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Great White
Hammerhead
Blacktip reef |
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Whitetip reef
Tiger
Shortfin mako |
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Caribbean reef
Bull
Blue |
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Nurse
Whale |
Open Water
Advanced Open Water
Boat Dive Specialty
Equipment Specialist
Night Dive Specialty PADI Divemaster |
Cozumel 97
Lake Travis
Ouichita Lake
Balmorhea State Park |
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| 1 make sure you are comfortable in the water Learn the basic skills of diving. A competent diver is a relaxed and safe diver. Mastering the basics lets you enjoy what you are seeing, rather than giving you cause to worry and possibly panic. |
2 plan your dive well Become familiar with the unique characteristics of your dive site in advance. Conditions can change, even during the dive, and not being aware of shifting tides and currents or diminishing visibility can cause you to become disoriented or lost. You may be swept onto a reef, causing injury to you and marine life, or you may run low on air. |
| 3 learn to control your weight and buoyancy Master the art of buoyancy control and your dives will be more enjoyable, less strenuous and less environmentally damaging. Proper weighting for your exposure suit will allow you to rely less on your buoyancy compensator. You won't have to fight your equipment and you'll have more time and air to enjoy the scenery. |
4 streamline your equipment Keeping gear to a minimum and keeping accessories such as consoles and octopuses tucked in will let you move through the water with ease. Dangling equipment can smash corals or become snagged, panicking the diver and ruining the coral when the device is liberated. |
| 5 marine life should be seen, not touched Chances are you don't know your own strength. In fact, your touch will disturb or destroy just about anything you're likely to come in contact with. So avoid or minimize all contact with the bottom and with marine life. Remember, you are a guest in their home. |
6 don't kick sand in a reef's face Pieces of the reef can be broken off with a thoughtless kick, or corals could be choked with a cloud of sand caused by vigorous finning. Properly sized fins and better buoyancy control can reduce these harmful effects. |
| 7 it's not ok to use coral as a hitching post Never anchor on reefs or tie onto coral heads. It's like dropping an atomic bomb on a city. Repeated anchoring on coral will kill anything a diver would want to see. Use established moorings, if these are occupied, move to another site. If no moorings are available where you want to dive, anchor in the sand. |
8 marine life means more to the ocean than to your collection Coral reefs are finely-tuned ecosystems inhabited by creatures that perform many services for one another. It is a delicate economy in which everyone plays an important role. By removing even the most insignificant appearing piece of coral rubble, you may be disrupting this fragile system. Empty shells are mobile homes to hermit crabs. |
| 9 think about what your photo can do to help the environment Whenever you dive, you're bound to have an impact on the undersea environment and when you take photos or video footage, you're bringing away a piece of the spirit of the sea. Try to make that picture as important to the sea as it is to you. Don't become preoccupied with taking a photo and try not to touch the reef or disturb the subject. |
10 be an ambassador of the environment As a diver, you are part of a tiny priviledged minority that knows the glory of the undersea world. Use that position to communicate your enthusiasm and your concerns for the sea. Use your expertise and photos to correct those who do not respect the health of the oceans and get involved in diver awareness and marine protection programs. |
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