Underwater Sign Language

Can you talk to your buddy underwater?

Some divers will talk into their regulators and while they may think they've told their buddy to be careful because the stone fish stings...what the buddy hears is generally something like "Blurble, glub, glub, blurbley blurbley." Right!

Sure, we can all tell our buddy we are "OK," or to go "UP," or we are "OUT OF AIR." But what if you wanted to tell your buddy to follow you into the cave and take a picture of the blue crab? Well, if you knew SeaSigns you could tell your buddy that and more.

SeaSigns is an underwater sign language system born out of the observation that deaf divers had no problems at all communicating underwater...they simply continued to talk with their hands as always. Based on American Sign Language and comprised of around 100 signs, SeaSigns is plenty of vocabulary for divers to get their point accross and some SeaSigners will even manage some expressive language.

I certified a group of divers while on a trip. One woman excitedly signed to me from accross the reef..."come, look, eel eat lobster." Well, I was sure that she had that wrong, it can't be...and I shot her the universal "OK" sign figuring I'd learn what she was getting at once we got back onboard. But she wouldn't let up, "come. look, eel eat lobster" she was emphatic and practically screaming at me. So I motored on over to her location...just in time to see lobster antennae, and legs drifting down to settle on the reef, and one big eel, gulping as he managed to swallow a huge lump down his throat. Yup "eel, eat lobster" all right and I missed it, but my buddy had managed to tell me.

The system is amazingly easy to learn and a little practice will make one quite profficient. The materials, including a DVD and eBook make self study easy and guide the diver through the proper technique for signing underwater in bulky gloves or even in mitts. SeaSigners earn a descriptive tag as their certification identifying them as underwater signers and many scuba training agencies have a specialty based on the SeaSigns program.

I'm always anxious to get more folks profficient in underwater sign language and this season Atlantic Edge Dive Center will offer an introductory seminar on June 9 at 6:30pm. The seminar will give you a chance to experience just how easy it is to learn SeaSigns. So come check us out, I'd love to teach you to Learn to Sign!