Are you a good dive buddy? Seven points to ponder.

One of the key safety messages promoted by the New Zealand Underwater Association is to always dive with a dive buddy. The buddy system reduces risks and improves divers’ safety, but there are also other factors you should consider.
Pre-dive

First, you should always let somebody else know where you intend to dive and, ideally, you will have at least one person at the surface on the boat or shore to act as cover while you’re in the water.

But what should they do if you do become overdue, lost, or have a diving accident? In case one of these things eventuates you need an emergency plan, or at least to talk through what to do in the unlikely event something does go wrong.

The dive plan

The key elements of an emergency plan at the very least should include:

• Roles and responsibilities. Who does what, who is First Aid trained and/or experienced in underwater searches?
  
• What diver recall procedures should you agree on? These can be as simple as banging a knife on a tank or boat hull to get attention. Or four pulls on the surface marker buoy if one is being used.
  
• What emergency contact details will you use? We suggest 0800 4 DES 111 (0800 4337 111) or a Medical Diving Emergency, or 111 for any other emergency.
  
• What emergency equipment do you have ready? Where is your First Aid Kit located? Emergency oxygen etc?
  
• Where are your nearest medical facilities? This could be a hospital, GP practice or even fire station, should emergency oxygen be required
  

Who’s got first aid?

Our underwater adventures take us to offshore islands or remote coastlines where medical help isn’t always available quickly should we need to call on it so up to date First Aid training is an obvious essential skill for all divers to have.
And shouldn’t our non-diving, significant others and those supporting us on the boat or from the shore also be first aid trained?

Limits

Another rule is don’t dive beyond the limits of the least experienced or qualified buddy though confident and experienced divers aren’t immune from possible problems or difficulties on a dive.

Team of two

Dive buddies are a team. And all divers need to be confident that they have the skills and experience for the conditions they are diving in, to help each other should the need arise.

‘I’ve got your back’

We teach our kids that peer pressure is not cool! The same goes for us divers. The best diver is not the one that dives the deepest, or the longest, or catches the biggest crayfish. It’s the responsible and considerate diver that makes good decisions that don’t put themselves or their buddies at risk or in situations where they are uncomfortable.

Getting cold?

Thinking about comfort levels in the water, appropriate exposure protection is important, particularly in winter or when the water temperature is dropping. Don’t be too proud to tell your buddy when you’re getting cold and want to end the dive; once you are cold you are very unlikely to warm up again, and hypothermia can set in quicker than you think.
Don’t be put off by cooler winter waters though; some of the best diving is over winter. But maybe for winter you need a hood to add to your summer wetsuit, a thicker wetsuit, a semi-dry wetsuit or even a dry suit.

Survive the Dive certification programs

The NZUA and Dive Pacific run online training courses for all divers including SCUBA, spearfishing and snorkelling plus dive activity supervisors. The courses include repeatable quizzes, a personalised dashboard for tracking your progress, a final exam and automated certification generation.
These courses are not designed to replace formal in-person dive training but are an excellent refresher and introduction to wider topics such as vessel management and trip planning.

Test your knowledge here: survivethedive.nzunderwater.org.nz/