Dive Training Blogs
My Dive Computer Quit. What Do I Do?
Picture this: you are swimming along an enormous wall in the Caribbean; there is clear blue water above and below you as you drift along in a mild current. You’re taking time to look at the wide variety of coral and marine life present on the wall, all the while taking moments to change the scene by looking into the abyss to see if any sharks are swimming by in the blue.
Seems like a great dive, right?
Well, we forgot to mention that it’s the second dive of the day, the last time you checked your dive computer you noticed your No Decompression Limit (NDL) was 8 minutes, and the depth was 27MSW/90FSW. You thought to yourself, “just another minute or two” and I’ll start working my way up to do a nice multilevel dive.
After what seemed to be moments later, you look down to your computer and it’s blank. You tap the screen, hoping it will turn back on or maybe you’re looking for a miracle, but all you see is a black screen, void of information.
It hits you… Your dive computer just died, you’re at 27MSW/90FSW (or so you think), it’s the second dive of the day, and you’re nearing your NDL. Now what?
First thing, realize this is not an emergency but an inconvenience. Check your cylinder pressure to verify the status of the best resource you have which is the gas you are breathing. You realize you have ample breathing gas supply; this is good! Now you can efficiently work towards a solution.
We should note since your dive computer is a required piece of equipment (no different than your mask and fins), it’s important to understand if it fails; the dive is over, period. No questions asked.
Calmly signal to your buddy or team, “end the dive” by giving the “thumbs up” hand signal. Point to your computer so they see it’s dead and work your way shallow together. Your dive buddy has a resource you do not have – a way of monitoring ascent rate and depth, so stay together.
Sticking together will help ensure you follow a controlled ascent to 15-20FSW. Once you get there, its advised to do an extended safety stop (gas permitting) since you cannot be certain you did not go over your NDL. After surfacing, let the dive crew (if present) know what happened. They will likely suggest you sit the next dive out and take a break from diving for the day.
So how can we avoid this from happening again?
Strive to be proactive versus reactive. During your predive checks (ABCDE), remember the “C” stands for computer. When you’re checking your computer during your predive checks, verify your dive computer is on, set to the right gas, and you have battery power sufficient for the dive. If not, change it out. Also, if your dive computer requires batteries, carry extra so you’re never tempted to push its battery life.
Expand your tool box and resources by carrying a backup timer and depth gauge or secondary dive computer; this will allow you to monitor depth and time as a backup to your primary dive computer. You can also store a set of air dive tables in your pocket to reference during a dive, if needed. If you’re diving nitrox this will add in some conservatism to your dive.
Remember, if your dive computer fails, stay calm. It’s not an emergency; it’s an inconvenience. Being proactive versus reactive will reduce the chances of this happening on future dives. For more information on dive computer considerations or secondary computer options, contact your local SDI dive center near you.
To find out more about International Training, visit www.tdisdi.com.
Article by José Pablo Mir
Pictures by Cezary Abramowski
The world of technical diving is exciting. It opens the door to new sites, depths, and bottom times. More importantly, it opens our minds to a new way of planning, facing, and experiencing dives, even those not purely technical.
Becoming a technical diver is a process, and like in other aspects of life, we should find the proper entry point that suits us best based on our knowledge and experience. The Introduction to Technical Diving course from TDI -the world’s largest and most recognized technical diving teaching organization- is the best option for divers who have yet to gain experience in the fundamental aspects of this new practice. The course’s content and its embrace of new techniques and technologies make it possible to acquire a solid foundation to learn and gain experience in this practice properly.
Becoming a technical diver is not something that happens overnight, whether deciding to become one or receiving a certification card stating we are now technical divers. It is a slow process extending farther away than any introductory course. It requires effort and dedication. But it will bring us satisfaction from day one -or two.
It is a matter of mentality
First, we must understand and accept that technical diving, involving greater depths, longer bottom times, exotic gases, virtual or real ceilings, and more, comes with higher levels of risk than the sport diving we have been practicing until now.
Although this discussion usually starts with a warning about risks, as I’ve done in the previous sentence, our practice is not a game of chance.
Technical diving is a rational activity that requires maturity and good judgment, and we will put everything into ensuring that each dive is a successful one -meaning we return from it safe and sound. With this understanding, we will strive to establish a mental attitude more aligned with our practice and its realities.
This new “technical diver” mindset we will develop will lead us to be more cautious in our executions, more analytical in our plans, more rational in our strategies, and more detailed in our procedures.
Experience will keep teaching us to know ourselves better, to keep our anxiety and other emotions under control, and to manage our impulses. Over time, our senses will sharpen, and we will be more attentive to the particulars of the situation we find ourselves in.
