? Select your Open Water instructor carefully. Talk to accomplished local divers and ask them for a recommendation. Agency doesn’t matter much as long as the instructor is good. Bad habits are formed early and so are good habits.

? If you are going to go to a resort to learn scuba diving, complete the theory & pool classes with your local dive shop first and bring the paperwork to your resort diving center when you go on vacation. Do the open water dives there if you want but don’t waste time in a classroom or a pool while in some beautiful resort. If you can dive locally, by all means do your open water dives there. Local diving can be amazing.

? On that subject, it seems you can dive pretty much everywhere you live (I know, there are exceptions). There is always a mountain lake, a quarry or a local shore to dive at. Yes, local diving can be cheap, easy and rewarding. So dive locally!

? Forge a relationship with your Local Dive Shop (LDS). You might save some money buying gear online and sometimes your LDS will not carry the
items but when the difference isn’t much, support your local brick and mortar shop. They will rent you tanks, fill your own tanks, provide advice, organize outings, service your gear later – they’re important.

? Meet local divers, mingle, learn from them. They know the spots, they know the tricks, they know the etiquette.

? CyberDive a bit but not to excess. There are many great online communities where to exchange ideas, buy and sell used gear, meet local and remote divers. Don’t become a couch diver though, do get in the water.

? Don’t rush your recreational scuba training. Yes, you can get your Advanced Open Water certification (or equivalent) right after your Open Water but why would you ? Enjoy your diving, build some experience before opening up to new challenges.

? Many many dives later, after you complete the Rescue diver class (or equivalent), don’t bother with any of the ‘specialties’. Besides Dry Suit training, there isn’t really much to learn in the PADI specialties that you can’t learn by diving.

? Dive Master training can be fascinating but understand what you’re getting into.

? Going past your No Decompression Limit into decompression diving, diving with a ceiling (virtual or physical) such as wreck penetration diving, cave diving, deco diving are tech diving activities that absolutely require the proper training.

? Pick up a copy of the PADI Encyclopedia of Recreational Diving. It’s actually pretty good and contains most of the knowledge you’ll need in your recreational scuba activities.

? Prefer paddle fins to split fins. But that’s just my opinion. Buy a good mask as well. Later on buy a Buoyancy Control Device (BCD) and then a regulator.

? For BCD, don’t buy a jacket style, buy a back-inflated BC or a Backplate/Harness/Wing (BP/W) combination. The later is my preference and is likely to last you for a very long time. Find a used one, they’re just great.

? Learn the Frog Kick from the get go and forget about Flutter kick. You will not regret it.

? Focus on Buoyancy and Finning. Those are key skills.

? Do not get into the water without

The following was written by Cpl. Bob Teather RCMP in 1991:

Public Safety Divers are human, believe it or not – just like the rest of us. They come in various sizes and shapes and speak with as many accents and languages as there are lakes and rivers.

Public Safety Divers are found everywhere; in large cities, rural communities and at most departmental budget meetings. The best way to get one is pick up the telephone.

Public Safety Divers deliver lectures, diving equipment and bad news. They?re expected to have the wisdom of King Solomon, the abilities of Superman and the generosity of Santa Claus.

In the movies, Public Safety Divers are easy to spot. You see them hanging from helicopters and cliffs over some treacherous waterfall or rescue scene. In real life, they?re found hanging around near a telephone – even on Sundays, ?cause that?s when it usually rings … just after company has arrived and the barbecue has been lit.

Public Safety Divers are a lot of things. When they make a rescue, they?re heroes. when they complete a body recovery, they?re too late! When they?re paid for their work, they?re doing it for the money … anybody can see that! and when they?re volunteers, they?re crazy ?cause what person in their right mind would volunteer to do a job like that anyway?

Public Safety Divers see more sunrises, sunsets, lakes, rivers, swamps, cesspools and misery than anyone else. Like the mailman, they must be out in all kinds of weather. Their rubber suits change color and materials with the seasons, but their outlook on life remains the same … trying our best and hoping for the day we can make a difference.

Public Safety Divers like hot coffee on cold missions. They also like friendship, laughter and a hearty handshake. They dislike liquor in boats, children without personal flotation devices and drunks that drive their cars into the water.

Public Safety Divers get medals for saving lives, recovering children from icy waters and diving in hazardous conditions. Sometimes their widow gets the medal.

