Recreational diving
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Contents |
Overview
Recreational scuba diving is a popular activity practiced throughout the world. Whether diving warm, tropical reefs or Great Lakes shipwrecks, recreational divers have the opportunity to see and experience things no one else ever will.
Locations
Scuba divers can dive nearly anywhere with water. Probably the most popular locations are warm, tropical reefs, but, since most of the world doesn't have those, recreational divers can also be found throughout the world in lakes, rivers, and even old quarries.
More advanced divers can be found inside ship wrecks and caves.
Training Requirements
Open-water, Recreational scuba diving is the entry point for all underwater activities. The vast majority of the world's divers are "open water certified" divers, which is the first level scuba certification. This includes certification for dives down 60 feet, during daylight, without an overhead environment
Advanced open-water diving certification includes additional training in the basics, as well as additional skills to dive deeper, about 100 feet, and introductory skills in variety of different areas, for example, night diving, underwater navigation, etc.
There are dozens of different specialty diving certifications available, ranging from the more common skills, like night diving and deep diving, to the more unusual, like underwater archeology and submersible operator. Specialty classes usually last only a day or two.
Technical diving is the extreme end of recreational diving. Technical diving includes such specialties as mixed gas diving, cave diving, wreck diving, etc. Technical diving requires considerably more equipment and training than any other form of recreational diving.
Gear
Diving is a very gear-intensive sport. Even for shallow, daytime dives, you need a minimum of:
- Wetsuit
- BCD, or Buoyancy Compensator Device
- Scuba regulator
- Scuba tank
- Scuba fins
- Scuba mask
- Snorkel
- Dive weights
- Dive knife
- Scuba instruments
As your dives get longer, deeper, or more advanced, you may need to add:
- Dive lights
- Dive computer
- Redundant air supply
- Dive flag
- Wreck reels
- Scuba ascent lines
- Scuba stage bottles
Hazards
Scuba is a fairly safe sport, as long as you have the right gear, the right training, and pay attention to what you're doing. If you don't, the risks are many.
- Drowning
- Nitrogen narcosis
- Air embolism
- The bends
- Oxygen toxicity
- Surface boats
- Cuts and punctures from sharp objects
- Wildlife
- Ruptured lung
