Many people believe that scuba diving entails wearing diving gear and diving in the water until their oxygen tank runs out! In fact, diving underwater is as deep as the ocean into which you’ll be diving, and we all know that all worthwhile journeys begin with strong knowledge. In this article, we will accompany you on a deep dive into the heart of the diving world, and we will investigate what it is about diving sports that will truly amaze you.

 

What does scuba diving mean?

 

Simply we could say that scuba diving is diving underwater with the help of self-contained breathing apparatus called scuba. Although this is the technical definition, scuba diving means more than that, so don’t judge the book by its cover, and dive with us to know what scuba diving really means?

 

Humans had dived for thousands of years under the water in search of food, pearls, oysters and sponges. Early divers barely used any equipment. Later Divers began to use breathing tubes made of hollow reeds, probably around the second century AD. And by the fourteenth century AD, divers in the Persian Gulf were using large goggles to protect the eyes made from the polished backs of turtles.

 

Diving equipment and styles developed later through the ages, also diving purposes, from entertainment purposes like (Cave dive, Wreck dive, Ice dive, Deep dive, Night Dive, Drift Dive, Reef Dive and more), to professional scuba diving in:

 

• Industries that require working underwater or performing tasks related to marine activities, such as professional diving, include repairing boats and ships, salvaging and lifting wrecks and aquaculture.

 

• divers who work full-time or part-time in the recreational diving community as instructors or dive guides. It is a profession in itself, with reference to the responsibility for the health and safety of clients.

 

• Other speciality areas include military diving teams, such as frogmen that play various roles in warfare. They can engage in close combat, infiltrate behind enemy lines, lay mines, dispose of bombs or conduct underwater engineering operations.

 

• In civilian operations, police forces perform search and rescue operations to assist in the detection of crimes that may be associated with bodies of water. In some cases, rescue divers may also be part of firefighting teams, as in some countries, or border guards, and this diving may be classified as public safety.

 

• Professional divers working in the water, such as underwater photography or underwater filmmakers, take it upon themselves to document the underwater world, or dive for research and scientific purposes, including marine biology, geology, hydrology, oceanography and underwater archaeology.

 

What is the difference between scuba diving and open water diving?

 

We all agree that diving in its core, is a water sport for adventurous and passionate people about marine life, deep oceans, and whoever loves to enjoy exploring. On those bases our diving center is concerned to design educational, and practical courses for beginners all about diving, and take into consideration the age gap, and different interests, so you have a lot of open choices to select. Whether you are above 10 years or older than 50, can swim or cannot, nothing will deprive you from the pleasure of diving experience. Even for those dreamers who aim to be a certified scuba divers, there is always a chance to start from somewhere, and living your dreams!

 

Main differences between scuba diving and open water diving courses:

 

Now after recognizing the meaning and fields of  scuba diving, we could say in a nutshell, every free diver must be a scuba diver at first, but not every scuba diver should upgrade to be an open water diver. In this comparison, we shall illustrate the major differences between them:

 

Course requirements	Scuba diver	Open water diver
Maximum depth	12 metres / 40 feet	18 metres / 60 feet
Days of theoretical learning	2-3	4-7
Skill practice sessions	3 confined water (pool) sessions	5 confined water (pool) sessions
Open water dives	two	four

 

The plus advantage of being enthusiastic enough and upgrade to complete free water diver course, that you will be able to dive solo, or wit your certified coaches, and mature mates.

 

How long can a diver stay underwater?

 

There is a correlation between the depth you can go underwater, and the time you can spend, as every 33 feet you will notice that you are liable to absorb more nitrogen, the pressure drops by one atmosphere (or 10 metres).

And you shall breathe compressed air from the scuba tank, which contains 21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen (with a small percentage of other gases). As the pressure at depth rises, so do the partial pressures of oxygen and nitrogen, causing both gases to be absorbed by your lung tissues. Your organs readily use the oxygen you absorb while scuba diving to keep you vitality through metabolism.

Nitrogen, on the other hand, is not used by your organs and is stored in tissues. Our bodies can only handle a certain amount of nitrogen absorption before turning into decompression sickness.

 

Because nitrogen is more easily absorbed at greater depths, the length of  your dive is determined by your depth. For example,  a scuba diver can spend 20 minutes diving at 100 feet, but if he limits his dive depth to 35 feet, he can stay for 205 minutes (if he had enough air). Proper dive planning will assist you in determining how long you can scuba dive at your dive site.

 

What is it like to go scuba diving?

 

A lot of people when it comes to describing their first time in diving, they all express the joy and the relaxation of floating sensation, light gravity, the meditating mode on the vivid natural art around you, flying with the different kinds of sea amazing creatures, touching the sand with your feet, like landing on a new planet, and giving your mind the space to explore, and relax with the blue life. The feeling of coolness and satisfying your full sensation with it, is really considerable one of the top worthwhile feelings. People should experience it once in their life.

 

Why should you scuba dive?

 

In fact you don’t need to ask why to scuba dive. The right question is is there any reason not to go? The whole experience will give you a lot of beneficial perks, both on the personal, entertainment, and sporty side:

 

• Every time you explore a different side of what is hidden in the heart of oceans, either tropical reefs, or icing one, every dive is totally different. You will feel the thrills with every adventure
• Did you know that our planet consists of 70% water! And you will have the chance to explore all of it, and more if you embrace the diving chance with different buddies.
• Swimming freely no restriction, no competition, no rules, just you immersing yourself deeply with the deep ocean rhythms, and diving for harmony
• The people you meet while scuba diving, will be another motive for you. Imagine meeting professional and adventurous people, who also care about marine creatures and life, creating their peaceful hermitage under water, and being friendly with underwater habitats!

 

By the end of this article, we will try to enlighten you and ask any questions you might have about the diving world, hoping that we could share a part of our diving passion with you.