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Underwater Navigation & Skills Flashcards

7 cards from real PADI practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

Read the first 7 Underwater Navigation & Skills flashcards as text

  1. What is the main advantage of using a bottom contour (terrain) as a navigational reference over a compass?

    Answer: Terrain features are immediately visible and require no instrument, making navigation intuitive

    Natural terrain references like ledges, slopes, and sand ripples provide instant, instrument-free directional cues that are easy to follow.

  2. Sand ripples on the ocean floor can serve as a navigation aid. What do they generally indicate?

    Answer: They run parallel to shore and perpendicular to predominant wave direction

    Sand ripples are formed by wave action and typically run parallel to the shoreline, providing a consistent directional reference.

  3. During a PADI Navigation specialty dive, a student consistently ends up to the left of her target. What is the MOST likely cause?

    Answer: She has a dominant right kick that pushes her left, or her compass is misread consistently to the right

    A lateral body asymmetry, like a stronger kick on one side, is the most common reason for consistent directional drift during underwater navigation.

  4. What is 'dead reckoning' as applied to scuba diving?

    Answer: Estimating your current position using known speed, direction, and elapsed time from a fixed starting point

    Dead reckoning combines heading, kick-cycle count (speed estimate), and time to calculate estimated position without visual confirmation.

  5. When a diver plans a navigation dive with a heading of 045° (northeast), what is the return heading?

    Answer: 225°

    Adding 180° to 045° gives 225°, the reciprocal heading for a direct return to the starting point.

  6. Which factor makes underwater navigation significantly more challenging in a current than in calm water?

    Answer: Current causes lateral drift, so a diver must angle into it to maintain the intended track

    Lateral current pushes a diver sideways off the intended heading, requiring a ferry-angle correction to maintain the actual desired track.

  7. What does 'index marks' or 'bezel marks' on a dive compass allow a diver to do?

    Answer: Lock in a heading so the diver can follow it without constantly reading numbers

    Rotating the bezel to align index marks with the needle allows a diver to follow a heading by simply keeping the needle between the marks rather than reading degrees.