This helps so much. I’ve wanted to become an instructor since I started five years ago. I’ve pulled the trigger and starting SSI stress and rescue diver training. Thank you for all you are doing for the diving industry.

Thanks for the wake-up call, Mark. My last dive was with a friend with vast experience (7,500+ dives) but with whom I had not previously dived. While kitting up we covered all the usual bases (the dive plan, hand signals, out of air procedures, etc, etc). Looking back, I now realize that (thankfully) we both did a thorough pre-dive check of our own gear before jumping in but never actually did a buddy check. Why not? I have my own thoughts but none rise to the level of justification. Just do it!

Hey Mark. It's been a while! Been working in a remote camp up northern Canada! I found you when I did my open water and watched you right up tell I got to busy in the commercial world! This year I started my own commercial diving bisness! You (and Shaun) have been a large part of this journey. Thanks for the inspiration bud.

@kennethjmcarthur2428

8 ай бұрын

Congrats on the new business.

Great points, Mark. You delved between the black n white and into the common sense. Many dive people get too extreme with the simplest things. The extremes of surfacing to see who has the most gas left vs a snorkel while waiting for everyone in the group to get into the water and waiting for everyone to surface after the dive. Lots to think about. Thanks.

This actually nice. Just git my open water certification. And I really want to take diving seriously so it's nice to know all these things.

Short. Sharp. Brilliant. Kudos for the video.

Just got back from Roatan. We had a guy in the group who we all nicknamed "crash" because he just constantly bumped, crowded, kicked and blocked other divers. He was the nicest guy in the world but under water seemed to have absolutely no self awareness at all.

Thank you for the video. I am currently doing the PADI open water diver course, and this information is really helpful!

@ScubaDiverMagazine

2 ай бұрын

That's great, welcome to the SCUBA Gang

Great list, and your advice around them is wonderful Two thumbs up.

I usually clip my mask and computer to my d-ring with the spg bolt snap when prepping my gear. I've hopped in once without my computer on my wrist, and boom, it was on my bolt snap, right there on my chest, and I avoided having to ask someone to hand it to me. 😊. Only time I've ever done that, but it was still with me on my d-ring. I even hook my reg to my BC to keep it from getting beat up or sat on. Some divers spread out into other diver's space. It's typical newer divers, but it's all good. More divers, more dive buddies.

Great points, seen em all as an MSDT instructor and done a few myself. I would add ‘ Don’t be too hard on newbs, be patient. Just like driving , everyone has a starting point, and needs time to become skilled. Some of the best divers had the hardest time learning. From what I’ve seen.

When I first learned how to dive, my instructor said that the best way to remember all of the steps in the pre-dive check was to think 'Bruce Willis Ruins All Films'. BCD Weights Regulator Air Final check. Some time after that, another instructor with a slightly more twisted sense of humour offered up "Babies With Rabies Always Froth' as an alternative.

@toadou8127

2 ай бұрын

"R" stands for Releases such as chest strap. Regulator falls under Air.

👌👌 thank you Mark and bravo!

Really good list and no repeats of the standard ones - although possibly still worth reinforcing "don't turn your tank valve back a quarter turn", and "stop using cyclinder gad to blast your regulator cap".

@johnbl8165

10 ай бұрын

Why? I was taught to do both of these in my recent OW/AOW PADI.

@whaleshark2625

10 ай бұрын

@@johnbl8165 The quarter turn back is no longer being taught as it is possible to mistake a quarter closed for only a quarter open. A tank valve should either be fully open or closed. Blasting your regulator cap with air is loud, accomplishes almost nothing, and can damage people's hearing.

@johnbl8165

10 ай бұрын

@@whaleshark2625 I was taught that the blowing air is to dry it off. Are you PADI instructor? I'm not arguing - just recently AOW and I default to what I was taught vs the internet.

@Andrew-ps6xe

3 ай бұрын

@@johnbl8165 The quarter turn back only ever applied to ancient pillar valves that would occasionally become stuck open. Anything made since the 1960s doesn’t need it.

Thanks Mark, great tips and been guilty myself of a couple. I noticed your furry shark in the background of your vids, I have the same one (for about 10 years), and he’s called Bruce 😎 Keep them coming… cheers 🍻 Jase 👍

We need these reminders!!!!!!

One I see a lot is divers stood in shallow water getting fins on with no reg in. All well and good untill you fall over with heavy kit on.

good list bud!

