Whether you are a newly certified scuba diver, a seasoned diver that has not been diving for a while or a seasoned diver that dives regularly, this post will help you avoid some of the most common scuba diving mistakes.
From my experience as diving instructor, I see scuba divers making these mistakes regularly. Reading through the following list of the 16 most frequent scuba diving mistakes, will help you become a better scuba diver while avoiding dangerous situations.
Most Common Mistakes At A Glance:
For a quick read, here is the list of the 16 most frequent mistakes that many scuba divers make. If you can identify yourself in any of the following, keep scrolling down for a more detailed description and possible ways to avoid those mistakes.
- Neglecting Health and Fitness
- Neglecting Dive Gear Maintenance
- Insufficient or Inaccurate Dive Planning
- Skipping a Predive Safety Check
- Lack of Buddy Communication
- Incorrect Weighting
- Not Equalizing Soon Enough
- Incorrect Positioning Towards Other Divers
- Lack of Buoyancy Control
- Use the BCD Inflator Too Much During a Dive
- Diving Beyond Your Training
- Task Overload
- Running Out of Air
- Not Taking Personal Responsibility
- Shorter Surface Interval
Mistakes Before A Dive
Many divers do not realize that some diving mistakes are generated even before they start a dive. This is particularly the case of those divers that neglect their health and fitness, that do not maintain their gear regularly, do not properly plan a dive and skip a pre dive safety check.
From experience, many seasoned divers fall in this category, maybe because the feel relatively more confident (or overconfident I would dare saying).
Diving Mistake 1: Neglecting Health and Fitness
Scuba diving is often seen as a hobby rather than a sport, creating quite some misconceptions around health and fitness.
As most seasoned divers know, diving is a physically demanding sport both at surface and below the water. Do not forget that recreational diving equipment weights on average 33 Lbs or 15 Kg which can be quite heavy on someone’s shoulders particularly in a tropical/hot environment.
Even a short walk with 33 Lbs on your shoulders can turn out to be quite demanding. By the same token, swimming against a strong sudden current (even in an easy dive site) can be equally exhausting.
This is why ensuring you are in good health conditions and fit for diving is essential before starting any dive.
Particularly for frequent divers, I personally recommend having a medical check-up on a yearly basis certifying your fitness to dive. This will help ensuring you have adequate cardiovascular health and physical strength to dive.
Besides the annual medical check-up, there are several other factors that each diver should self-assess before any dive to rule out any condition that can tur out to be dangerous below the surface.
For example, if you notice some signs of congestion you should refrain from diving as this could affect your ability to compensate. By the same token, if you had a recent injury (even mild) you should assess whether this could affect your ability to make substantial physical efforts. Physical efforts range from fighting a strong current to rescuing your buddy if needed.
On top of good health do not forget that physical fitness is essential for diving. This is why all divers should associate their diving activities with regular sport that includes both aerobic and muscle strengthening activities.
Diving Mistake 2: Neglecting Gear Maintenance
Neglecting gear maintenance is a classic mistake for many divers, from newbies to the most experts.
In case you have your own scuba equipment, do not forget to have it serviced regularly by your local dive shop. I personally have it checked also prior to some demanding scuba holidays such as liveaboards.
If instead you are renting scuba diving equipment, do not be afraid to ask to the dive shop when it was last serviced. If you are not satisfied with the quality of the rental equipment, do not be afraid to ask the dive shop to change it.
My tip to avoid forgetting gear maintenance is to set calendar reminders whenever you buy a new piece of gear. In general, every manufacturer of scuba diving gear will write in the instructions manual the frequency at which a piece of gear should be serviced.
Do not forget that scuba regulators are not the only piece of gear that should be serviced regularly. Having scuba cylinders, BCD, wetsuit, dry suit, and dive computer serviced regularly is equally important.
Diving Mistake 3: Insufficient or Inaccurate Dive Planning
Whenever you are going diving, you should plan each single dive and dive your plan.
Dive planning includes entry and exit points given specific environmental conditions, direction, duration, maximum depth, dive turning point, emergency procedures in case a diver gets lost, and buddy teams.
Many divers do not plan their dives as they solely rely on diving guides, divemasters or instructors.
This can result in dangerous situations in case you and your buddy get distanced from the dive guide. In case you are not diving with your usual buddy, I also suggest reviewing the main hand signals to ensure you are able to communicate effectively with your buddy underwater.
Diving Mistake 4: Skipping a Predive Safety Check
If you have taken you open water with PADI, I am sure you are familiar with the acronym BWARF which stands for BCD/ Buoyancy, Weights, Air, Releases, and Final OK.
Those are the steps you should always go through whenever performing a predive safety check or buddy check.
Skipping a predive safety check can result in dangerous situations such as jumping in the water without having connected the BCD inflator hose, forgetting your mask on the dive boat, or even your weight belt.
