5 Diving Tips for Beginning Scuba Divers

(DiverWire) Scuba diving can feel intimidating to a new student or would-be diver, but a few tips from a qualified instructor on scuba gear and dive safety can banish that fear. The following five tips are all real advice given to real students by Darrick Cusick, one of Scuba.com’s own expert dive instructors.1 .) Never Get Caught Without a SpareDiving is no off-the-cuff expedition - not only are you often traveling outside of your neighborhood to go diving, it requires a great deal of gear and planning. Unfortunately, things go wrong, and the more complicated, the easier it is for one little mishap to ruin an entire trip. Fin straps break, mask straps break, and if you don’t have another on hand you’re stuck with a ruined...
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When coming back to the surface, you want to come up 30 feet per minute, [-]minimum[/-] maximum.

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Fixed it for you.

2. "...Also, make sure to do a safety stop at 15 feet, no exceptions."

Not so sure there are ever no exceptions to a safety stop. I've read many posts regarding someone who needed to get to the surface for safety reasons only to wonder if they needed to do a safety stop... It is a safety stop, not a mandatory stop.

Fin straps break, mask straps break

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Or buy equipment that doesn't break that easily, SS fin straps, velcro mask straps... But it's always good to have spares.

Bring mask defog, because you can’t always count on someone else on the boat having a bottle.

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You mean spit? I think I've seen mask defog... once...

When coming back to the surface, you want to come up 30 feet per minute, minimum. Remember this pro tip when in doubt about your speed – never travel faster than the slowest bubbles that you’re exhaling. Also, make sure to do a safety stop at 15 feet, no exceptions.

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So many things wrong in here... Besides what has already been mentioned, I'd add that looking at bubble speed is dangerous. Even the small slow bubbles can easily be faster than the max speed, bubbles grow and accelerate, are taken by currents, may not be easily visible in some situations, etc...

Apart from the safetly stop thing (what if I've done an hour at 6m?? )

First off, always dive with a buddy. Always.

Always? Always always? What if I'm taking photos of shrimp gobies, I'm a certified self reliant diver, with a second air source and 700 dives... and conditions are perfect? Do I have to drag my wife along?

simonru:

Apart from the safetly stop thing (what if I've done an hour at 6m?? )

First off, always dive with a buddy. Always.

Always? Always always? What if I'm taking photos of shrimp gobies, I'm a certified self reliant diver, with a second air source and 700 dives... and conditions are perfect? Do I have to drag my wife along?

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buuuut you're not a new diver are you? you're an instructor so the top tips for new divers isn't really aimed at you?

My newly discovered tip which is probably very old news is this:
Baby shampoo is good for defogging your mask and IMO works better than spit. Its far far cheaper than proprietory de-fogger. I have a little travel bottle of johnsons baby shampoo which lives in my mask case.