Safe Diving Practices - Yes or No?

[MaxBottomtime]

1. Maintain good mental and physical fitness for diving. Avoid being under the influence of alcohol or dangerous drugs when
diving. Keep proficient in diving skills, striving to increase them through continuing education and reviewing them in
controlled conditions after a period of diving inactivity.
I don't do drugs and have never had a drink of alcohol, but have dived many times when I didn't feel well.

2. Be familiar with my dive sites. If not, obtain a formal diving orientation from a knowledgeable, local source. If diving
conditions are worse than those in which I am experienced, postpone diving or select an alternate site with better
conditions. Engage only in diving activities consistent with my training and experience. Do not engage in cave or technical diving unless specifically trained to do so.
I prefer to explore the unknown sometimes. I've dived many wrecks for the first time and loved every dive. The sense of discovery is one of my favorite things about diving.

3. Use complete, well-maintained, reliable equipment with which I am familiar; and inspect it for correct fit and function prior
to each dive. Deny use of my equipment to uncertified divers. Always have a buoyancy control device and submersible
pressure gauge when scuba diving. Recognize the desirability of an alternate air source and a low-pressure buoyancy
control inflation system.
I've dived without a BC and pressure gauge and it didn't inpact the dive. I now use the same gear on every dive, but rarely inspect it.

4. Listen carefully to dive briefings and directions and respect the advice of those supervising my diving activities. Recognize that additional training is recommended for participation in specialty diving activities, in other geographic areas and
after periods of inactivity that exceed six months.
Agree completely, unless the specialities are what PADI considers worth a card. I had several hundred dives before getting an Advanced OW card.

5. Adhere to the buddy system throughout every dive. Plan dives – including communications, procedures for reuniting in
case of separation and emergency procedures – with my buddy.
I love solo diving.

6. Be proficient in dive table usage. Make all dives no decompression dives and allow a margin of safety. Have a means to
monitor depth and time underwater. Limit maximum depth to my level of training and experience. Ascend at a rate of not
more than 18 metres/60 feet per minute. Be a SAFE diver – Slowly Ascend From Every dive. Make a safety stop as an
added precaution, usually at 5 metres/15 feet for three minutes or longer.
I prefer to use a computer for recreational diving and a bottom timer for planned decompression dives.

7. Maintain proper buoyancy. Adjust weighting at the surface for neutral buoyancy with no air in my buoyancy control device.
Maintain neutral buoyancy while underwater. Be buoyant for surface swimming and resting. Have weights clear for easy
removal, and establish buoyancy when in distress while diving.
When I'm trying to get a photograph of a minute critter I prefer to be negatively buoyant. I also have no ditchable weight. I prefer to be weighted properly.

8. Breathe properly for diving. Never breath-hold or skip-breathe when breathing compressed air, and avoid excessive
hyperventilation when breath-hold diving. Avoid overexertion while in and underwater and dive within my limitations.
I sometimes hold my breath while taking a picture. I also stretch my limitations to advance my abilities.

9. Use a boat, float or other surface support station, whenever feasible.
When beach diving I swim out to the drop zone, drop and try to make it close to my exit point by the end of the dive. Only my bubbles can be seen at the surface.

10. Know and obey local dive laws and regulations, including fish and game and dive flag laws
Agree 100%

 

[TSandM]

I'm quite sure I adhere to the intent of almost all of them, if not the specific letter. I do hold my breath under certain circumstances, if I am not changing depth. I go out and set the float for classes by myself. My weights are not arranged for easy ditching (under my harness) but I dive with redundant buoyancy. I do not adhere to the 130 foot limit, but then again, I have technical training. Similarly with overheads. I do have good buoyancy control, and use a flag or float where it is required. I don't dive when I don't feel I am well enough, either physically or mentally, to do the proposed dive. I think I'm mostly adherent.

 

[Insta-Gator]

My exception is the occasional shallow, short-duration solo dive.

 

[sebach]

While I adhere to the spitit of some of these rules, I don't think there is any that I always respect. Rule 10 would be the one I respect the most.

 

[scubadada]

1. Maintain good mental and physical fitness for diving. Avoid being under the influence of alcohol or dangerous drugs when
diving. Keep proficient in diving skills, striving to increase them through continuing education and reviewing them in
controlled conditions after a period of diving inactivity. Yes, I can easily take of myself and could rescue you if you required assistance


2. Be familiar with my dive sites. If not, obtain a formal diving orientation from a knowledgeable, local source. If diving
conditions are worse than those in which I am experienced, postpone diving or select an alternate site with better
conditions. Engage only in diving activities consistent with my training and experience. Do not engage in cave or technical diving unless specifically trained to do so. Maybe, I actively search out new areas where I have never dived before. I do dive within my sphere of competance and do pay attention to briefings.


