Stumbled on a stat about dive fatalities that made me rethink my gear checks

Was reading through the Coast Guard's accident reports from last May and saw that over half of the documented commercial diving deaths involved the diver being solo or buddy separated during the descent. I always figured most incidents were bottom time or gas mix issues, but it's literally the first hundred feet that gets people. Since then I've been triple checking my lifeline attachment before I even splash, and I'm curious if anyone else runs a stricter pre-dive checklist after seeing numbers like that.

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logan6321mo ago

You ever try the buddy check where you physically hand over your reg and mask to the other guy before you get in the water? That changed things for me after reading a similar report. I started doing a full walk through with my partner, like actually touching every clip and valve instead of just eyeballing it. Now we treat the descent like the dangerous part, not the bottom, and we stay within arm's reach until we hit the depth we planned. It feels slower but I've had way fewer surprises on the way down.