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Scuba Diving Safety
from: Maxx Adventue TravelAnyone who's had the desire, but never got around to it, likely appreciates that scuba diving is a unique and wonderful experience everyone should try at least once in their lifetime. With the exception of, perhaps hydrophobics, just about anyone with a sense of adventure will discover that being swimming underwater is both exhilarating and relaxing. On the other hand, if you don't have proper training and fail to prepare yourself by using the right gear, scuba diving can also be dangerous, throwing down hazards that are difficult to overcome for anyone unprepared. Proper gear and training, however, makes scuba diving safe and an adventure you'll want to repeat as often as possible.
Here are a few safety tips for the beginning scuba diver to consider before taking up diving in earnest.
Training: You must get certified. Join a training program that has official certification. If you're going to be diving only for sport while on vacation, you should have a certified instructor with you when you're diving. If you're planning to do a lot of diving, participate in a course that awards you a certificate for diving -- not necessarily as an instructor, but one that registers you as a certified and capable scuba diver.
Physical Conditioning: It's a good idea to visit your doctor before taking up scuba so he can determin whether are healthy enough for the physical exertions required when scuba diving. Though it's mentally relaxing, scuba diving requires enough physical strength that anyone with weak cardiovascular and/or respiratory systems should stay away from. If you have asthma, or a weak heart, tendencies for asphyxiation etc. then you best disqualify yourself from scuba diving. Also, regarding physical capabilities, it should go without saying that you should know how to swim. Though this isn't absolutely necessary because scuba gear allows even those who don't know how to swim to navigate underwater, you'll be much better off if you're a strong swimmer, since, let's face it, you're going to be underwater...
The Importance of Proper Equipment: Your training program and certification includes the care and maintenance of scuba gear. If you're using your own equipment, make sure that it's always in tip top condition. Regardless of how skilled you might be at navigating underwater, humans are't biologically aquatic, which means your equipment is the only thing keeping you alive underwater. If your plan to rent equipment, it's in your best interest to give it much more than a cursory glance. Do a thorough and careful examination to ensure there are no flaws that could cause any type of failure during a dive. As you can imagine, a potential major hazard of scuba diving is drowning if your breathing apparatus should give out.
Stay Away from Places Bad Things Live: Once you have your training and certification for scuba diving, you'll receive a ranking that determines the level of underwater hazards you're capable of handling, so always avoid places you aren't certified to deal with. These are dangerous areas especially for someone untrained, and usually include special hazards that require their own branch of specialized scuba training or specific equipment to overcome. Some examples would be scuba diving in shark infested waters, ice floes, among coral reefs with toxic or aggressive underwater lifeforms, underwater caves, and shipwrecks.
Study the Conditions Before Diving: Check out the weather reports before heading out so you don't end up diving during a typhoon or thunderstorm. Even if the conditions appear to be fine for diving, do bring along enough medical equipment to deal with sudden changes in the weather. Even if there's a heat wave and nothing related to wind and rain, bad weather can cause a lot of problems. Heat waves can cause divers to suffer from heat stroke and dehydration who thought they were safe from the heatwave since they were underwater. You should realize that water conducts heat more efficiently than air.
Never Dive Alone: You should always have a dive buddy or an instructor along, preferably with someone who has more experience than you. Don't go out diving with another newbie if you're a newbie yourself. On the other hand, if you're the experience one diving with a newbie, ensure that your partner knows the proper way to follow your instructions once underwater. If you have no alternative than to dive alone, then at least get someone to man the boat so that at least you've got a buddy on overwatch.
Know When Bad Things Are Happening: Learn and internalize the medical signs and symptoms of the following conditions for difficulties that usually afflict divers: Hypothermia, dehydration, heat exhaustion and asphyxiation should be watched for. Especially be careful of the diver-specific malady called decompression sickness, which happens when a diver's body is submitted to and becomes accustomed to high pressures underwater, as well as having air bubbles form in the body from prolonged breathing of high pressure gas. Returning to the surface where the body no longer is subject to these pressures can lead to dizziness, sickness and vomiting from system shock. This is comparable to a person being used to the thin air of mountain climbing, and then the climber returns to a normal atmosphere and breathes a higher concentration of oxygen.
Scuba Snorkel News
Local Boy Scouts dive into scuba lessons
EAST FULTONHAM -- Even with bright blue skies and sunlight reflecting on the water, the most beautiful sight for one local Boy Scout's family was seeing him climb awkwardly into his fins, wet suit and snorkel with the rest of his Scouting group to learn the basics of scuba diving Saturday at Lake Isabella.
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A whale tangled in fishing lines was rescued in the waters of Scapa Flow off Orkney after a boat operator heroically dived in to cut it free.
Read more...Entrepreneur 'kickstarts' project on Florida diving
Jason Boone, Titusville, wants to make a documentary highlighting Florida's best diving and snorkeling spots. He is using Kickstarter to pay for it. Cleans up his mask and snorkel.
Read more...Seminar to Unearth Shipwreck Secrets
Two shipwreck sites off Duck Key, Fla., serve as a wet classroom for a seminar this week in preserving Florida's underwater heritage.
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