Mistakes During A Dive
To avoid some of the mistakes during a dive, you might want to consider reviewing PADI’s Knowledge Review Questions from chapter 2.
Diving Mistake 5: Lack of Buddy Communication
This mistake is usually the direct consequence of improper or insufficient dive planning. Whether you are diving with your regular buddy or with a new buddy, it is always a good practice to review hand signals.
Hand signals review should not be limited to numbers to indicate the residual gas pressure. Many divers only review the hand signals for numbers as in fact there are different systems to communicate numbers underwater (for example single handed versus two handed system).
That said, it is equally important to review hand signals to point out to your buddy that something is wrong with your ears, head, stomach. In addition, you should make sure you agree on the way to communicate an “out of air” situation.
Besides the hand numbering system and signals related to emergency situations, you should also review the most common hand signs to point out specific marine life.
This might seem silly, but you definitely want to avoid a situation in which you are making the “turtle” hand sign and your buddy thinks you are out of air.
Diving Mistake 6: Incorrect Weighting
Incorrect weighting is a classic for newly certified divers and for diving travellers. This is often the result of using rental equipment rather than your own gear.
By changing equipment so frequently, you are always in doubt whether the weights are sufficient or not and might end up with difficulties in descending (in case you are under weighted) or in abnormal gas consumption (in case you are over weighted).
Although there are some systems to compute the approximate amount of weight you need to scuba dive, nothing can substitute a buoyancy check.
Do not forget that a buoyancy check should be performed both at the beginning and at the end of your first dive (or even first few dives).
The buoyancy check at the end of the first dive will be useful to make sure that you are adequately weighted even when your scuba cylinder is partially empty and therefore more buoyant.
If you are on a scuba vacation, there is no shame in asking your dive centre to do a buoyancy check before starting your first dive. I usually do so when I am unsure.
Another useful tip is to write in your log book the full specifications of the equipment you have been using during a dive. Those should include type of BCD, thickness of wetsuit or type of drysuit, and how much weight / lead you have used.
In such a way next time you dive with similar equipment you can always look back into your logbook.
Diving Mistake 7: Not Equalizing Soon Enough
Most of the divers that are having issues in equalizing either have some form of sinus congestion or are not equalizing soon enough.
In both cases this is quite a tricky situation as it can result in a eardrum rupture with sudden pain, vertigo, and subsequent panic.
Luckily enough, there is a solution for divers that are not equalizing soon enough.
If you fall in such category of scuba divers, do not forget that you should not be waiting for huge pressure in your ears to equalize. You should in fact be doing this every 3 Fts or 1 meter upon descending even if you do not feel pressure in your ears.
Equalizing your body’s air spaces whenever you feel zero to little pressure ensures you will not end up in a painful situation where you will need to ascend a couple of meters to equalize.
Diving Mistake 8: Incorrect Positioning Towards Other Divers
Incorrect positioning towards other divers is not a dangerous mistake by itself. It is simply annoying for other divers in case you are diving in a group and can become dangerous in case you are incorrectly positioned towards your diving buddy.
When diving in a buddy team, do not forget that you should always be at an arm’s length to your buddy to ensure you are able to react promptly in case of emergency. Ideally, you should also be diving at the same depth, one next to the other.
In case your buddy stops to take a look at some corals or to take some pictures you should stop as well to avoid separation.
When diving in a group, you should remain at an arm’s length from your buddy, ideally both of you will be at the same depth of the dive guide while trying not to distance yourselves too much from the group.
In case you need to stop to take some pictures, signal it to the dive guide or to other divers so that they know why you have stopped and can wait for you.
Although it is a dive guide’s job to monitor his or her group and keep it compact, there’s only so much a diving guide can do if divers start going in all directions.
Also, don’t forget that diving too close to other divers might expose you to some involuntary fin kicks which can displace your regulator or mask.
Diving Mistake 9: Lack Of Buoyancy Control
Lack of buoyancy control is often the result of inexperience or incorrect weighting. In the first case I suggest to be fully transparent with your dive guide or divemaster and inform him or her that you only have done a handful of dives and that are still working on your buoyancy.
In 100% of the cases, divemasters will be happy to help you and show you some tricks and skills to perfect your buoyancy. They might even suggest you to take some specialty courses such as the PADI’s Peak Performance Buoyancy that will help you have a perfect buoyancy.
In case your lack of buoyancy control depends on incorrect weighting do not forget to perform a buoyancy check at the beginning and at the end of your first dive.
It is way better to waste some time at the beginning of your first dive to figure out the right amount of weight rather than consume gas and substantially reduce your dive time because you are incorrectly weighted.
Don’t forget that adequate buoyancy is also essential to avoid harming marine life, and preventing marine life injuries.
Diving Mistake 10: Using the BCD Inflator Too Much
This mistake is typical of newly certified divers, which did not figure out yet the proper amount of weight.
