Basic hand signals and use of floats

Essential hand-signals for dive activity supervisors brief description of float use.

Surface Hand Signals

• OK – Touch the top of your head with the tips of your fingers.
• NOT OK/ Distress – Wave your arm above your head.
• Pick Me Up ‐ Raise your catch bag out of the water so that your dive activity supervisor or skipper can see it.

Use of Floats

All vessels, and especially dive vessels, should carry at least one floating device with a line attached to be quickly accessed and thrown to a person in the water in case of trouble.  

Ideally, the rope end should be secure to the vessel allowing the rescuer to pull the person in the water back to the boat and safety.