Diving signals are communication that divers use underwater with their
hands, because communication underwater without special and expensive
Without realizing people use a lot of hand or body gestures to express
themselves. Movements like shrugging the shoulders for "I don't know",
nodding the head for "Yes" and shaking the head for "no" are very
common in our society. Also couples who have lived together
for a while can communicate with body, eyes and hands and they don't
need to speak to understand each other.
All the signals were created for better understanding between divers,
because going every time to the surface to communicate is dangerous and
some time there is no time for writing everything on a slate. The
signals were also introduced by military divers in the early years
of scuba diving.
Today it is mandatory to know them before a dive. All
diving agencies or organizations around the globe teach their
hand signals, making some of them to vary from region to region. That's
the reason why it is a good practice to always review the diving
with friends and strangers during the dive
Many times divers have to create a new set of hand signal depending on
the different circumstances of the dive. The important thing is to
always prevent the unpreventable and always stay safe.
of Diving Signals
over the diving signals for
demonstration. Some signals do
not need the animation or we are currently working on them.
signals used underwater, at the surface there are other
diving signals that you should know about.
diver down flag: indicates that there is a diver below. No
other boats are allowed and there is a second, larger zone in which
boat's speed is limited. The flag can be placed on a boat or on a buoy.
And in some
countries it must go down when all divers are out of the water. Today
represents scuba diving worldwide.
Alfa Flag:in international shipping
of the alphabet is represented by a colored flag. This flag represents
letter "A" Alfa. By
itself means "Diver
Down; Keep Clear at
slow speed". The flag must be
flown from any vessel that has diving operations going on which
restricts ship's maneuvers.
Good for signaling boat drivers of your
location while performing the safety
stop or ascending. SMB makes boat drivers see you from far at
surface. The Yellow SMB it is used more commonly in tech-diving and
means emergency underwater/ need assistance (for those divers that have
to spend hours on decompression stops).