Scuba Diving Sign Language
Scuba Diving Sign Language
Communicating with your buddy underwater is difficult, owing to the fact that your voice cannot be heard. The following are the officially recognized scuba signals for underwater communication.
 OK Surface |
OK. When you first enter the water from the boat, or when you come up after a dive, you must signal OK to the boat and other divers in your group, particularly your buddy. |
 Scuba Signal for OK in the water |
OK. Underwater, you should keep in regular communication with your buddy. Always ask if he is ok before and after an ascent or descent. This symbol is the question and answer form of asking OK? |
 Scuba Signal for go down |
When you are settled in the water, and ready to descend, inform your buddy you are ready by making this signal. |
 Scuba Signal for go down to certain level |
This symbol indicates descend to a certain level. You would follow this symbol by another signal indicating a specific depth, e.g. 10 meters. |
 Scuba Signal for go down to certain level metres |
10 meters. |
 Scuba Signal for go down to 6 metres |
6 meters. |
| Once you reach the desired depth and want to explore here, use this signal, meaning “stay at this depth”. You should keep your hand level and move it from left to right at an even height. | |
| Once you are down at the depth, check with your buddy that everything is OK. If not, he should perform this symbol, but this time rotating his hand from side to side (like the so-so action). Then he should point to the specific part of his kit or body that is causing the problem. | |
| Equalization. If you have descended too fast, your ears might not have equalized correctly. In this case, point to your ears and indicate to your buddy that you need to increase a little. You can use the “go up” signal, pictured here. | |
| Once everything is OK, and you are ready to go back down again, signal OK to your buddy and then indicate that you can “go down”. | |
| You are ready to explore. Decide who will lead the dive. If you want your buddy to lead, signal “you lead, I’ll follow” to your buddy. | |
| You might also want to tell him to stay close to you, using the “stay together” signal, particularly if he is swimming too far from you and you feel uncomfortable. | |
| If he is too close to you, and you need a little space – perhaps you keep kicking him with your fins; signal to “move apart”. | |
| Throughout the dive, you should pay attention to how much air you have left, and how much air your buddy has. To ask, perform the “how much air” signal. | |
| To respond to the question, check your air gauge, and read how many bars of air you have left. For every 50 bars, use a clenched fist, and for every ten bars, use a finger on your other hand. If you have more than 100, repeat the clenched fist. This picture shows the signal for 130 bars, with the clenched fist repeated once. | |
| 70 bars of air left. | |
| Out of air. | |
| Once you are out of air, or close to it, its time to “go up”. Signal to your buddy that you are OK, followed by the “go up” signal. | |
| If you are doing a decompression dive, you will need to ascend to a certain depth and then rest there for a few minutes. The person leading the dive will signal “go up to a certain level”, followed by the appropriate depth. | |
| Once you reach the desired depth, signal to “stay at this level”, and wait there for the required length of time. You can move around, or stay still, but maintain the same depth. This is where your buoyancy techniques come into play. |
Signals for objects/animals in the water
| To avoid coming up underneath a boat, or if you see your dive boat, use this signal, meaning “boat”. | |
| When you see a shark in the water, either a peaceful reef shark, or a potential aggressor, use this “shark” symbol to alert your buddy. | |
| This signal means a ray. It can be a stingray, eagle ray, manta or any other kind of ray you want to tell your buddy about. | |
| Turtles are some of diver’s favorite animals, as they will swim alongside a group of divers happily. This is the “turtle” signal. |
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