by Megan Denny
Last September I went on a liveaboard dive trip and saw my first hammerhead shark, followed by a barracuda tornado. I also saw some classic examples of scuba diving bad habits – from experienced divers no less!

Liveaboards typically attract hardcore divers, and the boat I chose was no exception. On average, the people on board had 300+ dives, but a few of these old salts made mistakes that even a brand new diver would consider a rookie move.

Bad Habit #1 – Skipping the buddy check
You ask your buddy, “You ready? Yeah? Let’s go diving.” Everything seems fine until you roll off the boat and discover you forgot your fins, your buddy’s tank is loose, or something even worse.

Forgoing a buddy check takes a shortcut on safety and increases the chance of having to solve a problem in the water. You can learn more about avoiding and adapting to problems in the PADI Rescue Diver course, but the best thing to do (as we teach during the Rescue course) is prevent problems before they begin with BWRAF

Bad Habit #2 – Shooting fish butts
There were some very expensive camera rigs on board, but an expensive setup doesn’t guarantee good photos. Especially when the photographer doesn’t know underwater photo basics, or Want to read more click here?