Depending on the type of accommodation you have chosen, if you are in a packed camp then have some respect for other divers in the camp or cabins next to you. You may be on a party trip but they might be on a peaceful break from a hectic work environment.
These are a few of the camp rules I have used in some of the camps I have worked…
Noise
Please respect the fact that some people in the camp are on an early dive and need to sleep. No noise after 10 pm. Go to the beach or a pub if you want to be noisy.
Dive planning
Dive planning takes place in the dining area every day at a specific time. Please be there, if you are not there we cannot book a dive for you.
Dive planning noticeboard
Kit up and launch times
Kit up time and launch times are on the board, please be ready to kit up at the designated time. Please sign the launch sheet, produce your dive card and complete an indemnity before you go diving.
Boat rules
Please ensure your kit, mask, fins and weight belt are on the boat you are on.
Try and sit opposite your gear from the launch as it is not safe to move kit around on a full dive boat.
Please ensure you are opposite your kit before you put your weight belt on.
Rinse your mask before you kit up as you are less likely to fall in the water.
Ready your kit by loosening the straps clips etc., so when someone gets to you to help, you are ready. This reduces the time spent bobbing on the ocean which causes seasickness in some divers.
At the end of the dive please hand your weights up before you remove your kit.
Once you are on the beach please take you mask and fins off the boat, and the staff will often bring the rest. A good habit is to remove your regulators and BCD and wear them back to you base as some operators can be hard on gear. (Remember to dry and replace the dust cap.)
Some more boat etiquette can be found in this post!
Learning to dive is expensive, and for most people it simply cannot be a spur of the moment decision. Problem is, if you’ve never dived before, or hung out with divers, it’s kind of daunting to try and figure out what course to take, where to go, and what seems reasonable in terms of cost.
Costs
Some things to ask the dive centre or Instructor before you part with your hard-earned bucks:
What exactly does the course qualify me to do (how deep can I dive, accompanied by whom, and can I rent kit with my certification)?
Does the course fee include the registration fee with the certifying authority (PADI, NAUI, etc.)? If not, how much will that cost?
Does the course fee include full kit rental for the duration of the course? If not, how much extra will it cost to rent kit (including air fills)?
Does the course fee include extra costs like the MPA permitsrequired for diving in Marine Protected Areas in South Africa?
Is there an option to pay for the course in more than one installment? This isn’t at all common, but it’s actually quite safe for a dive operator to do this – legally they are allowed to withhold certification (so you won’t get your personal identification card and won’t be able to rent gear or dive anywhere else) if you don’t complete paying for the course.
Course presentation
Some more questions, not related to the financial aspect, but still important:
If I’m slow to catch on with the skills, can I have more than one or an extended confined water session, or is there going to be time pressure (direct or implied)?
How many other people will be doing the course with me? What happens if I fall behind, or if they fall behind?
I can only dive on weekends/Monday afternoons/whatever… Can you structure the course to suit my timetable?
Can you accommodate any specific medical issues I have that don’t make me unfit to dive but will mean I need a bit of special assistance now and then?
The Instructor
Will the same person teach me the entire course? (This isn’t important to everyone, but to some people it may be.)
Can I meet the Instructor before I sign up for the course?
Has the Instructor ever had any disciplinary proceedings against him or been the subject of a QA review?
Can I get the Instructor’s certification number so that I can check his teaching status with PADI Pro Chek (or the equivalent for other certifying authorities)?
The whole caboodle
I actually did this when I signed up for my Open Water course, but generally it’s NOT wise to take the package that many dive centres offer that includes a dive course plus full soft gear (wetsuit, booties, fins, mask, snorkel). There are a variety of reasons to hold back when this package is presented as an option:
As Tony hassaidrepeatedly, you won’t have an idea of what kind of gear configuration suits you until you’ve done quite a few dives.
You may not even enjoy diving after you’ve tried it, and then you’ll be posting one of those “wetsuit worn once” advertisements!
You may end up with a lot of cheap junk instead of quality gear that will last you a long time.
It might not be cheaper than buying the gear piece by piece, yourself.
Certification agencies
This is a decision as to whether you’re going to do a PADI, SDI, NAUI, CMAS, SSI, IANTD or other course. It’s is a whole separate question but one which shouldn’t give you too much cause for concern… More to follow!
Hope this helps! As always, drop Tony an email if you have any more questions that need answering.
