Great Big Thread of Scuba Tips and Tricks

[MarcusCarr]

As a rookie scuba diver, I have not had the opportunity to catch the little tips and tricks of the sport of scuba diving that many veteran scuba divers many have heard.

What are some good tips?

for example:

to help a mask seal over a mustache, you can put a little vaseline or zipper silicon on your mustache.

or

continue to exhale if your regulator comes out of your mouth. dont hold your breath.

I eagerly await your responses.

Marcus

[JimC]

Put your gear together prior to puting on your exposure protection.

Put your gear into your dive bag in reverse order so you don't need to spread it out all over the place when you take it out.

Bring a tarp to setup on when your doing a shoredive.

[roakey]

Probably the most useful tip I can think of is to use the "SEARCH" function of the board and search on subject lines that contain "Tips"

No telling what you might find useful, and as a bonus the tips are already there and you don't have to wait for people to post to this thread!

Roak

[gfisher4792]

but one that is useful to me is make a spare car key and bungee it into a bc pocket or necklace it around your neck. Very useful when you have no one on shore to hold your stuff or guard your car.

[cornfed]

MarcusCarr once bubbled...
As a rookie scuba diver, I have not had the opportunity to catch the little tips and tricks of the sport of scuba diving that many veteran scuba divers many have heard.

What are some good tips?

for example:

to help a mask seal over a mustache, you can put a little vaseline or zipper silicon on your mustache.

Shaving helps too

[Walter]

"to help a mask seal over a mustache, you can put a little vaseline or zipper silicon on your mustache.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Shaving helps too"

Of course, you could learn to clear your mask.

[salty]

For every day you spend "scuba diving on the web" you lose a days experience diving for real

[terrydarc]

If you backroll off a boat, it often works better to inflate your BC a bit before you hit the water. Keeps you from sinking too far and leaves you in better control.

Also on a backroll, try not to roll over upside down completely. Very dramatic and fun, but I always get water in my ears doing that.
=Terry

[Charlie99]

Walter once bubbled...
"Shaving helps too"

Of course, you could learn to clear your mask.

Most divers with a moustache have had more than enough practice clearing masks.

Rumor has it that vaseline will degrade the silicone mask skirt. I don't know whether that is true or not, but mine is a custom prescription mask, so I play safe and use silicone grease on my moustache. An old chapstick tube is a convenient container that I just leave in my BC even while underwater.

You don't need to apply much. Look in a mirror and find the spots where the mask crosses the moustache.

Others swear by chapstick, but it is a petroleum jelly, like vaseline.

Last tip is to not clear your mask TOO often, or you'll wash away the defog. I just clear when it gets up to my eyes, or most of the time, before I invert.

[scubasean]

gfisher4792 once bubbled...
but one that is useful to me is make a spare car key and bungee it into a bc pocket or necklace it around your neck. Very useful when you have no one on shore to hold your stuff or guard your car.

With the fact that the key to my car has a smart chip inside, and due to my lack of understanding (or trust) as to whether the key is waterproof with respect to the chip, I put my car key into a waterproof box I clip to a D-ring.

--Sean