Stuff You Need For Diving

Diving equipment is more complex than some people think. For the most part, people think if you've got an adequate air supply and flippers on your feet, you're set for diving. Wrong. I suppose this approach would work for the casual scuba enthusiast, but there's a lot more equipment needed for a proper dive than a tank and flippers. If you're going to get serious about diving, here are all the pieces of equipment you'll be needing, and why.

Tank or Rebreather - this is, obviously, the single most important piece of gear you'll be needing on a dive. A tank provides you with a good supply of compressed air so you can breathe. Unless you suddenly evolve gills, you'll need a good air supply for scuba. Rebreathers are small electronic devices that are more expensive then tanks, but they have the advantage of lightness and compactness over a regular tank. Rebreathers actually recycle the air used by a diver, reintroducing oxygen into it.

Masks - there are several different types of masks, and you can pretty much pick and choose from which type you want. Goggles are the smallest and simplest mask type to use, while others have integral snorkels for breathing in shallow water. Aside from these simple eyegear affairs, there are also full face masks with integral communication gear that allows you to talk to other people while diving via a built in radio comm unit. These are the preferred types of masks to use for deep extended dives, as some models of full face masks also include low light vision lenses, and these are essential for traversing depths which aren't penetrated by sunlight.

Thermal Suit - diving gets COLD. A full body suit is necessary for serious diving endeavours. These rubberized suits are full body wrapping outfits that not only help with thermal insulation, they also help to avoid abrasions if the diver's skin encounters rough surfaces, especially coral. Getting mugged by a jellyfish is also not a pleasant experience if all you're wearing underwater is your skin. Another note, the pressure applied by a wetsuit can also prevent bleeding from small wounds incurred underwater. This is essential for those who like swimming where sharks hang out, unless you enjoy being a snack for Jaws and his buddies.

Weighted Plates - contrary to the popular belief of those people who can't swim, people do NOT sink like rocks when thrown into the water. The human body is naturally buoyant, and will float in water, especially salt water. To this end, divers need to carry different sorts of weights to adjust their depth when they're diving.

Fins and Diving Motors - for propulsion underwater, you'll need either fins or, for those who want to conserve their energy, you can buy a Diver Propulsion Device, which is an electric motor driven device that you hold onto. It is roughly the size of a large vacuum cleaner, and basically does the swimming for you.

Gauges - you'll need a compass for navigation underwater, along with underwater pressure gauges and an electronic depth measurer to make sure you don't go too deep and encounter pressures that may cause you decompression sickness.

Dive Markers - these are floating buoys that you need to set to let people on the surface know where you're diving. This is essential for safety in case you run into problems underwater, as well as providing a means for passing boats to know there's a diver in the area, which lessens the chances of bonking your head on a passing ship's hull when you surface.

Handheld sonar and Light - for navigation in extremely dark areas, as well as for diving at depths where sunlight from the surface no longer penetrates, having an underwater sonar and a portable electric light source is a must.

Underwater Buoys and Line Markers - aside from surface buoys for marking where you are for passing ships and boats, underwater dive buoys also help you to navigate underwater, marking territories which you may want to come back to later so you don't get lost, as well as letting other divers in the vicinity know that you're around.

First Aid Kit - diving equipment shops will offer specialized first aid kits for treating injuries that may happen underwater. Having this kit with you is a must, as well as taking lessons in their use.

Miscellaneous Tools - having a knife, waterproof camera, lines of wire with electronic reels, a dry box for your wallet, phone, etc, and a gunny sack for holding things you nab from underwater is also something to remember. These little knick knacks aren't really necessary for a successful dive, but they come in handy.

Scuba Diving Career: When You Want It To Be More Than Just A Hobby

Are you tried of your normal workday? It probably seems that there’s nothing more to life than driving to work in the morning, working with uncooperative colleagues, getting very tired, and then drive back home. Add to that all the noise and air pollution you encounter along the way.

If you’re adventurous and unconventional enough, a career in scuba diving may be right for you. Usually, those who pursue scuba diving careers were scuba diving enthusiasts who wish to take their hobby a little further. Scuba diving couldn't possibly be compared to other career choices.

Instead of causing stress, it is a rejuvenating activity. You get paid by doing something you like. You get to impart your knowledge on the sport with other people who share your interest. In scuba diving, there’s no unappreciative boss and annoying colleagues.

