Core Diving Skills
These skills form the foundation of safe, confident diving. Every new diver learns them in training, but true mastery comes from practice and awareness. When you are ready for details, follow the full guides linked at the end of each section.
Setting Up Dive Gear
- Gather your BCD, regulator setup, tank, and weights before assembly.
- Secure the tank firmly to the BCD and never leave it standing upright unattended.
- Attach the regulator correctly, connect the inflator hose, and route hoses neatly.
- Open the tank valve slowly, check pressure, and test both regulators for leaks or issues.
- Verify BCD inflation and deflation, confirm weights are secure, and adjust straps.
- Always finish with a buddy check before entering the water.
Read the full guide on setting up dive gear »
Basic Hand Signals
- Hand signals are your underwater language. Review them with your buddy before every dive.
- Core signals: OK, Problem, Stop, Ascend, Air Check, Low Air, Out of Air.
- Expand communication: Hold, Turn, Direction, Level Off, Question, Yes/No, Switch Places, Kick, Slow Down, Deploy SMB, Safety Stop.
- Use clear, exaggerated motions to avoid miscommunication.
Read the full guide on scuba diving hand signals »
Buoyancy and Weighting
- Proper weighting is the foundation of buoyancy control. Too light risks uncontrolled ascents, too heavy wastes energy and gas.
- A pre-dive check gives an estimate, but a post-dive check at 15 feet with 500 PSI is the most accurate method.
- You can calculate precisely by testing body, suit, and gear buoyancy individually.
- Saltwater requires about 5 to 6 pounds more than freshwater.
- Correct weighting improves control, lowers gas consumption, and keeps dives safer.
Read the full guide on buoyancy and weighting »
Trim and Body Positioning
- Trim is how your body balances in the water. Good trim keeps you flat and stable, poor trim tilts you head up or feet down.
- Proper trim reduces drag, conserves energy, protects the environment, and improves buoyancy stability.
- Good trim: flat body, knees bent 90 degrees, fins extended, arms forward, head up, no hand sculling.
- Fix trim by adjusting tank position, redistributing weight, tucking legs, and positioning arms correctly.
- Gear setup matters: tank type, BCD shape, exposure suit, accessories, and fins all affect balance.
Read the full guide on trim and body positioning »
Controlled Descents
- A controlled descent prevents ear injuries, poor buoyancy, and team separation.
- Complete pre-dive checks and agree on roles, signals, and descent method before starting.
- Descend slowly, facing your buddy, staying level and together.
- Equalize early and often. Abort if ears will not clear.
- Add small bursts of air to the BCD to avoid crashing. Fine tune buoyancy on the way down.
- A safe pace is no faster than 45 feet per minute.
Read the full guide on controlled descents »
Safety Stops
- A safety stop is a voluntary pause at 15 to 20 feet for 3 minutes that reduces decompression stress.
- Common mistakes: drifting up or down, fidgeting, losing sight of buddy, surfacing early.
- Master hovering first. Your BCD should be dialed in before the stop, not adjusted during it.
- Stay side by side with your buddy, horizontal if possible, and use visual references when conditions make stops difficult.
- Extend the stop if you were near your no decompression limit, ascended too fast, or feel stressed.
- The golden rule: ascend slowly and with control.
Read the full guide on safety stops »
Mask Clearing
- Mask leaks and floods are unavoidable. Clearing calmly prevents panic and aborted dives.
- Technique: press the top of the mask, tilt head slightly up, exhale gently through the nose until clear.
- For full floods or lost masks: pause, breathe slowly, reseal the mask, and clear before resuming.
- Practice in trim, not kneeling. Add mask clears into routine dives to stay sharp.
Read the full guide on mask clearing »
Free Flowing Regulator
- A regulator free flow vents gas uncontrollably and can empty a tank in minutes.
- Causes: cold water freeze up, debris, first stage malfunction, sticking purge, cracked diaphragm.
- If it happens: attempt to reset, then switch to backup or buddy gas immediately and abort the dive.
- Free flow breathing is unrealistic in real dives. Treat it as an out of air event.
- Prevention: cold water rated regulators, avoid unnecessary purging, dry gear between dives, descend slowly, and have redundancy.
Read the full guide on handling a free flowing regulator »
Sharing Air
- Running out of gas is a critical emergency. Every diver must know how to share air calmly and quickly.
- Two methods: Primary Donate (give your own reg, switch to backup) and Octopus Donate (give yellow octo, keep your own reg).
- Primary donate ensures the out of air diver gets a working reg immediately. Octopus donate is more common with rental or new divers.
- The method matters less than making sure both divers agree on it before the dive and test both regs during checks.
- If out of air: signal clearly, accept the offered reg, take a few breaths, signal OK, and ascend slowly with your buddy.
Read the full guide on sharing air »
The Starting Point for All Other Skills
You don’t need to be perfect at these skills, you just need to be honest about where you are and commit to improving them. Every advanced skill, from back kicks to midwater SMB deployment, depends on these basics.
If you’re diving regularly, these are the things to check in on. If you’re just coming back to diving, this is exactly where to start.