WHAT IS SCUBA DIVING?

Shared by Avita on October 15, 2023 in News

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Have you ever asked yourself, “What is SCUBA diving?”.

Well, we will try to answer this question in this post for you. Did you know that scuba diving is one of the fastest-growing extreme sports in the world today? Every year, millions of people go scuba diving, whether for a course, an introductory dive, or because they already have their diving license.

What is Scuba Diving – The Attraction?

Scuba diving is mainly done for the attraction of the unattainable undersea world. It is one area of nature that humankind has not been able to control fully; we are not able to breathe underwater. Hence, scuba diving allows us to be in that underwater world, even if it is just for a limited amount of time.

Of course, the underwater world is beautiful as well, with many people opting for scuba diving in Asia or scuba diving in the Red Sea or the Great Barrier Reef, which are said to be some of the world’s best scuba diving locations. The different colors and marine wildlife are so impressive in all these locations that people repeatedly return.

What is Scuba Diving – Technical Points?

Diving underwater is something that has attracted humankind since they figured out that there was a living world under the seas. SCUBA is an abbreviation for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, in other words, equipment to allow us to breathe underwater.

The air in the tanks is compressed air as we know it outside, so parts nitrogen, parts oxygen, and some other gases. Many people mistakenly believe that the air is pure oxygen, which would poison the divers! Because of the nitrogen in the compressed air, divers need to be very careful when diving to greater depths, as nitrogen narcosis can occur, which has the same effect as excessive alcohol. This is easily solved by going back up to shallower waters.

A more severe effect of nitrogen is called Caisson’s Disease, also known as decompression sickness when nitrogen starts to form bubbles in the diver’s body. When the diver returns to the surface and normal air pressure, this becomes an issue and can lead to death. This is why one of the most important things to remember for divers is never to go too deep too quickly and never to go back to the surface too quickly.

What is Scuba Diving – Safety?

The main thing to remember with scuba diving is that [you need to be safe]. Do not go diving on your own, and don’t be tempted to buy diving gear and simply give it a go without the proper training. Research some good diving schools if you want to go scuba diving.

Scuba diving is incredibly popular, so whether you want to go diving in Asia or diving in the Red Sea, for example, diving in Sharm El Sheikh, or anywhere else in the world for that matter, you will be able to find good diving schools in those areas. Touristic places, like diving in Sharm El Sheikh, will probably have a range of diving schools, so see if you can do some research on them before your holiday.

What is Scuba Diving – Some Interesting facts

Did you know…

For recreational divers, the depth limit is between 30 and 40 meters (equating to 100 to 133 feet). Special training or a specially trained buddy is required if you want to go deeper.
Nuno Gomes holds the world record for the deepest scuba dive at 318 meters (or 1044 feet). He defeated John Bennet (deceased), who dove to 308 meters (or 1016 feet). A French diver, Pascal Bernabé, maintains that he has been able to dive deeper (330 meters or 1083 feet), but this is unconfirmed.

What is Scuba Diving – Some Interesting Dives

If you do enjoy scuba diving, there are a couple of things you can do to make it even more enjoyable. There are many artificial reefs, for example. These artificial reeds have been created either to restore destroyed coral or as a scientific experiment to see how coral grows and how it attracts other marine life. Many wrecks, for example, have been purposely sunken to create artificial reefs.

If you have nerves of steel, you may want to consider going for a dive with sharks! A cage dive with sharks can be the experience of a lifetime. You are enclosed in a steel cage and lowered into a shoal of sharks, attracted by fish guts beforehand.