Strategies and procedures
Our strategies, those broad guiding lines tracing the path to follow, from how to approach planning to where, with what, and how we are willing to get there, will be more specific and more practical. Not because they magically become so, but because we will consciously and deliberately frame them that way.
We will establish clear, concise, and realistic procedures. Not only for the undesirable situations that may present themselves but also for those that are part of our dive objectives.
Even though, as technical divers, we often use equipment different from what we were previously accustomed to, it is essential to note that the gear does not make the diver. In a way, we could consider such equipment as the necessary tools to implement what our goal seeks to achieve, according to our strategies and procedures.
Technique plays an important role
We must put our greatest effort into learning and perfecting the different techniques we will be acquiring. Buoyancy, trim, propulsion, cylinder handling, deploying DSMBs and lift bags, valve drills, and more are essential skills we must begin to master to progress in our art. What we cannot do, when we need to do it, can harm us.
Our techniques must be effective and achieve the purpose for which they were devised. But they must also be efficient and require the least resources possible, including the time they take and the effort they demand. Effectiveness and efficiency will prevail over beauty and other considerations that may come to mind, although none of them should be mutually exclusive. A technique executed efficiently and effectively tends to have an inherent beauty.
Refining techniques is a lifelong mission. Some of them will be easy to master from the go; others, on the other hand, will be our life mission and will require many repetitions just to resemble the idea we have in mind of how they should be executed.
We must consider the environment
Our learning, the needs and musts of the practice we engage in, the experience we gradually gain, our strategies and procedures, and even our equipment and tools change with the environment.
Diving in the ocean, everything about us must be suitable for ocean dives. Conditions there rarely emulate those found in a pool, lake, or river. Variable winds and currents, greater depths, visibility conditions, other divers with uncertain skills around us, marine life, maritime traffic, distance from the coast, and many other factors add complexity and uncertainty.
It is never necessary to master the pool on the first day, but planning and aspiring to gradually cope with the ocean’s conditions is essential.
The cost of good training
We are aware that our resources are often scarce in relation to the possibilities of use we could give them if they were not. To a greater or lesser extent, we are part of the economic reality in which we are embedded.
Fortunately, the cost of good technical diver training is not an entry barrier. Comparing training and equipment costs, we see that the former are generally lower. Yes, lower cost for personalized service, essential to our future
performance and safety, than for a series of mass-produced products that are mere, albeit necessary, tools for an end.
The value of good training
The value of the training we received encompasses a range of characteristics, from emotional and methodological to technical and technological. TDI and its Introduction to Technical Diving course offer a deep and modern approach, with a teaching strategy that aims to create thinking divers, not merely obedient ones.
As technical divers, our knowledge is our primary tool. In this type of activity, what we don’t know can harm us.
Is this course optional?
Unfortunately, the fact that this Introduction to Technical Diving course is not a prerequisite for any subsequent training is an invitation to consider it optional. And we all know what usually happens to “optional” under budget constraints.
However, this course should be seen as optional only by those divers who are somehow familiar with the use of technical equipment, who have a mindset more in line with the requirements of this type of diving, who plan and execute the dives the proper “technical” way, who know their gas consumption rate, who are not intimidated by non-decompression tables, who feel comfortable using their dive computers, and know the techniques and have at least an acceptable level of buoyancy, positioning, and propulsion. Those can go straight to a more advanced training course, such as TDI’s Advanced Nitrox.
We must ask ourselves whether or not we are in that group.
Remember our goal: to have fun
Recreational diving is our passion. Jumping into the water carrying heavy equipment and having properly dotted our I’s and crossed our T’s have only one ultimate goal: fun. This is the activity we have chosen as a hobby. We must enjoy it; it must give us pleasure and make us vibrate.
Having a good time is not optional!
Dive Friends teaches the Instructor Development Course (IDC) several times a year to students who are eager to share their passion for diving with the world.
Dive Friends is known for the personal approach throughout the course. Their in-house course director will lead the students through every essential step, mentoring them to achieve their fullest potential as a dive instructor.
Applications for the following IDC start dates are now open:
- 12 April
- 5 July,
- 20 September
- 29 November
Partnership with Casita Palma
If the student opts for the IDC-Deluxe or IDC-Supreme package, their accommodation will be arranged for them at Casita Palma. This small and quiet resort is within walking distance from Dive Friends Bonaire’s main dive shop location and has everything you need to relax after an intense day of IDC training. Breakfast is included, so the student will always be fuelled and ready for their day.
Contact Dive Friends Bonaire’s Course Director Eddy for more information: coursedirector@divefriendsbonaire.com.
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