But, after all the sunrises and sunsets, the lakes and the cesspools, the training and the 4:00 a.m. call-outs, once in a while the most rewarding moment comes when the mission is over and out of the crowd a stranger walks up, embraces the Diver and whispers a heart-felt God bless you, and thank you, you have helped.

Bob summed it up greatly in 1991, and he will always be remembered by them, as a good friend, mentor, teacher, and all around great guy. He is sadly missed and fondly remembered by the many thousands of people whose lives he impacted,and changed. Sometimes for the good, and sometimes the bad (putting a felon behind bars), Bob you are sorely missed but ALWAYS remembered!!

And now I will try to take over from where Bob left off, by providing insight into what being a Pubic Safety Diver, in my case a police diver, is like. I’ll try to tell you of the training, the joys, the disappointments, the camaraderie, and the extreme sense of family shared by public safety divers around the world. I’m also adding some photos to give you, the reader, a bit of insight into the practices, training, situations encountered and the joys of the job.

Training to be a PSD is definitely NOT your standard rescue diver course as offered by the various training agencies. PSD work involves recovery, evidence recovery and the chain of custody involved to procure a successful conviction when required, it involves breaking the sad news to families, but at the same time providing much needed closure to those who have lost a loved one. It provides public education on the hazards of work and play around water, trying to educate the public on how to avoid fatal mistakes, and general safe boating and swimming practices.

Training involves black water, swift water, ice, entanglement, recovery methods and procedures, different forms and types of search patterns, the use of SCUBA and surface supplied air operations, how to lift a vehicle, boat, airplane, etc. correctly, at the same time training a diver to be self sufficient underwater should the need arise and you find yourself in “less than optimal” dive conditions. Public safety diving is essentially a solo diver operation for the man in the water but has various backups in place such as a safety diver who is fully suited and ready to go in a moment’s notice, a tender to monitor your tether line , down time, air consumption, dive profile, and help you dress, and the 90% diver as we refer to them, who are on scene fully suited but without SCUBA on or a Surface Supplied System, to provide further back up.

You have to learn the different search patterns involved such as a jack-stay, circle, steady, arc patterns. For ice diving you have your support teams, alternate exits to plan, equipment to set up and configuration to follow. You have to determine what the best thermal protection needed for the job at hand is, and how to choose which is right for the job you are doing. You’ve got to think about whether to use air to inflate your dry-suit with argon, EANx or just compressed air, as well as the possibility of needing Trimix for depth and deco considerations.

The training list is endless.

You learn how to employ various lifting devices such as bags, cables, ropes, and yes occasionally even an extra large tractor inner tube. You learn how to secure a scene, interview witnesses to help with possible/probable locations, how to log evidence, the chain of custody, the emergency communications systems to the surface such as the rope pulls between diver and tender. As a public safety diver you hope to never have to use the 5-5-5- pull which is ” get me up NOW“.
You learn how to properly handle a body underwater, to place it in a body bag while submerged, the correct methods of ensuring that all possible remains are recovered intact.

You also learn the “list” of absolute no-nos in the recovery of human remains and evidence. An example would be a gun recovery that will be used as evidence in a court case, you must NEVER directly bring the weapon to the surface as once the metal touches air the oxidization process begins which could potentially destroy fingerprints or other useful evidence on the weapon. You bag it in the water, including filling the evidence bag with the surrounding water that the item was located in, as this halts the oxidization process, and every body of water has it’s own characteristics, such as the diatoms that are present in the water. These little single celled organisms can be the difference between a successful prosecution, or a case dismissal by the Courts. One always has to remember the chain of custody involved, from their hand, to the tenders, to the evidence tech on the scene, if you happen to have one.

Surprisingly, the difficult aspects about this job are not the various and extreme diving situations and conditions, it is dealing with the grieving family members at a recovery dive, and the most difficult is the recovery of a child.
You have to remember that we the divers are human, and a lot of us have our own children, and it really hits home. It is not uncommon to see a PSD cry at a child’s recovery, and that’s when the camaraderie of the job comes in as we all share each others sorrow’s, and believe me, it is a great feeling to have a fellow team member just come up and put his or her arm around your shoulder and let you know, “I am there for you”.

The second worse is losing a team member on a recovery as that is when the ” what if’s” start to set in, and thankfully most Department’s have a Critical Stress Incident Management team or a councilor you can lean on. Thankfully with the rigorous training PSD’s go through we don’t lose many of our own, but it happens. I remember the case a few years back when a diver from an agency not remotely close to ours lost his life giving closure to a grieving family. This hero was found with his arms still around the victim, his “end of watch” came much to early but his mission was a success, as in his final moment’s he was able to find the missing person and through his death gave closure to the family of the missing teenager.

