[Sportsandrec] SCUBA Diving

[Kelly Thornbury]

Although they are rather expensive, there are SCUBA intercom systems to allow divers to talk to each other underwater. Some include full masks similar to those used in commercial diving (a "helmet" if you will), and other systems are more like a larger regulator that covers the whole mouth and allows the wearer to talk while the listener wears a small device behind the ear. On my last blind dive, my buddy wore the special regulator so I could hear while I responded with hand signals. There is also a system of hand signals that can be performed with the blind person, but the communication was more limited and the signals were sometimes hard to understand with thick gloves on. The comms system worked really well in my case, and after enjoying the ability to actually talk to my buddy I wasn't much into the limitations of the hand signals. I've heard of some blind divers wearing a tether between themselves and their buddies to help stay oriented. One of the biggest concerns with a completely blind diver is bouyancy control without the visual reference. I would also only recommend diving with a VERY experienced diver since the level of risk has increased greatly. 

As a general rule, I try to stay slightly shallower than my buddy, and rely on them to stay within the no decompression limits. For decompression dives I always decompress at the next pressure group for added safety, but that is beyond the scope of the recreational diver certs. 

Enjoy.
Kelly

> 
> HI,
> 
> Any blind/VI scuba divers out there?  My daughter just tried an introductory
> (pool) dive and enjoyed it, so I'm trying to find out how others have gotten
> trained/certified.  I have made contact with our local adaptive instructor
> who is very enthusiastic, but would be interested to hear experiences of any
> blind/VI divers.
> 
> Thanks,
> Doug
>