Starting a scuba diving is a bit like other careers, though. You should have that extreme interest in diving, and then develop your abilities to working on that. Though it seems so easy since scuba diving sounds all about fun, there’s more to learn to become a scuba diving instructor. You would have to master not only the craft of teaching but also develop an expertise in diving.

Like other professionals, scuba diving instructors also used to be students. They began with easier courses on scuba diving and then slowly moved on to more advanced courses. Of course, through the process, they were able to see more to scuba diving than just having fun while diving. They were able to see a different side of scuba diving that encourages them to share the sport to others.

If you ask any scuba diver instructor, he’ll probably tell you so much about what scuba diving has to offer. For the love of the sport and the desire to let others experience the beauty of scuba diving, they ended up being a scuba diver instructor.

Although you might think that scuba diver instructors know everything there is to learn, the truth is there is still so much to learn about scuba diving. Scuba diving is an evolving activity. it is used by the military and scientists as well. Nobody can possibly learn everything about scuba diving.

That’s why more and more people are getting interested in scuba diving. It offers a whole new world and constantly opens more doors to exploring the mysteries of the underwater life. If you are up to this challenge, then you should seriously consider a career in scuba diving.

To be a scuba diving instructor, you would first need to be a dive master. There are a lot of several scuba diving schools or agencies where you could get a certification of being a dive master.

By the end of an instructor development course, you are expected to learn more than just the basics of diving. You’ll be taught about diving standards, safety and regulations and the scuba diving system as it relates to the law. Of course, you’ll learn several techniques that you can employ to effectively teach your future students.

This extensive course will definitely make you master of scuba diving. You’ll learn everything you need to know to kick start your career in scuba diving. Of course, the rest of the learning process will follow once you have started your craft. Like many other careers, you only get about 20% of the knowledge from training, and you derive the rest in the real world.

As a scuba diving instructor, scuba divers could expect a lot from you. You need to be able to teach scuba divers how to safely scuba dive and at the same time have fun. That is quite a responsibility. Your students have placed their life’s security on your hands, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be easy to teach them how to stay safe and remain alive while underwater.

There are also other things you have to look into in pursuing a career as a scuba diver instructor. Like other careers, there’s much marketing involved. You may have to learn a little on sales literature and product marketing. You don’t have to buy everything they advertise but you need to understand the scuba diving business industry. The market in scuba diving largely affects your job and your students as well.

Training Courses and Prerequisites for Scuba Divers

Scuba Diving is a sport that has grown in popularity in the past decade, evolving from something that was utilized by scientists and naturalists to further their research, turning into a popular pastime for many people. It's grown to such an extent that even beach resorts have started offering scuba diving lessons, as well as equipment rentals and certified trainers to accompany untrained noobie divers who just want to try it out.

Scuba means Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, and involves operating underwater with a tank or rebreather that supplies oxygen to the diver. Types of Scuba are seperated based on the breathing apparatus employed in the dive. In open circuit scuba, the air is supplied by a tank or other source, and once inhaled, is exhaled into the surrounding water. It is the most common type of scuba used for recreation.

In closed circuit scuba, the air is recycled though the use of devices called rebreathers, and oxygen is reintroduced into the air supply of the diver by an apparatus. In semi closed circuit scuba, mixed gases are used as the air supply, taking part of the air exhaled by the diver as well as adding to it with an air supply similar to that used in open circuit scuba. Semi closed circuit scuba is more difficult to learn than open or closed circuit scuba diving alone, because it involves knowledge from both types of diving because the breathing apparatus used is a fusion of the two.

Scuba diving clubs and other organizations offer lessons in scuba diving in an effort to expand the growing popularity of this sport. On a more professional level, some of these organizations even offer advanced scuba lessons which allow trained scuba divers to expand their repertoire and go diving in conditions and environments which are otherwise restricted to other divers who don't possess the training to handle them. Here are some of the prerequisites for diving, as well as some of the advanced scuba courses that experienced divers can take.

Prerequisites - any and every scuba diver must have skills in swimming, obviously. Aside from this, however, a scuba diver must have had training and experience in snorkeling, which forms the basis for some of the techniques used in scuba diving. If you want to take up scuba diving as a sport but don't know how to snorkel yet, then take up snorkeling first before taking a course in scuba.

