Please remember the following points when planning a trip/diving:

Anything you take/wear when diving affects your buoyancy. Most things are negligible, however torches and tanks can make a crucial difference for example:

My Kowalski torch is 500g negative, so if I do not take it on a dive, I need to compensate for the reduction of weight.

A 15l cyl is heavier out of the water, however it is not (generally) more negatively buoyant in the water! A lightweight Faber 15l cyl (weighing ~16KG) is approximately 500g more positively buoyant when empty than a 12l (13.2KG) cyl. This means you need to add weight, not remove it.
Please remember, this also needs to be taken into account for pony cylinders and twins...

To work it out for yourself, have a look at: http://www.subaqua.co.uk/cgi-bin/cylinder-buoyancy.cgi

If you have lost your buddy, the safest place to be is on the surface.
1) On the surface: If you have not made contact with your buddy before descending, wait at the shot.
2) Descending: If you have lost contact while descending a shot, they are likely to be on the shot. If they are not where you expect them to be, go to the surface and wait by the shot.
3) Descending: If you have lost contact on a free descent and are near the surface, inflate a DSMB and surface
4) Descending: If you have lost contact on a free descent and are near the bottom, descend and perform the lost contact procedure
5) During the dive: if you separated from your buddy during a dive perform the lost contact procedure.
6) Ascending: If you loose contact while ascending, continue to ascend as normal, putting up a delayed if not already done so and performing any stops required.

1. Stop
2. Look around you, I.e. spin around, looking up and down. (it may be useful to turn on a torch aka lighthouse effect - your buddy may find you!). Remember to look over rocks and the other side of obstacles.
3. If you can go to where you last saw him and it is not very far, have a look
4. If you do not have an SMB and are not at the shot, deploy your DSMB.
5. Ascend to the surface, carrying out any MANDATORY stops.
6. At the surface notify the Dive Marshall/Skipper immediately if you cannot see your buddy

In the words of BSAC, 'Where two or more dives are being made the same day, it is good practice to carry out the deepest dive first'. Sometimes it is not possible. Where the deeper dive is carried out second, the depth should not be significantly deeper than the previous. I am very nervous of people performing reverse profile dives, especially if people are not aware of point (1). 

You are covered by BSAC's 3rd party liability insurance on all diving (private or club), as long as you follow BSAC's safe diving practices - http://www.bsac.org/page/141/safe-diving.htm and dive within your ability/qualification.

An official club trip is where any of the facilities, which are provided by Prima are used as part of the trip. This can include diving equipment and other resources. A club trip is also where the name of the club are used in any booking. The DO must be sanction all club trips being organised before they are put to the membership. All trips & courses must be posted on the club notice board inviting any member to take part, subject to availability & qualifications required.

1.                  All proposed dive trips must be cleared by the D.O. prior to final booking.

2.                  All dive trips notifications to be sanctioned & signed by the D.O. before names added.

3.                  All dive trips notifications to be posted on the notice board.

4.                  All notifications to allow for at least 3 reserves.

5.                  All trips are open to any member subject to qualification level required.

6.                  Diving outside of B.S.A.C. is not recognised by the club & are classed as private dives, as such they are not sanctioned by the D.O. & no notice is allowed to be posted.

7.                  Prima members should not be invited or encouraged to take part in private dives outside the club.

8.                  If Prima members are also members of another club / organisation, their activities with the other organisation should not be promoted within Prima.

9.                  Non Prima members are only allowed on club trips as a last resort if the places can not by filled from the club.  Consent of the D.O. & Chairman is required before opening the trip to non members.

10.             It is strongly recommended that a non refundable deposit is taken on all trips.

11.      Your dive plan - this is what you expect to do. If the situation changes, change the plan and let me know the changes afterwards.

The first thing to do in an incident it to not make the situation any worse!

·  All sport divers should know diver rescue and basic first aid.

·  Make sure the skipper and dive marshal is aware what is going on!

·  Make sure someone is in control and manages the incident. This is likely to be the skipper or the dive marshal.

·  Take useful notes, I.e. note down the time things happen. If you are involved in the rescue/incident make sure any information you have is relayed to whoever is making notes.

·  All diving incidents should be communicated to the coastguard if it is possible that their services will be required. It is better to say that you may require their services so they are prepared, than call them in the last minute with a mayday!

·  After the incident, the DO needs to be contacted.  

·  After an incident, it is useful for all involved to write down what happened as soon as possible. This should be given to the DO who will help the DM complete the incident report form.

·  Make sure you treat those involved for shock!

I hope I am telling you all to suck eggs!

Please take the information above onboard and remember - Safe diving!