Dive Slates

Dive Slates

Communicating underwater is difficult.  While you can shout and get your buddy’s attention, sound waves do not travel well through water – you cannot really use words, only noises.  You can bang on your dive tank with your dive knife and make enough noise to get their attention, and then you can use the traditional scuba sign language to communicate the basics.  Buddies who dive together regularly often create extra signals for different kinds of fish to increase communication, but if you have something to say that cannot be said with a simple hand signal, the dive slate is the only way to go.

Dive slates come in different sizes, styles and have different functions, depending on your needs.  There are glow in the dark slates that allow you to communicate during a night dive, small slates on Velcro bands that wrap around your wrist, “etch-a-sketch” style boards that can be easily erased and then there’s the ones you can make yourself.  Some choose to use a simple white plastic board with golf pencil attached, while some choose a blank license plate or the back of an old “for sale” sign cut to size.  You can take several boards, punch holes in them, and tie them together with plastic tubing.  The key is having something you can easily attach to your dive kit without getting in your way but still being easily accessible.