A Rude Awakening
Although training emphasizes the theoretical aspects of safe freediving, sometimes it takes real-world experience to really make it sink in. Freediving is risky so it is always important to have your skills sharp.
Alert Diver Category: Skills in Action
Gas Out on the USS Monitor
The current wrapped the line around my ankle and tighten like a noose. My 30-cubic-foot safety cylinder should have provided plenty of oxygen to complete my decompression stops, but I hadn’t closed the valve after charging it, so the current rushing past the mouthpiece purged the tank. I was now trapped 20 feet beneath the surface with nothing to breathe and no one aware of my peril, hoping that my mistakes with the line and my breathing gas wouldn’t be my last.
Not Only for Diving
WHILE DAN’S SUITE OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS focus primarily on diving, graduates of the courses can apply the skills and knowledge they learned to many circumstances outside the aquatic realm. My […]
Emergency Oxygen
IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL, WARM SATURDAY IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. We were conducting two checkout dives for an advanced open-water course at a popular dive site in Puget Sound. I […]
Practice Crucial Skills
WORKING AS A MATE ON DIVE BOATS for the past 22 years has allowed me to be a part of many interesting situations. When teaching scuba classes, I use one particular situation as evidence of the importance of maintaining skills through regular practice.
End-of-Life Care
DAN’s Basic Life Support and First Aid course teaches how to keep people alive during an emergency. However, those skills are translatable in other scenarios, like palliative care.
Surface Tows Against Current
It was a sunny day at South Florida’s Blue Heron Bridge. Two years had passed since I last dived this location, and I was anticipating a simple excursion to look at the local fish. The dive plan was to make a shore entry and allow the current to take me west down the beach.
Remaining Calm When out of Air
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.
Keep Your Head
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.
Risk and Redundancy
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.
