The alarm goes off, you can barely open your eyes, but your mind is already up and pulsating with excitement, only a couple of hours left between now and your much awaited scuba dive! This is it! Your diving exertion is underway! A last equipment check and off we go to meet up with our dive buddies!
We arrived at our dive spot, we dove, we went for coffee/dinner afterwards, shared laughs, took pictures… everything was amazing and it’s time to go home!
But is it really over? No!
A scuba dive, at least for me, ends only after all of my scuba equipment has been thoroughly washed and rinsed off the “bad” salt… and that is what I try to teach to my students!
I know, it’s the most boring part of the whole process and all of us have thought about how nice it would be for someone to be there and do that for us, while we sip on a beverage and flip through the underwater photos we just took, but that is not the case… sorry!
I won’t deny that the process of cleaning your equipment isn’t the most glamorous of jobs; nonetheless, it is important that we do it! Salt residue and sand particles can be found all over our equipment after each dive, wearing it down and shortening its life expectancy! It might not be noticeable after just a day or two, but further down the road, the marks of a poorly cleaned set of equipment will be visible… and sometimes not reversible!
Not to mention that, by not caring after your scuba gear, you increase the chances of a malfunction during an underwater excursion!
That is why we need to properly clean our gear, so that it will last us for years to come and so that we decrease the odds of an in-water failure! Don’t forget what was taught during your Rescue Diving Course: Best to look ahead, than looking back!
So, arm yourselves with patience and remember that each piece of your equipment may require distinct handling, for instance, you should always put the water cap on your regulator before immersing it in water, wash clips and valves thoroughly and rinse the inside of your BCD once in a while. Make sure that everything in properly hang and completely dry before storing. Remember what you learned during the Open Water Diver Course!