JCA ELITE SCUBA's video: Two divers getting ready to dive ready to dive ready to dive ready to dive They never dove

00:00 to 00:20 Divers should enter the water together This assumes that they assembled their equipment at the same time, donned their thermal protection at the same time, and one didn't complete both and is off doing something else why their buddy is still having problems. If you're a team, you doing everything together. Confirm equipment is assembled properly prior to getting dressed. Why stand around when it's 90° wearing a 2-piece 7mm Farmer John or drysuit. 00:35 Free-flows happend when the air is colder than the water, the water is below 40°, and when the regulator is facing mouthpiece up in the water. It was a hot day. Enter the water with regulators facing downwards and make sure they fill up with water. Also, don't stop right at the same water level the regular is. The reg sitting on the surface will free-flow with the slightest push as the water pushes against the purge button (diaphragm cover). 01:40 After a minute and a half of standing there and they're still not ready to go... Enter the water, fins on first, then mask on next (I teach applying defogger to the mask and then it goes on your head facing backwards). The reason fins go on first is that it is impossible to move in the water while wearing all of this gear. If you fall below the water line, fins on your feet will give the diver the ability to get your feet to the ground and stand up. Flailing your arms won't do anything either. We don't need a mask to dive, it's a nice piece of equipment that makes the dive a little more visually appealing, but as any tech diver knows, even without a backup mask, you have to finish any dive obligations (deco, ceiling, exiting the overhead environment). 01:57 Another free-flow. Second free-flow in less than two minutes. Is it a problem the regulator or the diver. Thos is now considered equipment malfunction caused by user error. 02:20 Proper weighting and weight checks One of the divers claims she's still a little underweight. These are her first dives in the Puget Sound and if she's logged her training dives, why wouldn't she use at least that amount. Whatever the reason, just do a weight check. These divers are using LP steel 72's so they don't need to compensate for a shift in buoyancy than an aluminum 80 would have at 500psi. A weight check, enough weight to get below the water line, not the one done at 500psi and 15ft is a good place to start with the needed wight to start the dive. 02:35 Bring extra weight in the water with you If you're going to do a weight check, taking your fins off, walk out of the water, at Sunrise -- up that staircase, get the weight, return to your dive buddy, and hope for the best, that's terrible planning. Bring extra weight with you in a weight bag and leave the bag in a conspicuous place! I always place the bag directly in front in line with the staircase so regardless of any change in tide, I know it will be somewhere in that exact direction. It's easy enough and the extras can be retrieved after the dive. Be sure to put your name on the bag. 04:02 Why are they so far apart from each other? The biggest reason I insist on the divers being right next to each other is what happens here. One diver loses her balance and almost dropped below the surface without a reg in her mouth. First, put your fins on using the "figure-four" technique standing next to your buddy. Next, don't fall backwards. This is not safe. You don't know what's down there, a fall below the surface could result in hitting the back of your head on the rocks below, not to mention your aspiring the sea water. There's no "lean-and-sweep" when your laying on your back and I'm guessing that they haven't developed the core strength to right themselves.  04:04 Don't drown in three feet of water with all your scuba equipment on I was with a group of divers at a popular dive site and saw two divers exiting the water, one walking front of the other. Suddenly, the diver behind the other slipped and fell below the surface. The one ahead kept walking. Suddenly, when he realized his buddy wasn't there, he turned around and ran down to the water and grabbed her, dragging her onto the shore. Once he turned her over, she gave out a loud cough. If he hadn't stopped, it's very likely she could have drowned. We were too far away to have pulled her out, but went down there as soon as we could. Once there, I asked how she was and found out that she did aspirate water. While she said she was fine, what most don't realize is that aspiring sea water can be particularly dangerous because of the amount bacteria in it. That bacteria is very capable of causing an upper respiratory infection and pneumonia. It can also cause, pulmonary edema. They decided to be safe and let me call an ambulance for her. Upon arrival they evaluated her and encouraged her to go to the hospital and get examined. Not doing so has resulted in deaths after exiting the water. She had what's called, "near drowning." [Continued in Pinned Comments]