I would have to say the most rewarding part of the job is being able to give that closure to families, the simple handshakes, the smiles, the thank you’s. We are not in this profession for the monetary or social status boosting some people associate with a PSD, we do it because ” we care” !! I recovered a child’s favorite toy once where gladly no loss of life occurred, and the best “payment” in the world was that little girl running up to me upon seeing her doll and grabbing my still wet leg and hugging it saying,” Mr.policeman, thank you, you saved Shirley”, that alone is one reason I love this job.

PSD diving is far from glamorous!! We dive in some of the worse conditions known to man, in sewers, in hazardous waste spills, in biological event’s where you face risk of catching disease, in black water, in swift water, in freezing condition’s that would make the most hardened Eskimo shiver. In gasoline tanker spills, where getting any of the containment on your skin can cause burns, blindness, etc. This is where you thank your lucky stars that somebody had the know how to invent a positive pressure full face mask and super vulcanized dry suit.

Another downside of the job is the ever current struggle to find funding for training, equipment, seminars, etc.
Most people in the USA and Canada are not aware that most PSD agencies are run by volunteer department’s who rely on public funding and donations. It is only the “luckier” larger Department’s that actually have funding set aside for their Underwater Recovery Team (URT). The countless towns and smaller cities rely on their volunteer teams to provide this service to them and to me THEY are the real heroes, having to rely on their own initiatives to obtain equipment, training, and even storage space.. They hold fundraiser’s, dances, Bar-B-Que’s, etc. to raise funds as these folks are the backbone of the PSD community in little places all over these great countries of Canada and the USA.

The next time your area has a fundraiser, please support it, you never know when or if you’ll be needing the services they can provide.

If you are a diver and want to get involved with this sort of diving contact your local PD, Fire Dept., or EMT stations. They’ll be more than happy to provide you with the information and set you in the right direction. I’m also going to provide you with some links to training agencies that provide PSD training. I myself prefer IADRS, PSDA, and ERDI, but don’t let me influence you. If you are interested in doing this job either professionally or on a volunteer team find an instructor you are comfortable with, has the know-how and experience and will take the time to instruct you to the fullest of your capabilities.

There are leaders in this community of PSD’s that you may have already heard of. I consider these guys to be the cream of the crop, but there are many others out there that are too numerous to list, they know who they are: “Blades” Robinson, Mark Phillips, Bob Kinder, Butch Hendricks. The list is long.

I do hope this has shed some light on the “art” of public safety diving, has enlightened you on the job, and hopefully stirred you to go and make inquiries on how you too can become a member of the “best job in the world”.

Safe diving always!!

Tom

Some more links: PSD Diver Monthly | Lee’s Summit Underwater Rescue and Recovery | San Marcos Area Recovery Team (SMART) | South Carolina Public Safety Diver International |Midwest Technical Recovery Team | CPA International Investigations

2008 is almost gone and 2009 is upon us, it’s time to look back at what we accomplished and look ahead to what’s in store for us. So I’ll start, feel free to add your own in the comments at the bottom of this page.

1. What have you done, learned or improved in 2008 ?

After my MOD1 (Basic rebreather course, recreational limits) in 2007, I wanted to accumulate hours on my rebreather, to be as comfortable diving it as an AL80 but without getting complacent. I logged 50 hours which is not bad for me in a year (20+ of those came in a single trip with Monkey Diving in the Bahamas). I tried to improve my fining but I still have a lot of work on my plate.

I did a few dives nearing 3 hours and about 20 dives with a deco longer than 10 minutes but less than 30 minutes. Often I would hand longer on deco, to get used to it, which was important for me.

I also launched this site which is doing all right, with reviews of gear, tips and tricks, trip reviews. I am also finishing up the manual for using the Liquivision X-link with the O2ptima. I have also started a secret project that’ll marry my love of electronics, computer software and scuba.

2. Have you reached all your goals for 2008 ?

I didn’t have any goals in terms of certification for 2008, I wanted to log hours on the rebreather and dive more. I did both.

