New Scuba Hand Signals

Serious Take

Quite frequently I used to see DMs introducing large numbers of new hand signs to signal the presence of different marine organisms. There is usually a finger on the forehead for “frogfish”, a hand on the head as a “shark” fin, or the DM’s two arms going up and down to signal “crocodile fish”. These signals serve little purpose other than to make the dive briefing less brief and more comedic. No one needs to be informed that the gray, large torpedo shaped fish on the other side of the wreck is a shark. Simply pointing there suffices to get the attention of the diver. In rarer case that I want to explain to a dive buddy what it is we are looking at, I use a slate to write on (“juvenile sweetlip, mimicking a poisonous flatworm”).

In most cases all these extra hand signs only serve to confuse the divers, who might be beginners or near-beginners. When still just having learned how to survive underwater, they shouldn’t be task-loaded with remembering lots of new hand signals which contribute nothing to their safety or to the logistics of a smooth dive.

To rephrase this: The many extra hand signals create an inflation of hand signals, and inexperienced divers might forget some of all the signals they learned, including the actually necessary ones (“slow”, “out of air”, ect.). The extra signals constitute a pollution/spamming of signal space. A new diver who sees a hand signal underwater should ideally have to distinguish it from a dozen (important) others, not from this dozen plus three dozen unnecessary others. Signals might look similar – “turtle” or “ray” might look like “stick with your buddy”. Such confusion can cause – confusion – in the mildest case and can lead to misunderstandings which put you on the road to a diving accident in the worst case. A diver who is told to stick with his buddy but is looking for a ray will not be a safe diver.

Hence, my tip: cut out the “marine animal” special hand signs, and focus on communicating with hand signs what makes dives safe and well organized. As a DM, don’t brief your guest divers on these signs; as a dive shop owner, discourage their use; as a diving teacher, don’t teach them. Cutesiness during dive briefings ranks lower than clear communication underwater.

Not so Serious Take

Especially these days with a viral pandemic and a pandemic of moralizing, one has to spice up life with some humor. Hence, we made fun of the marine animal hand signal inflation.

In this video we show how to signal the presence of Echinoecus, the “anal crab”:

And in this video we explain the new hand sign for the beautiful flasher wrasses: