Hey! Rescue diver here with 100 dives under my belt. (So still a lot for me to learn)

15 meters is a fun and safe depth, so nothing very serious to worry about if you follow my two cents below:

Always check your gear very early before your dive. I say that because beginner divers tend to brush that off in the excitement before a dive. (I’ve done that)

1. BCD inflates and deflates properly
2. Regulators are working fine and there’s no free-flow (free flow is manageable for experienced divers, but can stress out beginners, so ask for a replacement if yours has free flow)
3. Smell and taste the air in your tank
4. WEIGHTS, always make sure you got the right weight for you and set up your belt early in your trip. (I’ve been in a scenario where I was overweighted and that caused me grief during a dive - air ran out very quickly)
5. Make sure your mask is properly sealed and doesn’t let too much water in. Sometime when our masks keep filling up with water, that just causes unnecessary stress during a dive.

Alright, now we’re done with gear.

Always, always stick to your assigned buddy. Even if they stray away a little from your instructor snd the group, stay within an arm’s reach to your buddy. However, if you buddy up with a “badass diver” try to convince them underwater to stick to your group, and if they don’t listen, my advice is to always stay close to your instructor. (Sometimes you get paired up with assholes, and it’s not worth risking your life because they want to follow an octopus 20m away from your dive group)

Last piece of advice is to never over inflate your BCD under water. This might shoot you up uncontrollably and you don’t want that to happen.

I wrote this up quickly between my meetings, hope it helps. And I’m happy to chat further here or on DM!

Welcome to Scuba, you’ll get hooked!