I often see new divers diving with their left hand on the inflator hose and constantly adjusting the air in their buoyancy control device to ascend or descend.
This inevitably results in an over consumption of breathing gas, and in overly short dives.
To avoid making this mistake, you should make sure you are correctly weighted. In most cases, if you are overweighted, you will have the tendency to constantly play with your inflator hose to maintain a given depth.
Another useful tip is to monitor mor frequently your diving depth on your dive computer, and try to maintain a constant depth without touching your inflator hose for a while.
Diving Mistake 11: Diving Beyond Your Training
This mistake is most often the case od scuba diving fatalities. Diving beyond your training (or without proper training) can be extremely dangerous and put you and your dive buddy in situations that you might not be able to solve due to lack of knowledge.
The most classic example of diving beyond your limits is exceeding the depth limits for which you are certified. Do not forget that exceeding depth limits might expose you to Nitrogen Narcosis which substantially alters your capacity of judging some situations, exposing you to quite some dangers.
Other examples of diving beyond your training include, diving with a dry suit without being certified for it, diving with gas mixes other than air without having taken a specific course, or even diving with a closed circuit apparatus (or rebreather) without adequate training.
Same goes foe exploring a wreck or a cave without having neither a wreck diving nor a cave diving certification.
To avoid diving beyond your training I suggest checking with your local dive shop whether some specific training is needed whenever you feel like trying new diving techniques or gear. They will be more than happy to support you in your learning process while helping you avoid diving accidents.
Diving Mistake 12: Task Overload
Task Overload is another classic scuba diving mistake, particularly for newly certified divers. Just like the name suggests, task overload involves carrying out multiple tasks which can in turn lead to loss of concentration on your main task.
An example of task overload is trying to take a picture while on a safety stop and at the same time trying to unroll your DSMB.
In such case you would be running four tasks a the same time: maintain good buoyancy at a given depth, checking out the time, unrolling your DSMB and trying to take a picture.
Taking a picture in such case might lead to loss on concentration while unrolling your DSMB which can result in an early and quick ascent. This can in turn be the cause for DCS.
My suggestion here is to apply your judgment and keep focusing on your main task. Even if you loose the opportunity to take a picture, there will be many more situations in which you can do so that will not expose you to substantial risks.
Diving Mistake 13: Running Out of Air
Running out of air is definitely a situation in which you do not want to find yourself. Even more so if you are distant from your buddy or if you are on a deep dive.
There might be several reasons for which divers run out of air, including abnormal air consumption, malfunctioning equipment or simply distraction.
In either case, the best way to avoid running out of air is to monitor your gas consumption constantly. If you notice an abnormal air consumption and your equipment is well maintained and functioning properly, you should remain shallow and close to your buddy.
Eventually you should not be afraid to terminate a dive early to avoid running out of air. Even in case of abnormal air consumption, you should end the dive with a minimum of air left in your tank to face possible unforeseen circumstances.
Dipping into your air safety buffer should never be the solution to extend your dive time.
Mistakes After A Dive
Diving Mistake 14: Not Taking Personal Responsibility
Making mistakes is quite common for most divers at all levels. Scuba diving is a sport requiring quite some technical knowledge and specialized skills and forgetting something is quite easy.
It is however extremely important that we, as divers, learn from our own mistakes. Learning from a mistake should start by taking responsibility for it and eventually assuming the consequences.
Rejecting to take responsibility for a mistake inevitably leads to repeating it in the future.
My suggestion to learn from your mistakes is to keep track of those in your logbook.
Every time you realize you made a mistake, write it down in your logbook trying to analyse what were the possible causes and consequences and whether it could have caused harm to other divers.
Diving Mistake 15: Shorter Surface Interval
Surface interval is there for a reason and you should not be cutting it to be on time for lunch for example.
Specifically, surface interval between repetitive dives is needed to offgass your body from residual nitrogen so that in your next dive you can enjoy the maximum dive time possible.
Cutting on your surface interval time can be quite dangerous and increase the risk of DCS while surfacing from your second dive or even increase the risk of nitrogen narcosis during the dive.
Don’t forget that you should have an adequate surface interval not only between dives, but also before flying. If you are interested in learning more about flying after diving, check out my post “Can I take a plane after diving?”
Conclusion
Summing up, making mistakes while diving is normal particularly at the beginning of your scuba diving journey.
To avoid making mistakes, which can in extreme cases result in injuries or fatalities, it is essential that you dive within the limits of your training and that you try to remain updated also in case of long no-diving periods.
In case you have not been diving for long periods, you might want to consider taking a scuba refresher course such as the PADI ReActivate to make sure you are perfectly prepared for your diving holiday.
Before going on a diving holiday, after a long period without diving, I also find it useful to go through my dive logbook and check whether in my last 10 to 15 dives there was any element worth paying attention to (e.g. equipment, weighting, mistakes).