Today, I put my scuba instructor cap on to discuss an important topic 👩🏽🏫: diving again after a long, dry spell. You might be wondering if you can join a dive trip after you took a break from diving, and the short answer is yes, but there’s a bit more to it.
The fact is that sometimes life gets in the way and a year – or a decade – goes by since you went on your last dive. If you hold a certification from one of the 50+ diving agencies across the world, you need to know that it’s valid for life, but it’s crucial to refresh your skills if you haven’t dived in a while. It’s perfectly normal to feel a mix of excitement and apprehension, but if you follow the right steps to get back in the water, you have nothing to worry about.
Keep reading to find out more.
1. Take a refresher course 📖
If you are out of practice, especially if you only have a few dives under your belt, you should consider a refresher course designed to review essential dive skills, safety procedures, and equipment usage. This way you’ll feel confident, ready, and safe during your upcoming dive adventure. You can contact your local dive centre to book a refresher course ahead of your trip.
2. Service your dive gear 🔧
If you have your own dive gear, it’s important to have it properly checked before you go on your dive trip to ensure that everything is functioning properly. Have your regulator serviced by a professional, check your BCD straps, valves, and the internal bladder for punctures (you can inflate it orally and check for any air loss), and don’t forget to double (and triple) check the fin and mask straps for both tears and signs of wear, to verify that your dive computer hasn’t run out of battery… and that your wetsuit still fits! It's always a good idea to bring spares such as straps, mouthpieces, O-rings, zip ties, and batteries (for your computer and your dive lights) - it could be hard to find these in remote areas of the world.
3. Refine your buoyancy 🦺
A lot of factors that affect buoyancy might have changed since your last dive, including your body composition, your equipment, the environment, and the simple fact that you haven’t practised in a while. Spend some time reacquainting yourself with your equipment, your buoyancy, and the underwater environment in a safe and controlled manner. Go diving in your local area, even if it means diving in a pool, and focus on practising your buoyancy. Mastering buoyancy is not only crucial for a comfortable, safe, and enjoyable dive experience, but it will also allow you to conserve energy, extend your bottom time, and take better pictures while you protect the marine environment.
4. Dive with a professional team 🦸🏽♀️
Most of us have had a bad diving experience with a dive operator at some point. Feeling rushed, receiving inadequate dive briefings, breaking standards (!!!), or not being appropriately equipped are factors that can lead to dangerous situations, ruin the experience, and even put us off from diving altogether. This might have happened to you. In fact, this could be the reason why you took a long break from diving. While it’s not always possible to spot a fishy dive operator, a bit of research always helps. Go on their Google profile and check past customer reviews, ask your diving circle or your former instructor for advice, and resist the temptation to go for the cheapest option. If you will soon embark on a diving adventure with Salted Trips, you can have the confidence that you’re choosing a team with a stellar reputation and a commitment to providing a top-notch experience.
5. Team up with an experienced buddy 🧜🏽♂️
Remember what you learned in your Open Water course about never diving alone? The time to reembrace the buddy system, figuratively speaking, has come! We recommend that you buddy up with an experienced dive professional with a lot of dives under their belt. Diving with a knowledgeable buddy not only enhances your own safety, but it’s a great opportunity to learn and improve your skills, revisit dive signals (and learn new ones), remember and practice underwater etiquette, and absorb valuable tips shared by your buddy. Practice makes perfect and, by actively seeking this collaborative approach, you’ll enhance your knowledge and skills, and will be an active member of the scuba diving community again.
6. Take a course 🤓
Continued education is a key aspect of evolving as a diver and adding more skills to your arsenal. If you've been away from diving for a while, consider taking the next level course beyond your current certification. This will allow you to delve deeper into the intricacies of scuba diving theory and practice, expanding your knowledge and your confidence in the water. This could mean advancing from Open Water to Advanced Open Water or signing up for specialty courses, such as underwater navigation or deep diving. By investing in your diving education, you will be more prepared for new and exciting dive adventures in diverse underwater environments with greater confidence and skill.
7. Choose a destination adapted to your skills 🏝️
When selecting the perfect scuba diving destination for you, it's vital to align the location with your current diving experience and skill level to ease you back into the underwater world. Choose spots known for chill and clear waters, easy currents, and tons of marine life. Make sure the dive sites feel just right for you, giving you a chance to boost that confidence while soaking in the stunning underwater scenery. A destination that we can wholeheartedly recommend to divers of all levels is Lanzarote, where the diving conditions are excellent year-round, the currents are very mild, most dives are done from the shore, and the underwater landscapes and marine life are stunning. Leave Galápagos on your bucket list until you’ve done a few more dives ;). And if you need help choosing a destination, you can head over to our trip builder and we’ll be happy to help.
It sounds easy enough, doesn't it? Follow these tips and you'll be ready to be captivated by the ocean once again in no time. If you want to share your personal experience going back to diving after a long break, leave us a comment down below. Or contact us if you're ready to book your next adventure. Happy diving, and stay salty!
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