Advice From Instructors Archive

Getting Into the wonderful world of Underwater Photography

Taking beautiful underwater photographs has never been easier. All you need is one of the many point and shoot cameras that are so easily available, put on a snorkel, a pair of fins and off you go! You don’t even need to be a diver to get into this addictive hobby and I promise you [...]
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Fitting Hose Protectors

One of the most common questions divers buying their first set of diving equipment ask is “how do I fit hose protectors?”. If they have already had a try then usually there are a few unpublishable words thrown into that question! Brute force and sore hands are usually the first method but here are a [...]
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Don’t wear your mask on your forehead

Am I being over sensitive? Maybe getting older and or grumpier? Why is it now positively fashionable to wear your mask on your forehead? As a diver and instructor with thousands of dives under my belt, I feel comfortable in the water. I don’t take my mask off whilst in the water, I need it to [...]
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The Importance of Self Sufficiency

I must have had a bit of a psychic moment when I sat down and wrote the blog about Solo Diving back in June as a few days later my pre-release copy of the August edition of DIVER landed on my desk with a four page article about the new PADI Self Sufficient Diver course. Its [...]
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Is the snorkel under rated?

Although training agencies usually insist on them often scuba divers quickly reject snorkels as part of their kit. Admittedly in a current they can cause your mask to wobble (technical term) and leak. However on the surface in choppy seas they offer real advantages. Firstly they don’t need any tank pressure so either before or [...]
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Wreck Penetration

Wreck diving has to be one of the best types of diving. Each wreck is unique, it’s history always interesting and normally a haven for marine life. It has without doubt got a lot going for it. I will venture to say that wreck diving in good visibility is much more enjoyable, at least for [...]
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New Mask Preparation

We are often asked about how to prepare a new mask to help prevent it from fogging up during your dive. There are a number of techniques from the traditional tried and tested (the method we’ll run through here) to the insane (flaming the mask lenses). It is also only half of the job, proper [...]
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Why We Should Not Teach Rescue Diving

The problem with rescue skills are they are rarely practiced to a sufficient level to be effective. Even instructors rarely practice the drills apart from when they teach a rescue course. So we have a situation where people are learning from people who are not practiced. Generally an instructor will operate a 1 in 3 [...]
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Solo Diving

It’s drummed into us at every stage (for good reason) that we should always dive with a buddy. It makes perfect sense! You both have someone you can rely on in an emergency where you might need their air supply, become entangled or just need someone to stop you finning off with the mermaids if [...]
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How To Fit A Dry Suit Neck Seal

As UK divers, our dry suits are a vital piece of our dive kit. In my experience, its also the piece of kit that needs the most maintenance. I have had my Typhoon ProSport suit for about 6 years now and have had to replace the neck seal 3 or 4 times. That time has [...]
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