Hookah Harnesses
The hookah harness or a BCD keeps the air hose from getting in the diver's way when working underwater. Hookah harnesses are sometimes integrated with a weight belt, to counteract your body's natural buoyancy and make depth control easier.
The hookah harness typically has a backplate which is automatically positioned over the centre of the diver's back when the harness is worn. The backplate is often used to hold a bailout or emergency air source system. The backplate holds a check valve, which acts as a junction point for the air hose and the regulator. Since the air hose terminates at the diver's back, it prevents potential entanglements around the diver's body.
The regulator intake hose that attaches to the check valve prevents any pulling motion from the regulator while working underwater. For example, if a diver were moving around underwater and inadvertently came to the end of the air hose, the harness would absorb the shock and the regulator end would not be jerked from the diver's mouth.
The check valve that is found on the backplate performs a third very vital function. It acts as a safety gate by shutting down the air system, allowing the air to travel in only in one direction. Should a burst or leak occur in the airline somewhere between the output of the compressor and the input of the check valve, it could prevent a vacuum occurring in the mouthpiece of the regulator or cause a diver to breathe in a large amount of water that could cause panic.
Never, ever, dive without a hookah harness or BCD and a check valve!
Please read Introduction to Hookah Diving for more information about things you need to consider with a hookah diving setup.
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Diving and Snorkelling Downloads
The files that matter to divers and snorkellers are available here

The Scuba Doctor is slowly building a collection of important diving and snorkelling related files for download here. If you have something, or are looking for something, you think should be available here, then please contact us via an email to diveshop@scubadoctor.com.au.
Victoria's Dive Site GPS Marks
Port Phillip — The Heads
Western Port
ex HMAS Canberra Dive Site
Melbourne & Victoria Dive Site Information Sheets
Marine Life Identification
See also Taxonomic Toolkit For Marine Life Of Port Phillip Bay.
Marine Park Identification
Parks Victoria Marine Notes, Park Notes, Visitor Guides,
Maps & Management Plans
Bikini Atoll
Dive Kit Checklists
Dive Boat Related
- VSAG Recommended Club Dive Boat Equipment (Adobe PDF | 170.77 KB) — November 2012
- Guidelines for the safe operation of member club dive boats from the Combined Diving Association (CDA) (Adobe PDF | 242.4 KB) — UK publication, October 2017
- BSAC Small Boat Safety Checklist (Adobe PDF | 2.07 MB)
- BSAC Voyage Planning Sheet (Adobe PDF | 55.38 KB)
- Marine Safety Victoria - I've Gone Boating flyer (Adobe PDF | 212.22 KB)
- Marine Safety Victoria - Vessel Pre-Trip Checklist (Adobe PDF | 156.8 KB)
- Marine Safety Victoria - Skipper's Manual (Adobe PDF | 2.13 MB) — Keep a copy on your dive boat.
- Marine Safety Victoria - Vessel Refuelling Safety Checklist (Adobe PDF | 152.79 KB) — Keep a copy on your dive boat.
- Victorian Recreational Boating Safety Handbook (Adobe PDF | 14.08 MB) — A downloadable version of Marine Safety Victoria's Victorian Recreational Boating Safety Handbook, July 2020.
- Safety Equipment, July 2012 (Adobe PDF | 1.77 MB) — Factsheet on Maritime Safety from Transport Safety Victoria.
- Victorian Marine Safety Act 2010 (Adobe PDF | 979.83 KB)
- Victorian Marine Safety Regulations 2012 (Adobe PDF | 1.06 MB)
- Harbour Master's Directions for port waters of the Port of Melbourne (Adobe PDF | 2.74 MB) — 11th edition, May 2019
- Port Information Guide for the Port of Melbourne (Adobe PDF | 7.68 MB) — 4th edition, effective from 23 March 2018
- Port Phillip Recreational Boating Guide (Adobe PDF | 10.32 MB) — 7th edition, June 2019
- Western Port Recreational Boating Guide (Adobe PDF | 5.65 MB) — 5th edition, June 2011
- Port of Hastings Harbour Master’s Directions (Adobe PDF | 1.73 MB) — August 2019
- Raydon Boat Safety and Dive Equipment (Adobe PDF | 281.3 KB) — An example information sheet. Create your own version, print and laminate it, and keep it on your dive boat.
- Raydon Dive and Boat Captain Information Sheet (Adobe PDF | 197.78 KB) — An example emergency information sheet. Create your own version, print and laminate it, and keep it on your dive boat.
- Raydon Boat Participation Agreement and Consumer Waiver (Adobe PDF | 15.68 KB) — Every time you have divers coming out to participate in scuba diving activities from your dive boat ask them to read, understand and consent to the terms of a Boat Participation Agreement and Consumer Waiver. Create your own version, print and laminate it. Keep it clearly displayed on your dive boat.
- Raydon Boat Diving Consent Form (Adobe PDF | 155.5 KB) — Create your own version, print copies and have every diver coming out to participate in scuba diving activities from your dive boat read, understand and sign it.
- Dive Management Sheet (Adobe PDF | 388.58 KB) — Use this form to record what happens on each dive from your dive boat.
- Radio Safety Information (Adobe PDF | 403.94 KB) — How to make an emergency radio call. Print and laminate this and keep it on your dive boat.
Technical Diving
Scuba Diving and Snorkelling Guidelines
General Diving Information
- SDFV Codes of Practice 2005 (Adobe PDF | 62.35 KB) — Scuba Divers Federation of Victoria general operating guidelines for recreational scuba diving and related activities.
- U.S. Navy Diving Manual - Revision 7 (Adobe PDF | 13.59 MB) — The U.S. Navy Diving Manual is a very complete reference on diving based on the extensive research and experience of the U.S. Navy. The manual contains major sections covering rebreathers, no-decompression diving, open-circuit SCUBA, surface-supplied diving, the diving environment, Navy dive procedures, physics, physiology and recompression chamber operation. The U.S. Navy Diving Manual underwent some significant updates with the sixth revision issued in April 2008. One major change is their decompression procedures and the introduction of a revised decompression algorithm and table. Although much of the information is interesting, it may have limited application to your recreational diving. Still, recreational diving has some of its roots in the almost 1000 pages of this document. Best of all, it's available at no charge because it was developed with US taxpayer funds. The file is large, 14 MB, so best to right click on the link and "Save..." it to your hard drive rather than open it in the browser.
- NOAA Diving Standards and Safety Manual - April 2017 (Adobe PDF | 20.59 MB) — This document represents the minimum safety standards for diving under the auspices of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as of the approval date of this manual.
UK Nautical Archaeology Society
The NAS has developed a series of recording forms that may help with marine archaeology projects that you are undertaking. These forms can be printed on waterproof paper and mounted on survey boards for use underwater. Completed record forms should kept as part of your project archive.
COVID-19 and Diving
Dive Shop Downloads
Tides
Victorian Tide Times for 2022
The tide times can also be referred to as "tide tables, tides, tide predictions or tide charts". The tide predictions in these files represent the times and height of high and low waters.
Other tide publications.