I’ve been bugging Tony to write this post because we often see advertisements related to this subject, to no avail, so I thought I’d just go ahead and do it. It’s about the distinction between two PADI courses – one of which is downright bizarre, if you ask me… but I guess suits some people otherwise it wouldn’t exist.
The course I think is bizarre is called Scuba Diver. The official PADI webpage for it is here. It qualifies you to do the following:
Dive under the direct supervision of a PADI Divemaster, Assistant Instructor or Instructor to a maximum depth of 12 metres
The other course, with which you are probably very familiar, is called Open Water. Here’s the PADI page about it. It involves a bit more theory and more sea dives than the Scuba Diver course, and qualifies you to do the following:
Dive independently (with a certified diving buddy) to a maximum depth of 18 metres
Here’s the catch: because the Scuba Diver course is a lesser qualification, and takes less time to teach, it costs less – often about half what an Open Water course costs. Of course, you can upgrade it to an Open Water course at any time, but that involves more theory, more skills and more dives. And of course, a small cash payment!
If you’re shopping for a dive course, be very sure that you understand what you’re getting and how it stacks up against what’s available. Don’t be fooled into thinking that the dive centre advertising that they’ll “turn you into a scuba diver” for a fraction of the price of the other operators is offering the same product… They’re probably not! The Scuba Diver course is great if you plan on doing lots of shallow dives with an Instructor by your side, but you may want to plan your own dives one day, and for most dive sites, 12 metres is going to limit your options!
So… You have planned and booked your first dive trip away from home. What can you expect and what should you take with you? Most travel agents and travel websites detail all the required inoculations, currency, and clothing you require but very few dive centres will advise you on what to bring as they are willing and able to rent you everything you forgot.
Almost every dive centre will operate on a similar basis in that they will have dive planning at a specific time of day, or a dive board where you will add your name. They will almost all have a printout or drawing of the dive sites in the range of their boat, details on depth, current and common sightings.
Dive sites around Ponta do Ouro
All dive centres will have you sign a few indemnities depending on their operation, one for the gear, perhaps one for boat travel, or adventure dives etc., but when they request you sign them, read them first, and produce your dive card. Make sure you sign up for a dive that is within your qualifications as it won’t be of any use to blame the dive charter if you end up at 40 metres when you only have an Open Water qualification. Dive centres and Dive Masters, guides, or whatever name they go by, will as a rule check your qualification before the dive, but don’t test this by leaving your certification card at home!
If possible take your own gear, or rent from your trusted dive centre if you are unsure of the serviceability of the place you are going to. Remember that some remote locations have huge logistic issues in servicing gear so check first. Having said that I have been to some of the remotest dive sites in Mozambique and found the dive centre has a state of the art workshop with all the required special tools and service kits.
Make sure you have a spare mask or mask strap, a spare fin strap and a few O rings. Check your dive bag before you leave, several times if need be. An expensive dive trip to the most remote islands of the world will go horribly wrong when the special mask you have to suit your oblong head… is left at home.
Make sure you know the type of cylinders used where you are going. If they only have aluminium cylinders without removable inserts then your DIN regulator will be of no use. An adaptor like this is useful:
You are in the middle of your Open Water course. There is possibly some pressure from your instructor/dive centre to make a scuba gear purchase. It is time to stop and think.
This will not make me very popular in the dive industry… But I do not recommend you buy your first set of dive gear without a fair amount of research. Sure, this can easily be done on the web or in one day by visiting a few dive centers, but the reality of the matter is you are new to the sport, you have yet to build a vast data bank in your head of the multitude of options available, you are impressed by your instructor’s opinion, and are swayed into buying the gear. A month later you decide diving is not for you, sky diving is the next option and you try and offload the gear with a ”hardly used dive gear” advert… You are going to lose money.
Don't let this be you!
But let’s be positive and say that you have decided that diving is the best thing you can do clothed. Some time has passed. You are done with the Adventures in Diving, have at least 10 dives in your dive log and want to dive the world.
You have booked your flights to the Red Sea and are starting to pack, thrilled with the idea of arriving at the dive centre with all of your own gear looking like a hard core diver. You even have your own heavy duty dive bag with wheels, handles and pockets galore.
You are now faced with a dilemma…
That fancy dive bag, the wheeled one with pockets, weighs 6 kgs empty. That won’t work, so you haul out the old lightweight bag you used on your previous travels.
