How To Prepare For Scuba Diving Season

While plenty of divers will have branched into night diving or cold water diving to get their fix throughout the winter, it’s springtime that really kicks off scuba diving season. Lighter evenings and longer days are the perfect excuse to get back into the water, but if you haven’t been diving over the off-season you might be feeling a little out of practice or even nervous to get going again. Work your way through the following steps and you’ll be prepared to embrace scuba diving season in no time!

Check All Of Your Equipment

Before you get back in the water and kick off your scuba diving season, make sure that you have thoroughly checked all of your equipment for damage. Pay particular attention to the zips on your wetsuit, drysuit and BCD - are they clean, leak-free and easy to open and close? You should also inspect all of your hoses for any signs of cracking. It’s better to be safe than sorry so if something looks worse for wear, it probably is. Get any items you are not sure about checked by an expert and replace them if necessary. This will not only ensure your safety but also help to avoid a frustrating scenario where you head out to the water only to discover you are unable to dive!

If you’ve been diving throughout the winter, you should still be checking your equipment on a frequent basis. Your dive gear might’ve been subject to greater-than-usual levels of wear and tear in cold conditions so it’s important that you still inspect everything before the frequency of your diving inevitably ramps up into the summer months.

Get Your Gear Serviced

All divers need to have their dive gear professionally inspected and serviced at regular intervals. Many find that the start of scuba diving season is the perfect time to do this as it means that you can dive for the whole year without having to think about it. At the very least, you should use this preparation time to at least check and see if you are due a service. Regulators should be serviced annually (or every 100 dives) and your cylinder tested every five years. Don’t hesitate to pop in and see us at Aquanauts if you’re not sure what your responsibilities are!

Take A Refresher Course

It’s always wise to make sure that your knowledge and skills are still up to scratch before scuba diving season gets underway. Go on an easy or familiar dive to ease yourself back into it and take the time to work on your buoyancy and build up your confidence before tackling a more challenging dive. If you’ve been out of the water for an extended period or are feeling particularly out of practice, you could also take the PADI reactivate course. This short refresher course covers all of the skills and theory you need to have mastered, with an assessment at the end to allow you to enter scuba diving season with confidence.

Work On Your Fitness

Diving is physically demanding and, like any kind of sport or physical activity, will probably feel like tough work on your first dive back. While you don’t need to be breaking fitness records to get into the water, we highly recommend working out regularly to maintain your stamina throughout the off-season. If you’ve not been able to stay as active as you’d like, at least try to progressively build up your strength in the run-up to your dive. You can find some great workouts to prepare you for scuba diving season here.

Plan Your Dives

A well-planned dive is always the safest kind and guided dives and more exotic trips can fill up quickly so don’t leave it too late to plan your dive season! Even if you’re not quite ready to get in the water yet, it doesn’t hurt to touch base with your dive buddies early and float some plans and ideas. You can find our full calendar of boat divesand shore dives online, so book in now and then you can relax knowing you’ve got a full season of epic diving ahead of you.

Join A Club

And if you’re not sure exactly what you want to do this dive season, why not join a dive club? A dive club is the perfect way to widen your circle and experience new kinds of dives and experiences. You’ll have the opportunity to develop your skills and take part in group dives in locations you might otherwise never have considered - all while being surrounded by like-minded people.

Here at Aquanauts, we run an active and welcoming dive club in Plymouth. Membership includes regular dives, social events and even equipment hire, so join today or get in touch with us to find out more and guarantee an awesome scuba diving season.