A tip for fire-coral burns. Its a protein based poison, so best way to defeat it is heat. Get a face flannel or cloth and put it in as hot water as you can stand (60C+) and keep it there for 20 mins, reheating as necessary.

bad habit....taking regulator out of mouth and taking mask off face before climbing back on boat....a good wave hits you in the face, you panic, flail, can't reach reg....people have drown with a partial tank still on their back!

@gearsofbaird3529

8 ай бұрын

Thought a guy was going to die the other day. He got launched off the back of the boat by a wave with mask off and reg out. Whole body air born

@tymonster183

6 ай бұрын

Definitely a bad habit, but anyone that drowns or almost drowns after being hit by a wave and panicking probably shouldn't be diving.

20 dives to get your aow? allows you to go below 60'. my biggest pet peeve is using your hands to swim its diving not swimming

Hello Mark, thank you for your tips on these habits, in terms of security you're spot on, check gear, don't dive alone, don't dive to deep.. etc etc.. as a rational human being that understands responsibility I understand completely each one, but as a human being that wants to be free and also responsible for my acts, I think that restrictions like these are not acceptable, as adult, I'm responsible by my acts, and I'm responsible even if my acts lead me to pay the ultimate price, many other marine activities like apnea can kill me as easy as scuba diving example "blackouts", there are no restrictions to those, you don't have any restrictions to apnea dive or spearfishing and you can see people with no theory or courses or certification, diving even to 20 and 40 meters with no scuba gear whatsoever. Also, you don't need certification for surfing, and you can go without certification and defy mammoth waves, if you are able to survive.. that's the trick, some don't, even people that are used to do it daily, so I don't understand these extreme restrictions to scuba diving when other sports are completely deregulated, those are my 2 cents, thank you. My question, don't you think that SSI, PADI, etc... are on this game to regulate Scuba Worldwide and make some bucks while abusing of restrictions so that scuba divers have to pay for each certification? 40 years ago, no one payed for certifications, some accidents occurred, yes, and some deaths, but the numbers compared to apnea and spearfishing were ridiculous, in my country as I remember on the last 40 years we lost like.. 2 divers a year against 10 to 20 spearfishing divers, in my country spearfishing is completely forbidden with the help of scuba tanks, only apnea is permitted, 2 months ago I lost a friend of mine, one more casualty to the Atlantic, he was diving at 20 meter depths and most likely blacked out while ascending, and again, he was diving alone, 90% of the fatal accidents have something in common, these people died alone.

@jezuscristo489

10 ай бұрын

@@billbrooke4355 Bill, can I call you Bill? Well, you judge me to harshly, I did my certifications to dive, and i'm not against the basics and some defined limitations judging the experience each one has, though, I do think that each one is responsible for their acts, and in parallel there are far more dangerous aquatic sports deregulated, I do think also that in this sport "if i can call it sport" for some is a way of life, there is an ample supply of elitism and presumption, not just the fools die, arrogant do as well.

@jezuscristo489

10 ай бұрын

@@billbrooke4355 Hello Bill, thank you for your answer, I armed myself with facts and numbers this time, and witness on first hand an accident this last sunday with a Open Water Diver course, I was there just to have a dive, and witness a lady that went berserk and got a pneumothorax because she bolted to the surface without breathing and hold the air, with those facts that I've read on the Internet and this unfortunate incident, I do agree with you, first the certifications, I thought... well she had a OWD and that still happened, I couldn't even imagine if she didn't, and the statistics are clear, divers with no certification have a tendency to suffer a lot more accidents than certified divers of SSI or PADI or other centers, it's quite visible that, and i didn't even knew that 50% of the fatalities were above water, by people bolting from the bottom or jumping from the boat with a closed tank and a bcd not inflated and drown afterwards, at least some of these deaths could be avoided with certification and professional counseling, I was wrong on what i told about certifications, it's not elitism and not a system to get money, is the opposite, a way to avoid these types of deaths, from my ignorance about statistics and the lack of experience seeing an accident right near me I understood, certifications are imperative, and about being "overcontrolling" well.. if we aren't, we could be dead.. thank you!

Weird question and off topic. I live in vietnam now and in my area there are no dive shops. What websites would be the best if I want to order dive gear online that would deliver world wide?

If I may add one more point which I faced previously and it was not explained during obtaining my certificates. Mask squeezing issue and how to prevent it from happening. This will occur when the mask is over tightened and due to underwater pressure, the mask will definitely squeeze on your face. In this case normally you would exhale gradually with your nose to add air in the mask. Also avoid inhaling from your nose at all time.

a lot of courses are there to make more money. However, some are very important, Example. Cave, Trimix, CPV, and Rebreather are just some examples of truly needed classes to pass before you take part in that activity. never go beyond your training limits. but watch out for trash classes they are out there for sure.