3. Use complete, well-maintained, reliable equipment with which I am familiar; and inspect it for correct fit and function prior
to each dive. Deny use of my equipment to uncertified divers. Always have a buoyancy control device and submersible
pressure gauge when scuba diving. Recognize the desirability of an alternate air source and a low-pressure buoyancy
control inflation system. Yes


4. Listen carefully to dive briefings and directions and respect the advice of those supervising my diving activities. Recognize that additional training is recommended for participation in specialty diving activities, in other geographic areas and
after periods of inactivity that exceed six months. Yes


5. Adhere to the buddy system throughout every dive. Plan dives – including communications, procedures for reuniting in
case of separation and emergency procedures – with my buddy. No, unless diving with someone in my family, I prefer to dive alone. I take responsibility for such dives. On drift dives, I always deploy my own SMB and ascend safely...


6. Be proficient in dive table usage. Make all dives no decompression dives and allow a margin of safety. Have a means to
monitor depth and time underwater. Limit maximum depth to my level of training and experience. Ascend at a rate of not
more than 18 metres/60 feet per minute. Be a SAFE diver – Slowly Ascend From Every dive. Make a safety stop as an
added precaution, usually at 5 metres/15 feet for three minutes or longer. No, I occasionally exceed recreational dive depths and reasonably frequently do decompression dives with brief stops


7. Maintain proper buoyancy. Adjust weighting at the surface for neutral buoyancy with no air in my buoyancy control device.
Maintain neutral buoyancy while underwater. Be buoyant for surface swimming and resting. Have weights clear for easy
removal, and establish buoyancy when in distress while diving. Yes


8. Breathe properly for diving. Never breath-hold or skip-breathe when breathing compressed air, and avoid excessive
hyperventilation when breath-hold diving. Avoid overexertion while in and underwater and dive within my limitations. No, I occasionally hold my breath at constant depth for a variety of reasons, I occasionally overexert myself for goal driven objectives.


9. Use a boat, float or other surface support station, whenever feasible. yes


10. Know and obey local dive laws and regulations, including fish and game and dive flag laws
Yes

 

[Ana]

When you talk about this statement being signed by certifying PADI divers is that like an oath the people has to take before getting certified?

Wow things have change since I got certified.

 

[Zieg]

OMG!!!!!! I've broken aaaaalllllllll the "Rules". I'm a baaaaad boy.

 

[DevonDiver]

OMG!!!!!! I've broken aaaaalllllllll the "Rules". I'm a baaaaad boy.

This is the kind of attitude I am keen to investigate. It seems to be a predominantly American phenomenon.

There isn't a single mention of these being 'rules', either in the thread or the documents themselves. But, still, they seem to engage a rebellious streak in certain divers who then seek to flout them.

Zieg... I am interested. What thought processes did you engage when making the decision that you would not apply safety advice​ to your diving activities?

 

[imwright1985]

Those are BS standards, You should be somewhat aware of the area your entering, but here our dives are high current so you dont know what way exactly your going. Solo diving in a safe area is not any more risky then team dives (BHB is a great solo dive area). Exceding your limits with no overheads on OW and no deeper then 60' is garbage too since you can easily go to 100 and few people get narked there, just watch your times and air.

 

[Zieg]

There isn't a single mention of these being 'rules', either in the thread or the documents themselves.

...

Zieg... I am interested. What thought processes did you engage when making the decision that you would not apply safety advice​ to your diving activities?

Most agencies have a published statement upon which they state their definition of safe diving practices, which they expect divers holding their qualifications to adhere to.

Having read many threads on Scubaboard, that invariably deal with the issue of diving safety, I was wondering what divers' attitudes towards the safety recommendations given by their agencies were. Many of the posts that I've read certainly seem in opposition to these most basic safety rules that certifying divers declare to adhere to.

It appears to me that you used the term 'rules' in your original post, then when referring to me you substituted the term 'advice'.

So at one time or another I've not followed the advice, rules, guidelines, whatever you want to call them. Shall I go down the line and address each and every item in your list? No. But I will try to give you a feel for where I'm coming from. To begin with, I wasn't certified when I started diving. At that time there was no requirement to be certified. I started diving solo. I used old used dive gear that I rebuilt myself. There were no BC's and pressure gauges were a luxury and not required, let alone an alternate air source. I've allowed non-certified divers to use my gear, I've even taken a non-certified person diving. Again, certification was not required. At that time no one did safety stops. I've done deco dives, some not even planned. There was no "Technical Diving". I've exceeded recommended depths, but at that time, the only recommended depth to exceed was 130', but sometimes you just hafta go for it.

Get the picture? Probably not. Most people will read this and consider me reckless. Simply, I started diving when there weren't so many ... restrictions, how's that word.

An example, went to a wedding at the Christ statue in the keys. Only dive we were going to make that day. We were told in our 'briefing' we were just going to sit on the bottom, then after the ceremony, return to the boat. Then the divemaster had a conniption when he saw I wasn't wearing a BC. I had brought one along, just in case. Funny part, he didn't mention anything about the double hose without an alternate air source or pressure gauge.