PEOPLE - Don't Lie about your dive experience!!

[drbill]

As a solo diver, I'm not sure who I'd give a hand signal to... other than my pony bottle. However, when I do dive buddied up I have noticed a lot of confusion regarding the hand signal for the safety stop.

As for divers lying about their experience level, I remember two who told me the truth when I was diving at Cousteau's Fiji resort. My first buddy made it clear that he wasn't going to follow any of the rules put forth by the DM. He began descending past 150 ft and I signaled the DM to go down and get him and I'd join the rest of the group at 60 ft. Although he didn't lie, it was a lousy dive!

The second buddy that trip was a new diver who said he was a real air hog. We did surface after about 30 min on a dive I would easily have gone 60+ min on. However, he had been direct and honest so I knew what to expect. He was extremely apologetic after we were back on the boat, and I told him he shouldn't be as he was clear in telling me that from the beginning and I had a nice dive with him.

 

[Thalassamania]

Wow! I think Thalassamania is actually Dirk Pitt!! Thal, do you have emerald green eyes by any chance?

Actually I do. There has been the joke that since I pre-date Pitt, that he was based on me, but we all know that's not true, Dirk Pitt was based on Dirk Rosen of Deep Ocean Engineering. But we do know tat the name came from Dirk Cussler, the author's son.

 

[kadleck]

My hand signal for a three minute safety stop: I hold my hand horizontally and wave it side to side to indicate level out. Then three fingers to indicate 3 minutes. Then OK?, hopefully getting an OK back. It usually works, however I'm aware it could be a lot better. Anyone have any good ideas?

I (or my buddy, depending who decides first) just hold up 3 fingers and point to my computer. When the time has expired I point at the computer again and sign OK. If an OK is returned (ie his computer time has also expired), we then thumb up.

 

[jackd]

I dive in metric so my sign for a 3min stop at 5m is simply 3 fingers held up in front of my other hand with all 5 fingers spread out. It's best to agree on signals before you splash.

 

[Buoyant1]

I dive in metric so my sign for a 3min stop at 5m is simply 3 fingers held up in front of my other hand with all 5 fingers spread out. It's best to agree on signals before you splash.

I agree. a quick run down of signals and protocals is always best before descending.

My most common one is the "where's the boat?" signal!

 

[DivingPrincessE]

I agree. a quick run down of signals and protocals is always best before descending.

My most common one is the "where's the boat?" signal!

fftopic:
Happy Birthday!!! :balloons:arty:

Ok over

 

[Thalassamania]

Lets see ... 3 minute stop at 15 fsw.

Fist: Stop.
Point to gauge: Depth
Flash 15: 5 fingers three times (or just 4 fingers if I'm with a buddy who is into binary "01111," yes ... we do that)
Point to watch: Time
Flash 3: 3 fingers (or just thumb and index finger if I'm with a buddy who is into
binary "00011," yes ... we do that).
Level off: Flat hand palm down moving away from body.
OK?

 

[Gombessa]

OK, to throw another into the mix:

1. Open hand, palm-down, left-to-right-to-left ("level off")
2. "OK" sign but with only pinky extended forming a "d" ("deco")
3. 1, 2, 3...however many fingers to denote: ("x minutes")
4. open hand, palm down, moving from 6:00 through 3:00 to 12:00 ("ascend to next stop or surface")

I agree that it's absolutely critical to go over hand signals with a buddy pre-dive. If they're more comfortable doing a 3-minute safety stop at 15 using their own hand signals, I'm ok with that.

 

[Thalassamania]

OK, to throw another into the mix:

1. Open hand, palm-down, left-to-right-to-left ("level off")
2. "OK" sign but with only pinky extended forming a "d" ("deco")
3. 1, 2, 3...however many fingers to denote: ("x minutes")
4. open hand, palm down, moving from 6:00 through 3:00 to 12:00 ("ascend to next stop or surface")

I agree that it's absolutely critical to go over hand signals with a buddy pre-dive. If they're more comfortable doing a 3-minute safety stop at 15 using their own hand signals, I'm ok with that.

I think I'd get that ... the OK and "D" similarity might confuse me for a flash.

 

[drbill]

Ha... but the time I got those signals flashed, the safety stop would be over!