PADI Revised Course Part

Last week I shared a few of the changes in the PADI open water course.  My goal was to highlight a few of the added skills and encourage all divers to think about their own dive experiences to see if practicing these would make them better and safer divers.  This week, I am sharing a few more.

PADI, and in fact all scuba training companies, place high importance on good buoyancy.  It is the heart of the art of scuba diving.  After open water certification, continuing to work on buoyancy will improve a diver’s confidence while going a long way to help preserve the environment.  In addition to having students do more of their skills at neutral buoyancy rather than at the bottom of the pool or on a training platform, special attention is paid to trim for scuba diving.  Trim is a diver’s orientation and balance in the water. Ideally, a diver should swim comfortably in a horizontal position in the water.  Even a properly weighted diver can have poor trim.  In the revised course, we will spend a bit more time addressing trim and helping the divers learn optimal distribution as well as the amount of weight they need.  One way to work on this is to hover in a horizontal position, without swimming or sculling.  If you roll to one side, legs drop, or fins rise, you will have a clue as to how your weight should be redistributed. Make small adjustments until your trim is perfect.

One thing I always harp about is keeping the mask on and an air source in your mouth at the surface. This is habit is given renewed emphasis in the revised course. This is a simple and obvious thing that goes miles to prevent panic at the surface.  A case in point was on our recent trip to Curacao.  During the entire week, the seas were rough.  If we had to wait at the surface for any length of time pre or post dive, we were splashed and sloshed in the waves. Divers who did not keep their snorkel or regulator in their mouths drank a quite a bit of seawater, which can make for a very upset stomach. Worse, if divers took their masks off, their eyes were soon stinging from salt.  This discomfort can be the tipping point for a diver who is feeling nervous and can lead to panic. Remember the good habits you learned in open water class and keep your mask and air source in your mouth until you are on the boat or safely on the shore.

The last thing I want to blog about is use of a surface marker buoy (SMB). I ask every customer who is purchasing gear if they have a “noodle,” an inflatable tube that can be used to make you a bigger target for any nearby boat.  There are many situations in which an SMB is key to a diver’s safety. For example, if a diver fails to navigate accurately and surfaces far from the boat, an inflated surface buoy will make it easier for boat personnel to keep track of him until they can come a pick him up.  In addition, while waiting at the surface, the SMB will help to make the diver visible to other boats that may be passing by, sometimes at a great rate of speed, not expecting to see a diver at the surface. If a diver is swept away in a current, he can inflate his SMB so that the end of it is at the surface, allowing the boat to track him more easily. Anyone who’s seen the movie Open Water or read in horror any of the stories of diver’s left at the surface for any length of time needs to know the small purchase and use of an SMB can mean the difference between death and survival.  In the revised PADI course, divers will practice deploying the SMB.  If you don’t already have an SMB, buy one for yourself and your dive buddy before your next dive.