The Most Common Mistakes New Scuba Divers Make (And How to Avoid Them)

Getting your Open Water certification is one of the most exciting things you can do as a traveler. The whole ocean opens up to you, and the temptation is to go big, go deep, and go everywhere all at once. But slow down. Diver error accounts for the majority of diving accidents and a huge chunk of those errors come from avoidable rookie mistakes.

The good news? Almost every mistake on this list is easy to fix once you know what to watch for. So before you book that next dive trip, let’s walk through the blunders that trip up nearly every new diver at some point.

Skipping or Rushing the Buddy Check

This one tops the list because it’s the most skipped safety step in recreational diving, full stop. The BWRAF pre-dive safety check (that stands for BCD, Weights, Releases, Air, Final check) exists for a reason. Research suggests that roughly half of scuba accidents could have been prevented by a proper buddy check before the dive. That is a good percentage worth slowing down for.

New divers tend to feel sheepish about going through the full checklist, especially if more experienced divers around them seem to skip it. Don’t fall for that. I’ve personally watched people giant-stride off a boat with their air still turned off or mask not fully on their face. While things like that can usually be laughed off, they can also lead to very serious accidents. Take away, run the check every single time, with every buddy, on every dive.

Poor Buoyancy Control

If you polled a hundred dive instructors and asked them what new divers struggle with most, buoyancy would be high on the list, if not at the top. Bad buoyancy shows up everywhere: bouncing off the bottom, drifting into coral, yo-yoing up and down the water column, or constantly fiddling with the BCD inflator.

Part of the problem is that new divers are often overweighted, carrying way more lead than they actually need. Beginners tend to not be as comfortable making surface dives and mistakenly rely on more weights to cure the problem. As you relax into diving and your breathing calms down, you can usually drop several pounds. As you are getting more dives under your weight belt (pun intended) keep doing buoyancy checks. You’ll likely be surprised how much lighter you can go. Taking a buoyancy class can also help.

Not Equalizing Early or Often Enough

Ear pain on descent is practically a rite of passage for new divers, but it really shouldn’t be. The Valsalva maneuver (pinching your nose and gently blowing) is the technique most beginners learn, and it works well enough if you start using it at the surface and keep equalizing every few feet on the way down.

Where people go wrong is waiting until they feel pressure or pain, then trying to force it. As you descend, equalize early and often. If you can’t equalize, stop descending, go up a foot or two, and try again gently. If you still can’t equalize, call the dive and try again another time. No dive is worth an ear injury. And remember to take your time. It’s a dive, not a race to the bottom. For more on middle ear squeeze and equalization click here.

Burning Through Air Too Fast

Typically, new divers go through their air supply at a much faster rate compared to experienced ones, and there’s no mystery about why. Stress, excitement, overexertion, bad buoyancy (overweighted), and rapid shallow breathing all combine to empty a tank in a hurry.

The single best thing you can do for your air consumption is slow your breathing down. I always tell my students to breath normally, but take little deeper and slower breaths. Also, stop using your hands so much. Keep them at your side or in front of you. Less hand movement = less exertion = less air used. Finally, make sure to check your SPG or dive computer every few minutes, and always be on the surface with no less than 500 PSI.

Diving Beyond Your Training and Experience

Your Open Water certification allows you to dive in similar conditions to those which you were trained in. With both NAUI and PADI the open water certification allows you to dive to a maximum depth of 60ft. However, “allows” and “ready for” are two very different things. A persistent problem in the diving community is people diving well beyond their training and fitness levels, and this has been a basic cause of many accidents.

If your buddy group wants to do a deep wreck dive, a drift dive in strong current, or a night dive and you haven’t trained for it, say no. Nobody worth diving with will judge you for sitting one out. The PADI and NAUI Advanced courses are a great next step if you want to expand your diving range safely. These courses will get you more time under the waves and in different scenarios, such as a deep dive, and open more diving opportunities to you.