I also wanted to shoot, edit and publish a short underwater film that was a little more than the usual dive shoot. I think I succeeded in that with:

3. Have you bought new diving gear in 2008 ? What kind ? Are you happy with it ? Any regrets ?

Who hasn’t ? I set up a BPW for cold water diving, with a steel backplate. It’s exactly the same rig as my transpac warm water set up but with more weights all around (and red on black !). I also bought an AL80 and a Dive Rite first stage/second stage. Now I have two bailout tanks for diving in 2009 (AL40 and AL80). I bought a Liquivision X1 and sold my VR3. I have been very happy with the X1, as mentioned in my review of the computer. I also bought a JJ-CCR BOV which I have received but is not ready to dive yet.

4. What was your best dive of 2008 ?

Hmmm, that’s hard to say, I made a lot of great dives in 2008. Diving on the Nekton pilot with 10 rebreather divers on board was a treat and the dives were great. But going beyond my limits (while staying relatively safe) on the Hydro Atlantic, at 173ft and 30 minutes of deco, a real wreck was pretty awesome. The 2008 dive on the U853 was awesome too, it always is.

5. What was your worst dive of 2008 ? Any regrets in 2008 ?

Hmmm, no bad dive in 2008. I called a second dive on the Spiegel Grove early, last November, because I didn’t feel it. A dive week-end to the Oriskany was canceled earlier this year, it happens.

Regrets ? Not having extended my bottom time on the Bahamas trip a little further. I could have often done 3 hours when I did 90 minutes or 2 hours. Not that important though. Having flooded my lights on the first night dive in the Bahamas and being without them for the remainder of the trip. Not diving enough in Boston.

6. What are your goals for 2009 ?

Become really comfortable in a dry suit. I have had one for 2-3 years but gearing up is still a pain, it might always stay that way. Diving it is not bad but the surface stuff is a drag.

I’d like to do my MOD2, I think I am almost ready. I’d like to be able to reach 200ft which is where I’ll stop. I’d like to do a IANTD Wreck training if I feel like too much of a chicken for a Full Cave. I want to learn how to use reels and such so as to make my wreck dives safer and better.

I’d also like to:

• Dive more in Boston, with different people
• Reach 100 hours on the O2ptima
• Dive in France each time I visit my parents(where I am from even though I lived there for 27 years next to the diving mecca my home country)
• Make thinkingdiver.com a success (not commercially), with your help !

Here you go, your turn !

(Photo by Adrian Soler)

So what is this and why are we doing it ?

Why ?

I am an avid blog reader. It’s how I absorb my daily information. Be it world news, technology, sports, music, or movies, I read my news and get opinions through an ever changing collection of blogs (228 at last count).

However, when it comes to diving, I haven’t been able to find good blogs that I enjoy reading. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of blogs out there, but beyond a few good personal blogs that are mostly focused on their author’s dive reports and a defunct general diving blog, most of the information available can only be found through forums such as ScubaBoard (I know…), The Decostop and RebreatherWorld. And it takes a lot of time to browse those and separate the noise from the information.

So because of this and a few other reasons, Sam and I decided to launch ThinkingDiver.com. The idea has been evolving, and over the past few months, we’ve been doing a lot of writing. We don’t know yet exactly what the content will be, but we’ll definitely be covering everything from recreational diving to tech diving, open circuit to rebreather diving, and new gadgets and technologies. We’ll talk about our dives, both local and remote, as well as the equipment we use. A few manufacturers have expressed interest and we’ll be reviewing some of their new gear (and we’ll send them back, no keepsies).

The tone of the blog isn’t set in stone and you’ll find that Sam and I have very different attitudes and philosophies about diving and life in general. But as long as I keep bumping into him during our dives, it’s pretty safe to say we’ll keep writing together here.

But! This is not our personal dive web site. We’re writing it for all of the diving enthusiasts out there and everyone can (and should!) participate, by commenting on our blog posts (of course), but also as guest bloggers. This month, we’ll post a few items from people other than us, starting with John Cogan (who I dove with on a live-aboard in the Bahamas, together with SCRUB, the South Florida rebreather crew). I am sure you’ll enjoy reading their posts at least as much as you enjoy reading ours.

We’re not doing this for fame or money (okay, not for money). Right now it’s not our intent to sell sponsorship on our site. We’d love to review new products from diving gear manufacturers but for now, that’s it. We’ll be running basic ads only, so that we can cover our operating costs.

And most importantly, we’ll keep diving. We don’t want to be couch divers, telling you how it is. We’ll keep diving and reporting on our findings, our epiphanies, our mistakes. We’re not experts, and there are much better divers than us out there. Most of you are! We just like to hear ourselves talk…and we’re real geeks.

So it’s here, it’s live and it’s kinda good.

(Oh and Digg us ?)