Scuba Diving Equipment – Are you ready in case you RUN OUT of AIR?

While recreational scuba diving has a significant lower rate of accidents than other sports, emergencies happen and you should be prepared. But maybe you think that you will never run out of air because you have a gauge and you check it frequently...well, that is not completely true, because in the underwater world you have an infinite number of factors that can affect your diving experience.

Even the most experienced diver has faced in his life some kind of emergency or air related incident. In case you are wondering, how somebody can reach the point where he or she doesn’t have air?, some of the main reasons why people run out of air while scuba diving are generally due to failure in equipment (o-ring, gauge, tank, regulator, octopus, etc.) or external factors like diving in cold water, against or in a current, being trapped in a fishing net or under a rock.

In any case, you will need an additional or alternate source of air, or that could become your last diving experience. There are many options and techniques (like buddy breathing, octopus, pony bottles, etc) to overcome the problem of air shortage, but I will highly recommend you to consider buying a Spare Air system. I am not affiliated with any manufacturer, but it simply makes sense!

When you are shopping around for these kinds of scuba diving systems the key question is: What is your life worth?

Air is precious, especially when you are at 70 or 80 ft.

Scuba Diving – Five Places where you can find a Dive Buddy

Here are some ideas on where to look when searching for a Dive Buddy:

Scuba Diving Stores, usually you will find a message board, some of this ads are from new divers or divers looking for a dive buddy. If you are new to the area or city, ask the salespeople if they can recommend you to get in touch with somebody in particular.

“Find a Dive Buddy” specialized web sites: Divebuddy (http://www.divebuddy.com/) is a good place to start; this neat web site will let you search scuba divers by country, city, skills, dive experience, certification, etc. If you are based in the UK, try UK Divers (http://www.ukdivers.com) they have a forum for scuba divers looking for a dive buddy.

Scuba Diving Excursion Day, in most countries or cities you will find that there are travel agencies specialized in Diving Excursions and charters. Your best option is to book a day trip, but remember to tell them that you will need a dive buddy. If you think that the person you just met will be a good dive buddy, ask if it is possible to go to scuba dive some other day and exchange contact information.

Yellow Pages, yes! Yellow pages…old resource but still effective. Go to http://www.yellowpages.com or the local equivalent abroad and search for “scuba” in a particular city or browse the index if you are using the paper-based version. This is a real international resource; all the countries in the world have a Yellow Page book. Don’t forget to call the local scuba association.

Certification web sites usually have a section where scuba divers can publish their profile and location.

In my opinion the scuba diving certification web sites are the best place to find dive buddies.
But always remember, as in anything, nobody can guarantee that your new buddy is the best diver in the world. On a security note, be careful and ask for references if you are going to dive with somebody for the first time. The best dive buddy is always somebody who is trusted by somebody you know. So, ask your friends first.

And, your last option…google this “dive buddy finder” or “dive buddy” + location, for example “dive buddy California” (do not search with quotes).

Good Luck!

Do you know any other way to find a dive buddy?