Regular Scuba Certification - this trains a person in the basics of scuba diving, allowing operation in shallow water and near shorelines, and is mainly used for training scuba divers who undertake the sport for purely recreational purposes. For a vast majority of people who take up the hobby, this is enough.

Open Water Scuba -  this is for scuba divers who operate out of sight of the shoreline. They will have to take a boat to get to the dive area, so skills in operating a boat are part of the prerequisites for open water scuba diving. Open water scuba usually involves diving to greater depths than a regular diver, and divers who use this method need special equipment like floater buoys to let other boats on the surface know that there's a diver in the spot, as well as underwater line markers, reels, and underwater floaters for underwater navigation.

Rescue Scuba - this is a special training course that focuses on rescue operations for other divers. Those who usually take it are employed in the search-and-rescue business. Training includes first aid, obviously, as well as underwater techniques for getting people out of hazardous situations like underwater caves. There is also training in the use of specialized equipment used in such rescues.

Deep Dive Scuba - this is scuba diving in extreme deep water conditions, and includes training in the use of equipment for operating in high pressure depths. Deep dive scuba is extremely dangerous and not recommended for casual divers who are taking it as a hobby, since in some cases it involves descending to depths that feature water pressures that would physically crush a person wearing regular scuba gear. Naturalists usually take this training up as a way to study sea-bottom dwelling life forms, and geologists and oceanologists likewise take it up for studying underwater formations like volcanoes and rock fissures.

Hazardous Area Scuba - this type of training specializes in teaching scuba divers advanced forms of safety in scuba diving. The diving skills required per se don't differ too much from the levels of skill involved in regular scuba, but additional training is given for allowing a diver to explore hazardous area that are usually restricted to regular divers. Some examples of hazard areas include shipwrecks, coral reefs infested with toxic life forms, shark infested waters, and underwater caves. While not for the regular hobbyist, some of the more serious scuba divers take this up for thrills.

Instructional Courses - this type of scuba course teaches a scuba diver how to teach other people to scuba dive. It also features training in basic first aid to help injured pupils, as well as tutorials in buddy systems that are required for helping noobies along underwater. Obviously, a certificate in basic entry level scuba diving is a must for taking this course up, though no proficiency in the more advanced courses is required since this mainly focuses on teaching others the methods of recreational scuba, and not professional scuba.

Going Scuba Diving?

Who wouldn't want to explore the world under the sea? Mankind has always been fascinated with life underwater. Because of this great fascination, extensive researches and amazing inventions have given us the chance to breathe underwater so we can observe or simply have fun in dealing with aquatic animals.

However, breathing underwater isn't just simply bringing a tank full of air with you when you dive. There are many things that you need to consider. Staying underwater is totally different from living on land.

For one, humans don’t have the gills that can extract oxygen from the water. Air pressure is also significantly different from water pressure. The human body isn't adapted to high pressure changes. Controlling your buoyancy and avoiding losing body heat when underwater are also major considerations.

Fortunately, probably everything that a scuba diver needs to safely explore the depths of the ocean is available. There’s the mask, snorkel, fins, regulators and diving suits to name just a few. These equipments allow the diver to breathe, control their position and stay warm underwater.

To breathe underwater, a scuba diver wears a metal tank full of compressed air. A regulator is attached to this tank, which adjusts the air pressure to match that of the surroundings so the diver can breathe comfortably. The regulator delivers air through a mouthpiece which the diver uses to inhale and exhale. Breathing through your mouth comes naturally, so you don’t need to add that to your worries.

Another hose is attached to a regulator to control the diver’s buoyancy. It is attached to an air bladder which is adjustable. Since the diver wears this as a vest, adding air into it would make him more buoyant, and thus, he rises. When he releases the air, the opposite happens.

These buoyancy compensators also help a scuba diver achieve neutral buoyancy. When you are in neutral buoyancy, you can stay at a constant depth without much effort. This minimizes gas consumption due to swimming.

Divers also wear lead weights as a belt to allow them to descend and stay underwater. The weights are evenly spaced to achieve proper balance. During emergency situations, a diver can just quickly release these belts to rise to the surface.

A diver’s suit is really incredible. It is made of compressible substance, thus when you descend, it reduces the volume, and when you ascend, it expands. They are very helpful in conveniently controlling one’s buoyancy.

A suit can also provide thermal insulation. A wetsuit, for example, is usually made of neoprene that has poor thermal conductivity, which minimizes body heat loss to the surrounding water.

