Situational awareness when diving.

[Teamcasa]

On a recent dive at Catalina Island’s Casino dive park, my lovely bride and I were testing some new gear (more on that later) and just having a good time diving. Being it was a Saturday I also knew there would be a lot of divers there. However, even with so many divers the one thing I found fascinating is that many of these divers had no situational awareness. Some would fin right under me without even knowing I was directly above them. I had one diver who was evidently diving solo as there were no other divers near him, came within inches of me and never even knew I was there. How is this possible?

When I dive, I look around, keep track of my buddy, and know where I am, depth, air pressure and dive time. It is my version of situational awareness. My question is, do you have it or do you just focus on what is directly in the confines of your mask?

Dave

 

[Tigerman]

Do you say hi to every stranger on the street? Do you remember what the last person you walked by before doing the 2nd left turn wore?
No? Me neither...

Altho people might SEEM not to pay attention to you, they might well do, although Im sure theres a lot that pay absolutely no attention to anything but the fish under that rock that they wanna have a closer look at too..

 

[Teamcasa]

No, but I do know that I passed them. When diving I do know where my buddy is and that the fish under the rock is a juvenile garibaldi.

Dave

 

[Blackwood]

Like Tiger said, how do you know these divers had no idea you were there?

...

But yes, an unfortunate number of divers have no appreciable situational awareness.

 

[LIVES4SHARKS]

AWARENESS is a very hard thing to learn. I, as a still new diver, find that I tend to look down more than look directly ahead. It is a skill that needs to be practiced regularly which of course includes buddy awareness. Awareness skills are really not taught or even reinforced in basic OW. I don't know how many times I have been finned in the head from those descending or those holding onto an ascent line. But then, you don't realize how bad at awareness you are until someone points that out to you. You might not be as "AWARE" as you think you might be! That is a hard lesson to learn but probably the best thing that you can be taught and correct.

Happy Diving!
Carolyn:sharks:

 

[do it easy]

I see this sometimes- I've certainly seen people swim past me and not notice. I might not see divers directly behind me, but I look around every once in a while.

I don't say hi to everyone on the street, but I do try to make eye contact and wave when I see other divers underwater.

 

[TSandM]

I'm aware of myself, my depth, my time, my pressure; I'm aware of my team, where they are, and how they look. I'm aware of where I am and where I'm going.

But it's quite possible for someone who falls outside those parameters to swim by me without being noticed, until they enter the field of view of my mask. I'm not looking for them; they came out of the murk, and until they are relevant in some way to my dive, I may not pay much attention to them, or even see them.

Of course, I can't trumpet my accomplishments in the field of situational awareness, either

 

[Teamcasa]

If the diver is or at least pretends to be unaware of me how is he supposed to aware of his buddy? Or if he was a solo, and I was unaware of him and he signals OOA, then what?

Dave

 

[Tigerman]

Then he have to face the consequences of being solo?

When I was in school, there was a teacher having a lecture about a poem from the 1800s who thought I didnt pay attention at all because I was looking out the window, not paying attention to anything in the classroom. She was pretty supprised when I retold her last 3 sentences word for word when she asked me what she just said..

Things are not allways what they seem, nor are they not...

 

[do it easy]

Another scenario is when you see one diver looking for his buddy and you can see his buddy too!