Reveling in some ridiculous fun helps us alleviate stress and not take ourselves too seriously. Since we adore the element of surprise and the idea of underwater absurdity, we’ve compiled a list of eight silly things to do while scuba diving — all diver-tested and divemaster approved.
Note: Only experienced divers with good buoyancy skills and situational awareness should attempt the items below — obviously don’t endanger yourself, your buddy or the marine environment on a dive.
Challenge your buddy to an underwater martial arts fight
There’s nothing more satisfying than kicking some butt after challenging your dive buddy/opponent to an underwater karate or kung fu fight. Harkening back to the glorious and sometimes preposterous movie-style fighting from the 1970s and 80s as shown above, you can perform all the crazy martial arts tricks from film that you can’t manage on land. Speaking from personal experience, eight out of 10 buddies will accept the challenge while the other two stare in amazement at your wondrous skills.
Fly and swoop like a superhero
During a fast drift dive, breathe in while widening your arms over your head. Breathe out while clutching your arms in close. Time it well and you’ll mimic a super hero in the sky as your spread-eagled arms and changes in buoyancy, coupled with the rushing water, let you fly in ways you can’t on land. Get your buddies to sync up in unison, forging your own superhero army.
Play with an underwater toy
Just because you’re grown up doesn’t mean you can’t still play with toys. Take funny photos of a toy shark with your unsuspecting buddies or wind up a clockwork scuba diver, such as the one shown above, to explore the underwater world with you. As long as you make eco-friendly choices and don’t force the toys deep, many items that work for kids’ bath time are perfect for scuba fun.
Shoot out the world’s biggest underwater fart
Let your inner kid out as you swim up to a buddy and ask them to pull your finger. While remaining horizontal and tilted away from your friend, purge your back-up regulator behind you, making it seem as if your buddy pulling your finger elicited the world’s biggest underwater fart.
Perfect your bubble ring or learn a new bubble-ring trick
If you haven’t perfected your bubble ring yet, practice, practice, practice. If you can already blow an inspiringly-solid ring, ratchet it up a notch by making your rings merge or dance. Learn to produce a horizontal bubble ring and you can even build up enough force for your buddy feel the miniature vortex of water as it hits them. If you’re a lover instead of a fighter, blowing bubble hearts can snag almost anyone’s attention. However, our favorite bubble-ring trick remains the one where something small and light spins around the ring. Get a buddy to throw something around the ring as shown in the video above or add in the item yourself.
Perform tricks
Tricks of extraordinary balance and agility are easier to execute underwater. Our two favorites are backbends while grabbing our fins in “camel pose” and backwards somersaults.
Amuse your friends with underwater magic
Wow your underwater audience with a few simple card, coin, or rope tricks. Expertise isn’t required to awe your buddies. The element of surprise and the inclusion of magic in an underwater environment is astonishing enough.
Show off your sweet dance moves
Once you kick off a diver dance party 15 to 20 feet deep, safety stops will never be the same again. That mermaid/merman you’ve been eyeing will be astonished whether you rock the ridiculous moves from your teenage years or any of the iconic dances from across the decades. Check out the video above for some inspiration.
Bonus tip
It never hurts to reverse the idea and enjoy some scuba silliness on land. Scuba gear makes for the funniest of scenes when you surprise those around you. You wouldn’t believe the looks we got when we trouped into the Dive Bar in New York City dressed in our gear and relished a rollicking good time.