Another way which a driver’s suit can reduce loss of body heat is by trapping a layer of water between the suit and human skin. The wetsuit is very well sealed at the neck, wrist and legs thus water flow rate is reduced. This technique in reducing heat loss is known as convection, which is the same principle used in the concept of semi-dry.

A drysuit on the other hand keeps the diver dry, as apposed to a wetsuit. Frigid water couldn't possibly penetrate a drysuit. Preferably, drysuit undergarments are also worn for better insulation. A drysuit keeps thin air layers inside that helps keep a diver warm.

Of course, to be able to familiarize yourself better with these scuba diving gears, it would be best if you get yourself a certification by passing a scuba diving course. In the course, you’ll not only learn about these equipments, you’ll also be taught how to adapt to diving.

During the course, student divers learn how to achieve neutral buoyancy. Through various swimming exercises, they will learn how to control their breathing rate. A diver should know how to breathe in a slow but continuous manner.

At the end of the course, you are expected to know some safety procedures in diving, such as how to clear your mask if in case water leaks in, how to avoid any mishaps while underwater, and of course, learn to help a fellow diver in need. Conventional hand signals are used underwater to communicate since divers don’t have another way to talk to each other.

By being a certified diver, you could refill your air tanks, buy scuba diving gear and scuba dive anywhere in the world. Scuba diving businesses require this certification as proof that you can well manage yourself underwater.

Things to Know About Night Diving

Scuba diving is currently one of the most popular aquatic activities. It is a great activity for anyone who wants to be united with nature. It also opens a totally new perspective on how we view ourselves in relation to our surroundings.

The opportunity to dive under water is also a very invigorating activity. Since it is a different world, it seems like all of your problems are solved once you get to see the teeming life under the blue façade of the seas.

The nature below the surface of the water changes as the sun says its goodbye and as the moon starts to glow. Actually, most advanced divers would prefer to go on a night dive rather than a day dive. Why? Because at night, the sea is totally transformed and there are things underwater that you can only see at night. It’s like seeing all the high-rise buildings illuminate the happy streets of a city.

The beautiful scenery at night is something to look forward to. It is when all the nocturnal creatures become alive, giving the seas a different glow and color. Groups of minute organisms also reflect the light from the moon and create an effect that can't be recreated by any natural or artificial means. The seas really come alive at night.

However, you should remember that night diving is only for experienced divers. It is most definitely not a walk in the park. The normal risks that a diver exposes himself to during day dives are enhanced at night. The darkness of the night also poses additional risks that aren't present during the day.

We shall try to discuss some of the things that a diver must remember before night diving. If you are a beginner, you will want to read on so as to give youself some basic ideas on how to properly prepare and execute a night dive.

1. Rest well and eat well

Diving at night is physically more imposing than day dives. The coldness of the water will give a diver more stress plus the fact that the natural body clock is signaling the body to settle down and rest. Make sure that you have enough carbohydrates in your body to keep your body temperature stable under water. Carbo-loading can be done 2 days before you enter the water.

2. Orient yourself with the diving area

Aside from visiting the diving area beforehand, you can also opt to do a day dive on the same spot where you will be diving at night. This move lowers the risk of being lost at night and will give you more mobility because you are comfortable with the area.

3. Always have a night dive buddy

Perhaps the most important tip that you should remember is that you should never ever dive at night without a companion. Even if it's not night time, you should also have someone to dive with you. Your diving buddy is your only hope against the wrath of the seas if something goes wrong. And, having a buddy will also make the experience more meaningful.

4. Get the right dive light

Essential equipment for night diving is a dive light. When choosing a dive light, you should consider the burn time, the beam width and the depth rating of the dive light. In terms of burn time, you should make sure that you fully recharge your battery if you are using a rechargeable one or bring extra disposable ones if you are using those.
Your maximum depth should also be lower than the rating of your light.

5. Get some glow sticks

Glow sticks are very useful underwater. You should attach some glow sticks to your air tank, or perhaps wrap them around your legs and arms so that you and your buddy can clearly see each other.

6. Know the rules

You can’t go around diving at night anywhere you want. Make sure that you inquire about the local regulations about diving at night.

Nothing beats diving at night. With the proper preparation and precautions, you should have nothing to fear and will look forward to seeing the majestic night seas.