9 Best Scuba Diving Tips for Beginners
Scuba Diving Tips
I am thrilled to be certified to dive—but wow, I wish someone had warned me what to expect! Where were the scuba diving tips when I needed them?
After completing my online Open Water PADI course, I headed to Pompano Beach, Florida to complete the rest of my scuba diving certification. We started with the confined water, in a nearby pool.
While I am not including this as a scuba diving tip, I would recommend finding a place that does small groups or one-on-one for a reasonable price. I struggled with some of the skills and would have hated to hold someone else up. What was even better about the place I chose to do my open water certification was that I did not need to pay extra for my one-on-one class at the South Florida Diving School.
Once I mastered the pool, we headed out to complete two dives the same day, where I practiced the skills again in the open water, aka, ocean. The next day, we headed out early morning for me to finish my certification by completing Open Water Dives 3 and 4. On dive 3, is finally where I felt comfortable being out in the ocean.
Dive 1, I nearly had a mini freakout but my instructor was amazing and reminded me of all the things and went slow so that I can adjust.
By Dive 2, I was more comfortable, but Dive 3 and 4 were the best.
Looking back on the trip, I wish there were some warning or beginner scuba diving tips to help me prepare for my Open Water Certification. So here are 9 Scuba Diving Tips for beginners based on what happened during my Open Water Certification.
1. Practice Breathing using just your mouth
During your PADI open-water Scuba diving certification, they start you in the pool. Once we got in, I put on the mask and put the regulator in my mouth. I needed to breathe just through the regulator as we went underwater, but of course, my body and brain were like, NO.
To be honest, I had a mini panic attack because we typically breathe through our noses and now that was cut off due to the mask.
We would go down, I would attempt to breathe, forgetting it has to be mouth only and I would freak out and rush to the surface. At the surface, my instructor Danny, would help me relax and then remind me to try again and just use the regulator.
After the second time, I went up, I took deep breaths and focused on just breathing using my mouth, and went down one more time and finally, I was able to stay under and begin actually diving.
I honestly at that point was like girl we did not spend all this money for you to fail at the first step lol.
2. Prep your Hair for SCUBA Diving
This is my favorite scuba diving tip because my hair was my biggest scuba diving mistake!
I showed up to the dive shop with big curly hair that I had just wet a little bit and put some leave-in conditioner in so that the chlorine from the pool would not destroy my hair.
Little did I know that in a few minutes, I would be the one destroying it.
When we got to the pool, I used my scrunchie, to pull my hair back and started in the pool. When I got back to my room my hair was a mess. My hair in the front kept getting stuck in the plastic of the mask strap and my my hair near my neck was in knots. I learned my lesson. I spent an hour detangling and coming up with a new plan for my hair.
In the afternoon, we were planning to do two ocean dives, Open Water 1 and Open Water 2. This time, I put my hair into two sections and did two flat twists. I wrapped the ends in a bun to prevent any tangling.
This hairstyle to the left is what saved my hair during my ocean water dives.
This worked soooooooo well. Since we were in the ocean for these dives I used a reef-safe leave-in conditioner, Stream 2 Sea, that I applied during the twisting and while on the boat.
3. Practice your SCUBA skills in the Pool a lot!
The confined water part is your time to really focus on getting the skills. So make sure to master them here. I really struggled with clearing my mask. Which is something I needed to do while in the ocean a few times. I literally had to get myself to kinda push my head with my palm to get it. I am glad no one has that on camera.
My instructor had me practice it multiple times and showed me different ways to do it so that I could figure out what way would work for me.
In addition, at the end of the session when he felt like I mastered everything, he gave me time to swim around and test out different things. I did that for about an extra 30 minutes just to make sure that I would be comfortable in the ocean.
Oh and bring some Neosporin. I kept hitting my knees on the bottom of the pool and ended up with scrapes on each knee. This is probably my most beginner-friendly scuba diving tip!
4. Packing for your Open Water Dives
My instructor sent over a packing list: refillable water bottles, snacks, and a towel.
However, there are a few things I would add to this list to make sure you are prepared for your time on the boat. The boat I was on both days, had a cooler, chips, and fresh water if you needed to refill your water bottle. They also had storage that would keep your bag dry.