Forgetting to Stay Hydrated

This one catches a lot of vacation divers off guard. You’re on a tropical island, it’s hot and you are in a wetsuit. Don’t wait to hydrate later. Dehydration is a recognized risk factor for decompression sickness because it can thicken the blood and make it harder for your body to off-gas nitrogen efficiently.

Harvard Health recommends being well hydrated and well rested before any dive, and explicitly advises against drinking alcohol beforehand. Bring a water bottle on the boat, drink between dives, and save the celebratory rum punch for after you’re done for the day. Cheers!

Bringing a Camera Way Too Soon

Scuba Jay gets it, believe me! You want to show everyone back home that sea turtle or that school of barracuda. But underwater photography is one of the fastest ways for a new diver to get into trouble, because operating a camera pulls your attention away from everything that actually matters: your depth, your air, your buoyancy and your buddy.

New divers who bring cameras tend to lose track of their group, drift too deep, and blow through their air supply without realizing it. Get some dives under your belt, become more comfortable on scuba and with your buoyancy, and then bring the GoPro. Your pictures will be infinitely better, and you won’t endanger yourself getting them. Once you are ready for your camera click here for some choices that won’t break the bank.

Not Planning for Problems

New divers tend to assume everything will go perfectly, and it usually does. But “usually” is a lousy safety margin when you’re breathing compressed air underwater. Before every dive, run some quick “what if” scenarios with your buddy. For example, What if one of you runs low on air, you get separated, your regulator free-flows or your mask gets knocked off?

These aren’t paranoid fantasies; they’re the exact scenarios you trained for in your Open Water course. Talking through them with your buddy beforehand means you’ll both react faster if something does go sideways. And don’t just talk, practice with your buddy your dive skills like octo-breathing and mask and regulator clearing. A two-minute conversation and staying up to date with your basic scuba skills can prevent a serious underwater emergency.

Ignoring the Safety Stop

The recommended three-minute 15ft. safety stop can feel pointless when you’ve been doing a “shallow” recreational dive and you’re cold, tired, or really need to pee. But skipping it is not a good habit to get into. The safety stop gives your body extra time to off-gas nitrogen absorbed in our blood and body tissue, reducing your risk of decompression sickness, especially on repetitive dives or after pushing closer to your no-decompression limits.

DAN recommends a 12-hour minimum surface interval for a single no-decompression dive and an 18-hour minimum surface interval for multi-day repetitive diving before flying. If your body needs that long to fully off-gas at the surface, those three minutes at depth can absolutely count. Get into the habit of treating the recommended safety stop as mandatory, even when nothing about the dive profile seems risky. Diving is definitely a sport where you want to apply the “better safe than sorry” mantra.

Quick Summary: New Scuba Diver Mistakes to Avoid

• Always complete the BWRAF buddy check before every dive, even if you feel silly doing it.
• Work on your buoyancy and do a frequent buoyance checks when starting out diving.
• Equalize early and often, starting at the surface, and never force it.
• Monitor your breathing and check your air every few minutes.
• Stay within your training limits and take advanced/specialty courses before attempting new types of diving.
• Hydrate before and between dives and skip the alcohol until you’re done diving.
• Leave the camera at home for your first few dozen dives.
• Talk through emergency scenarios with your dive buddy before every dive and practice basic scuba skills, like mask clearing.
• Get into a habit of doing a safety stop, a little more time to off-gas is a good thing.

If You’re Looking For other Scuba Diving Tips, Check Out The Below.

• Carbon Dioxide Toxicity
• Carbon Monoxide Toxicity
• Oxygen Toxicity
• Decompression Sickness
• Nitrogen Narcosis
• Middle Ear Squeeze
• Scuba Gift Ideas
• Hand Signals
• Mask Fog
• Scuba Tank Markings
• Mask Squeeze
• Reverse Block
• Sinus Squeeze
• Overexpansion Injuries
• Stress And Panic
• Scuba Cameras (Under $600)
• Swimming And Scuba

“How boring would the world be if everywhere and everyone were the same. Safe travels and good adventures.” Scuba Jay