The Dive Briefing Questions Worth Asking Before You Get in the Water

The briefing is the most valuable ten minutes of a dive day and the one most often half-heard. A guide runs through the site, points at a whiteboard, and divers nod at the parts they know. Yet most incidents on guided dives trace back to something that was either not said or not understood: a current nobody mentioned, an exit nobody described, a plan for losing the group that nobody had agreed. Divers Alert Network's health and safety resources and the British Sub-Aqua Club's safety pages both return, again and again, to planning and communication. A diver who asks sensible questions is not being difficult. They are doing the job.

The site and the limits

Ask for the maximum depth and the planned dive time, and ask who sets the turn. Many guided dives end when the first diver reaches a set pressure, often 50 bar (700 psi) as a minimum reserve on surfacing, and everyone must know the figure before they enter. If the guide plans a profile deeper than your certification, say so. A good operator will adjust, a poor one will not, and you should then ask yourself whether you want to be in that water.

Entry, exit and the surface

How do we enter, and how do we leave? Giant stride from a boat, back roll from a rib, a shore entry over rocks: each has its own risks. For an exit, ask what the plan is if the boat is not at the descent line, how pickup works, and where the ladder or platform is. Ask what the surface conditions are likely to be, because a calm morning can turn choppy by the end of the dive. Find out whether a surface marker is expected and whether you should carry your own. Our guide to the surface marker buoy and spool explains why it is the cheapest piece of safety kit you can own.

Current

Ask which way it flows and how strong, whether you will dive into it or with it, and what to do if it picks up. In a drift, the boat follows your bubbles or marker; in a site with a mooring line, the plan is to start into the current so that the return is easier. A sound answer will also say what to do if you are swept past the end of the reef. For the differences between drift diving and a standard dive, see drift diving and currents.

The group and the lost-buddy plan

Who is leading, how many are in the group, and who is last? Where do you swim relative to the guide? Agree the signals for turn, ascend and out of air. Most agencies teach a lost-buddy procedure of searching for about a minute and then surfacing carefully; if the operator uses a different rule, find out what it is. Ask your own buddy the same question, because the person whose plan you actually follow is the person next to you.

Hazards and the emergency plan

Ask what lives on the site that could cause you trouble: boat traffic, fishing lines, stinging hydroids, surge in a swim-through. Marine stings are common enough that the first-aid plan should be on the boat. Ask if there is emergency oxygen on board and a radio or phone signal, where the nearest hospital and recompression chamber is, and how long the transfer takes. The answers tell you a lot about the operator even when you never need them.

You can say no

The most important thing a briefing gives you is the chance to decline. A diver can call a dive at any point, on the boat or underwater, and a good guide respects it. Nothing at the site is worth a dive you are not comfortable with, and the better operators make saying so easy. A short list on your slate or phone, run through before every unfamiliar dive, takes less time than getting your fins on.