Alert Diver Category: Skills in Action

When his regulator hose burst during a dive, a diver not only lost his primary air source, he also was engulfed by a cloud of bubbles that made it nearly impossible to see or hear.

PROPER OUT-OF-AIR TRAINING and practice are important so a situation like this will not be the first time a diver is exposed to it.

MY DIVE BUDDY AND I planned to do a longer than usual dive one Saturday morning at Madison Blue Spring State Park in Lee, Florida. For several years and more […]

Many divers are proud to be comfortable in the water and sometimes push their limits on air consumption, exceed their bottom time, or take one last shot of a big fish with a camera or spear before ascending. Some of them develop reputations in the dive community for being competent divers by looking cool and experienced while taking little risks. It may start small but snowball into making poor decisions for which the price you pay is not worth the reward.

Divers spend much of their time underwater with a select group of buddies — the ones we trust to get us through the dive and surface with fresh experiences and stories to tell. Newly certified divers have had limited interactions underwater, having dived only with classmates, instructors, and assistant instructors during their classes.

The onset of pain in my left ear was sudden and excruciating. I knew something was wrong, so I gripped the anchor line and stopped ascending. My buddy saw me stop, and I communicated via hand signals that something was not right with my ear and that I needed to pause our ascent.

The Blue Lagoon in Texas is a great place for divers to train. In the water, two divers sprang into action to help a diver with shortness of breath. Read more about how their emergency skills paid off.

Getting to the wreck of the Caribsea off the coast of North Carolina can take up to an hour and a half. While traveling to the dive site, I regrettably ate a prepackaged lunch with an indecipherable expiration date I had purchased the night before.

When conditions took an abrupt and unexpected turn during an exotic warm-water dive, our dive leader decided to abort. In these situations, it’s important to stay calm.

Modern dive computers can give us a wealth of information, but what if yours fails? Equipment redundancy, or having a backup, can help you know your true circumstances and prevent an injury or dangerous situation.