- Microfiber Towel: Each day I bought a towel from the hotel, however, those get heavy and take up a ton of space. I wish I had a microfiber towel. These are smaller and do not hold onto the water as much.
- Scuba Poncho Towel: I saw many other divers with these and thought they were super cute. At times, it got a little chilly after the dives and this seemed to dry them off quickly.
- Dry Bag: I used my bookbag but I saw a few with these dry bags to hold on their gear.
- Water-resistant shorts: I bought some Nike cargo shorts and I was happy to have those to cover up in as we headed to and from the dive sites.
- Wipes: Sometimes when you take your mask off you have snot, so I would bring wipes to wipe your face after.
- Sunscreen: Since you are going to be spending time in the water and on the boat, it is good to have sunscreen. make sure it is reef-safe so you are not harming the environment, I used Black Girl Sunscreen.
- Neosporin: By the end of the pool dives, I had two scrapes on my knees and this helped a lot to reduce the pain and hopefully I will not have scars.
They also had a mask defogger on board, so I did not need to bring my own.
5. Ear wash for Scuba Diving
This can be added to your packing list but I wanted to make this its own beginner scuba diving tip because it affected me on two of my dives. When I woke up to head out to my open water dives 3 and 4, one of my ears was clogged. My instructor gave me a mixture to put in my ear that unclogged them immediately. You can buy some over the counter or even on Amazon.
I would bring this because my ears were clogged a bit during my last two dives. I did not wake up on the third day of my trip with any clogged ears luckily. However, I will either purchase or make this product before heading out for my next dive trip.
He told me it was rubbing alcohol and white vinegar mixed.
6. Your Bathing Suit does not matter when wearing a Wet Suit
I am one of those people who need all the small details so that I can prepare better for my trip. For the pool portion of the certification, I wore a one-piece bathing suit. For the two dive portions, I wore a two-piece bikini because I had on a wet suit.
Had the water been warmer, my instructor stated we would not have worn wet suits. In this case, I would probably wear a bathing suit I did not need to tie as I am afraid it would come undone when jumping off the boat.
For the dives that I did, we did a long stride off the boat into the water, and on day 2, the water was a little choppy. So I do not know if the bathing suit that ties would have held up.
7. Test your Sunscreen before your Trip
I looked up different sunscreens because I wanted to make sure I was choosing a reef-safe sunscreen that would not hurt the environment.
However, I did not test it out. It showed up completely white on my face which was very alarming as I only had one other sunscreen with me, this sunscreen was also reef-safe and is the one I typically use.
In the end, I had to use, Black Girl Sunscreen, which is my everyday wear sunscreen as it did not leave a white cast on my face.
8. Ask Questions
Everyone I met during this trip, was happy to answer all of my questions and give me some tips. They gave me some great scuba diving tips for my next trip, including checking out Playa del Carmen and Cozumel as a great beginner-friendly dive.
In addition, many told me to do more dives and then get my advanced water. Since I liked shipwrecks, they let me know that most are going to be below where I am certified to dive. Your open water certification only goes to 60 feet.
9. Forget the Camera
Of course, we all want to record our first dives. Your first few dives are not the time to do that.
On my first dive, I freaked out when we hit the water. I was so shocked I was doing it that I needed a few minutes just to acclimate to the water.
In addition, you are practicing all the skills you did in the pool throughout the four dives, so you don’t have time to be fidgeting with a camera.
Many people suggest waiting until Dive 40! Thailand recently banned cameras unless you have the Advanced Water Certification or have 40 logged dives. Your certification is your time to practice the skills, if you want a picture maybe ask another scuba diver to take some while they are swimming around.
When you are ready for a camera, most people on the boat have a Go Pro or the Insta 360.
Conclusion: Scuba Diving Tips
Hopefully, these scuba diving tips help you feel more confident and prepared for your first certification dive. I made a lot of mistakes so you don’t have to! From prepping your hair to avoiding scraping on the knees, a little planning goes a long way underwater.
And don’t forget — tip your dive crew! I was told $10 per tank, plus something extra for your instructor if they were amazing like mine.
Related Post
How much does scuba certification cost?
How to get scuba diving certified?
Save for Later!