The water temperature where you are going is 30 degrees, ouch, that 7mm two piece wetsuit won’t work there, so you decide to leave it at home and rent one. You discover your fins weigh a ton and are so long they wont fit in the old travel bag you are now using for weight saving, your very expensive BCD with 6 pockets, a back plate and 8 D-rings is also far too heavy… and to top it all your top of the range regulator is way too expensive for check in luggage and way too heavy for hand luggage. You decide to leave the whole lot at home and rent the hard and soft gear at your destination.
Ah, that ”brightest dive light in the world” that you bought, weighing in at 3kgs, is a bit too heavy so you decide to leave it at home too, and rent a light.
You can get dive lights in a wide variety of strengths, shapes, weights and profiles. Do your research!
So you arrive at your destination, rent everything you need and have a wonderful trip. You cram as many dives possible into every day and head home feeling wonderful. On the way home you reminisce on the dives, replaying them in your mind over and over again (this always happens when you are a dive junkie, trust me).
”That lightweight BCD I used with rear inflation is much more comfortable than my side inflation one… Hmm…”
”The rental dive torch was small, light and compact, and fitted easily into the one tiny pocket on the BCD, I wonder why I thought I need a BCD with 6 pockets? Hmm…”
”It was real easy getting into the rental wetsuit with a zip in front, why does my wetsuit not have that? Hmm…”
“Those short fins were so light and never made my legs tired – why do my fins feel so heavy?… Hmm!”
”That tiny mask they gave me was a breeze to clear, but mine is so big it takes several breaths to empty. Hmm…”
When you arrive home you re-evaluate you dive gear. It’s not junk, by no means, but not quite what you have found to be the best option. So you embark on a long, slow, deliberate road to replace these items with items in the style you have found to be ”your comfort zone”.
What to do?
This point – of having well-formed preferences for different types of gear – is only reached once you have dived for a while, once you have done 10-20 dives. There is no way you are able to reach this point half way into your Open Water course.
Many people will advocate that in the interest of health and hygiene you purchase your own soft gear, wetsuit, booties, fins, mask and snorkel, and some dive centres will only conduct your training if you make this purchase.
In all fairness to the dive centre, sales person, or your instructor, they will give you sound advice, and no manufacturer makes ”junk” in this industry. But the advice will be based on their own style, based on what they have available in their store and they will seldom recommend you shop around. It would be foolish to do so, but before you rush out and buy, try different configurations, rent different gear and decide what works for you.
For some general advice about buying gear, you can visit my follow-up posts on hard (BCD, regulator, cylinder) and soft (wetsuit, mask, fins, booties) gear.
There are divers around the world that will – and do – happily dive from all sorts of vessels. In some parts of the world diving takes place from reed rafts (Lake Malawi), from mokoros – similar to a hollowed out tree (some places in Mozambique), from canoes, jet skis, house boats (Lake Kariba), various hard boats and of course the most popular, rubber ducks. Their real name is semi rigid inflatables. People also use fold away inflatables with smaller motors in many places: these boats can be stored in your boot, inflated at the dive site, loose floor boards placed inside and a small outboard attached. All of this takes less than an hour and you are on your way to a dive site of your choice with a few buddies (only a few as they are small boats).
I will focus on the rubber ducks we use most often in South Africa, but most of these points apply to any type of vessel.
Much of the diving in South Africa and in many parts of Mozambique require a boat capable of taking 12 to 14 people and all their gear, and then being rugged enough to launch and return through rough surf, and then be able to withstand beaching. A dive boat with 10 divers, 10 sets of gear and all the safety gear can weigh around two tons. That’s a lot of weight when the boat is slammed onto the beach at a speed suitable to ensure it comes to a stop high enough out of the water so you can just step off.
Pushing the boat into the water at Ponta do Ouro
There is a lot to a dive boat, irrespective of whether it is a hard boat, a huge live aboard or a rubber duck. They require maintenance, and this can easily be managed if divers just have a little respect for them. Sure, the owner/operator must be held responsible, but with a little attention to the small details they offer us as divers years of good service.
It goes without saying that you expect a boat to have all the necessary safety gear, life jackets, flares, first aid kit, emergency oxygen, tool kit etc. I believe you will find most operators following the law here. Just as motor cars need to pass a roadworthy test, so boats need a seaworthy inspection and to pass this there is a list of requirements to be met. Having met this, passed the inspection, mostoperators will usually comply, as a rule.