I'm surprised you didn't mention anything about noise makers. lol

@ScubaDiverMagazine

2 ай бұрын

Ugh rattles... Yeah, they rapidly jump to #1 when you're diving near somebody who has one lose in a pocket and jingles every time they look around

The modern ‘F around and find out’ honestly made me laugh. I’ve gotta agree on these, I’ve done sone of them myself as you said. It only takes one time for something not to be right and it might end horribly

1:12 was that a quarter turn back??? Now that's what we are talking about for a reason to do pre-dive safety checks. Never. Instant red flag of old training. Glad you kind of mentioned it in the video, but the clip wasn't the best ngl

Thank you Mark What happened to Simply Scuba?

What are those two fins in the background? The orange one looks like the Apeks RK3 but what are the two flanking it in gray and turquoise?

@ScubaDiverMagazine

10 ай бұрын

They're the Fourth Element Tech Fins. Similar design

@danieltruly5847

10 ай бұрын

Awesome, thanks!

Great Tips. I would add to not bring your large bag on board small boats. This happened on a recent dive where a husband and wife brought their super nice, large dive gear bags on to a small, full boat and then complained they had no room.

@keith_waugh

10 ай бұрын

Surprised the boat driver didn't say something!

@Mindysadventures

10 ай бұрын

@@keith_waugh the group I was with was off a cruise ship on an excursion. I’m sure otherwise they would have.

@keith_waugh

10 ай бұрын

@@Mindysadventures I appreciate the very difficult situation but on any boat, no matter how big or small, the boat skipper/coxswain/ driver is ultimately responsible for everyone on the boat. If anything goes wrong, anything, then the boat driver will get the blame.

@Mindysadventures

10 ай бұрын

@@keith_waugh I agree. Something should have been done. Maybe the rules are different in Cozumel

Most important tip: don't dive with a bunch of yahoos.

I'm taking a PADI OW Class. Limited to 60 feet. If I can get the OW Portion scheduled

@Yggdrasil42

10 ай бұрын

Nice. Enjoy.

@chrisphilhower6029

10 ай бұрын

@@Yggdrasil42 Thank You😃😃

Just noticed in the video they did the oldschool turn back on the valve at 1:15. My understanding is you should not be doing this, as the modern valves don't need it, and it is better to be fully on or fully off, so you can know you either have air or not...

Well I would agree with most points you made. But I would argue that it is possible to be maintain neutral buoyancy when you are not horizontal There are times when you need to be able to see things above you in the water. Inexperienced divers that might drop down into you. Occasional shark issues where you need to be aware of what’s going on above you, etc. It isn’t that difficult to maintain your depth when not being horizontal. It takes training and experience.

I have to pick up fossilized shark teeth though, I HAVE to.

9:13 what camera is that!? It's so crisp.

@ScubaDiverMagazine

27 күн бұрын

It's a Canon 1DX MK II, filmed by the Wind Collective

number 4 trim, is your fault, The reason people bolt upright is that they are trained to, hell the first thing they do is sit on their knees. This is a problem caused by trainers, all scuba training needs to take part in trim even on day one. Never make a student go to their knees. if trained properly you will not do much of anything vertical, not even bolt. in fact, the correct way to bolt is horizontal in the trim or even flatter with just enough buoyancy to give you slow lift, if you have to rush to the top or die you just add more lift or buoyancy you don't go vertical and kick. The only time you do that is if all hell breaks lose, your BDC is not working you have to air, your 2nd buoyancy device whatever it is, is not working, or some moron trainer over weighted you to death. I took a refresher course not long ago, I have been diving since the early 90s. Every student was overweight, and I could not believe what was going on, I dropped out and looked for a better instructor for my refresher. I would not go to my knees, I could not belive the instructor was teaching student to practice skills on their knees WTF was that, how is that diving training. Maybe I was lucky and my original instructor was just a very good professional humble instructor. As I became experienced with many dives under my belt I knew my original instructor knew what he was doing for sure. I don't want to hear it's easy to teach on their knee your job is not supposed to be easy it's supposed to teach humans how to stay safe underwater. My bad I started venting, lmao.

👍😎🤿!

"swim into aa cave" this is a very POOR clip as this diver is a certified cave diver with side mounted tanks. Show a basic diver not someone that is certified.