We wear full face masks when diving and inside the mask is a little microphone. To talk you push the button on the front of the mask (see picture) On the outside left strap of the mask is a speaker which sits against your ear but on the outside of the hood. Amazingly you can actually hear through the 5mm hood. The only problems occur if you don’t get the mask on tight enough and the bubbles escape out the sides running past the speaker.

This is the box that sits in the boat while the divers are underwater. There is a transponder that hangs over the side of the boat. There is not normally that much conversation it really depends on the divers.

When a diver first goes in the supervisor tests the comms
– diver terri, diver terri topside comms check
– the diver responds – topside strength (scale between 1 and 5)
– supervisor responds – diver terri strength (scale between 1 and 5). This process is repeated for the second diver.

During the dive the supervisor might ask the divers for an air check or tell them to expect seals or to move in a direction away from and iceberg. Normally 10 minutes before the end of the dive the supervisor will tell the divers the minutes remaining before they need to be at safety stop of 6m. The divers will tell the supervisor when they are at
safety stop and when they are coming to the surface.

A week or so ago when I was supervising a dive MVT called on channel 18 to ask if we had divers in as there was Orcas off the wharf. Luckily our divers were at their safety stop at the end of a sucessful dive so I called down. ”Both divers please return to the surface as soon as possible.’ which when a supervisor says something along those lines we know means there is a lep or orca around.

The comms is not just used for safety although that is the primary purpose. It is very helpful for the science side of things and allows me to learn more from the marine scientists as I can ask what certain things are making the dive more interesting.