Be gentle
Almost all boats have a wooden or fibreglass deck. Tossing your gear around and dumping weight belts on the boat, all contribute to the damage sustained by operators, but often it is your foot, your regulator or pressure gauge or perhaps your expensive air integrated dive computer that gets damaged when someone tosses their weight belt on board. Always hand things up to the people on the boat, never toss them up.
Pontoons are tough and designed to withstand much abuse. However, the wire ring you used to fix your zip, the sharp edged cable ties on you gear, the rough edges of your cylinder boot, and your dive knife, all pose danger for the pontoon. Think about the pontoon when you drag your gear on and off the boat, and think about the grooves created by dragging kit over the pontoon time and time again.
The console up front usually houses all the electrical connections and switches for the boat’s electrical system, and just shoving all your belongings in there is not the way to go. Ask the skipper where you should put things as he/she will have a place for everything.
All skippers have a specific place for everything on their boats. Respect this as it makes it easier for the skipper to produce things for you on demand when you want them. Another important consideration is that it may be the place the first aid kit is kept and in an emergency it is annoying to a skipper to find their first aid kit has been replaced with a camera, cell phone and towel.
Loading the boat
When your gear is being loaded:
make sure you know where on the boat it is placed;
make sure you place your fins close by;
make sure your mask is there, either around your neck or in your fin (not on your head!);
make sure your weight belt is loaded and that you can recognise it;
and make sure you are kitted up and dressed ready to go when the boat leaves
Divers climb aboard after pushing the boat into the sea at Ponta do Ouro, Mozambique
Launch times
Respect the launch times! You may be doing one dive and have all day, but there are others doing the next dive that are going to run late if you hold the boat up.
When the boat leaves the beach or the jetty, stay seated, feet in the foot straps and hold on tight. This is not the time to be walking around the boat passing the skipper your keys, glasses and cameras. This unbalances the boat and makes it harder to negotiate the surf or other boat traffic. This is also the time when you would fall off and blame the skipper.
Before the dive
At the dive site, follow the basic rule: be opposite your gear, and don’t expect heavy dive gear to be passed around on the boat. When the skipper comes round to put your gear on your back, make sure you are ready with the straps extended, the clips done or undone as you require, your air turned on, and that you have your weight belt on, right hand release. Don’t expect the skipper to do everything for you as it’s unfair on all the other divers who kit themselves up and are ready to roll two minutes after the boat stops, only to have to wait 10 minutes for you because you are on the wrong side of the boat, can’t find your mask, forgot what colour your fins are, etc. Finally, when you are all ready, the skipper will count you down. Go on the word “go” (or whatever word the skipper tells you to roll over on) – if you hesitate stay on the boat, or you may land on the person next to you and injure them.
Divers preparing to descend after rolling off the boat
On the surface
At the end of the dive, signal you are OK once on the surface, then watch the boat as it approaches you. Don’t stick your face in the water and expect the boat not to run you over. Hand up your weight belt, camera, torch etc when the boat is alongside, but make sure the skipper has a firm grip on it before you release it. Just shoving it in his or her direction is no guarantee that the item won’t end up on the bottom.
When you hand your BCD and cylinder up, make sure your BCD has some air, but is not totally inflated. Make sure you give it a shove from the bottom and most of all, if possible give the skipper a chance to tie it down before you demand a hand-up. Once on the boat take care of your own kit, roll up your SMB, tuck your regulators away, and place your fins and mask out of harm’s way, preferably inside or close to your BCD. Make space for others to get into the boat, or better still, give them a hand. Don’t scatter your gear around, as a deck littered with fins, masks and cameras becomes a difficult place for a skipper to work and things will get broken… Your things!
After the dive
At the end of the dive make sure you collect all your gear as soon as possible. The boat may need to be loaded for the next launch and if you first get undressed, have a snack and then stroll over to the boat, it is likely your gear will be mixed up with the next load of divers’ gear.
Imagine this…
The boat arrives at the dive site, a few people are sitting at opposite ends of the boat to their kit, gear is passed around and a mask is crushed, someone starts bellowing, someone else drops his mask in the water as they are trying to rinse it while fully kitted up (rinse your mask first), they start whining, someone else who does not service their gear has a faulty regulator, they swear blind it was okay on the beach but you can see clearly the hose has been torn for months and is badly cracked, someone says “oops, I forgot my fins in the car”, so the skipper hauls out all the spares he has, gets everyone sorted out and you all roll back into the water.
