too.

9) Come back to Scubaboard and make us all jealous

10) Have a great holiday !

 

[cnctina]

If there's a big bucket of fresh water on the boat, its probably a camera rinse tank. Make sure you don't dunk your mask in it to rinse off the defog.

Enjoy your trip!

And please don't barf in the camera buchet or the mask bucket if you get sea sick. Heave over the lee side of the boat.

 

[asaara]

If there's a big bucket of fresh water on the boat, its probably a camera rinse tank. Make sure you don't dunk your mask in it to rinse off the defog.

Hehehehe...oops! ;-) What's a little bit of spit going to do to a camera casing, though? Only ever done it on dive boats when everyone else was rinsing their masks in it and no one was carrying cameras, though.

 

[Shangrl]

I promise I won't get seasick. I will only be 250 ft from shore on flat calm water unless TS Alpha is still hanging around down there. Promise I won't embaress the Scubaboard!..haha
No mask dunking in camera tank, no elevater buoancy, no stiffing the DM. I will behave..at least on the boat and in the water..

 

[scubavince]

You might want to considered taking a refresher course or ask one of your DM friends to take you shore diving and help with weighting issues. I found the refresher course useful on my first trip, it left me pretty confident for a week's worth of boat diving. The main thing is have FUN and get comfortable with diving, let the DMs know if your not.

Vince

 

[The Kraken]

Keep your gear squared away.
Neat and tidy is good on a dive boat.
Make sure you remove the bungie cord from around the tank valve before you attach your regulator. If you don't, it becomes very difficult to stand after donning your B/C.

the K