Someone hesitates, and lands on another diver, gashing their head open with a cylinder, so the diver is hauled out of the water. The gash in their head requires bandaging, yet at the same time five hands appear next to the boat all demanding cameras. The skipper usees all his psychic skill to ensure everyone gets their own camera, then observes that a few divers are struggling to descend. The skipper hauls out the extra weights, sorts them out and down the divers go, all but one – ”I forgot to put my weight belt on!” So they get sorted out and descend.
Twenty minutes into the dive someone pops out of the water like a cork, and gets hauled out of the water. As a safety measure the skipper administers oxygen. Their buddy surfaces a few minutes later, swims up to the boat and tosses their weight belt on board, landing on their buddies head.
These thing happen, fortunately very very seldom, but every diver wants to have a good time, a good dive and a pleasant boat trip, and if we all follow the instructions of the skipper, the Divemaster or Instructor and basic dive safely protocol, these things will not happen. Plan your dive and dive your plan.
On a typical day a skipper can easily see between 20 and 40 different people. It is not possible for the skipper to remember what your weight belt looks like, what colour your fins were and what gear you are using, so make it easier by being responsible for your gear. If you have rental gear it will often be numbered: remember the numbers, remember the colour of your fins and mask, so keeping all your kit together in one spot on the boat will make this easier.
Driving a boat is easy?
Boats look really easy to drive: a steering wheel, a control box that puts the boat in gear and accelerates all at the same time, no clutch, no hand brake, no turn signals, wide open expanse of ocean to drive in – it stands to reason it must be really easy. And it is: on a nice calm day with flat seas, no wind, and no swell, it is real easy to place a boat precisely in the spot you want it, run it up next to the jetty and come to a stop millimeters from the side.
Launching through the surf at Ponta do Ouro in Mozambique
But on a day when the wind is humping, there is a big swell and lots of other boat traffic it becomes a little more challenging. If you are asked by the skipper to sit down, keep your feet in the foot straps and hold on, then do so, as he/she probably knows better. A skipper doing surf launches needs to concentrate only on the boat while launching and beaching. Don’t walk around, shout at them or hand them things as they are reading the water, the swell, and the gap that is forming out at the back line and making a decision to go or not to go. Your safety is their primary concern. Once committed to the break in the swells it is not easy to change your mind.
Beaching the boat after a dive in Ponta do Ouro
In a nutshell…
Pay attention to the boat briefing as the skipper has the responsibility for your safety. Make it easy for him to keep you safe. In an emergency you will expect the skipper to produce a first aid kit in a flash, produce pure oxygen in an instant and radio for help in an extreme emergency. This will happen, and your emergency will be dealt with expertly, if the skipper finds his first aid kit accessible, his oxygen set at hand and his radio functioning. But if you shoved your bag in the console and ripped wires out of the radio, dumped your personal bag of clothing on the first aid kit, moved the oxygen somewhere else on the boat to make space for your camer – when these things happen all they do is delay the reaction time of the help that you the diver need.
Pay attention to the dive briefing. Chances are the dive master has been there many times before and is speaking from experience. If you are unsure of something, ask – there are no stupid questions, and the only stupid mistake is not asking if you are unsure.
Many divers have done hundreds and in some cases thousands of dives, all incident free, all enjoyable and all conducted safely and this is largely due to their own exceptional skills, and exceptional skills held by skippers and divemaster coupled to a level of boat etiquette we all have or should have. This is just one more reason to dive, to enjoy the wonders the ocean never fails to deliver.
Tony is running a competition on www.imod.co.za, an awesome blog operated by Christopher Mills. You can win a DSD for two, or, if you’re a qualified diver, a refresher for you and a friend or (if you’re not in need of a refresher) a shore dive with kit, guided by Tony.
If you have friends and family you think might enjoy diving, this is a super opportunity to get them involved.
The link to the competition is here. The competition ends at noon on 29 August, so pay iMod a visit and enter now!
Here’s a reading list of diving adventures, old and new, spanning all kinds of diving. From Arthur C. Clarke’s chronicles of diving the pristine Great Barrier Reef and Sri Lanka several decades ago, to more modern accounts of wreck diving around the world, you’ll be sure to find something that meets your reading requirements here. Get set for an armchair diving adventure of note!
