Scuba Diving is an underwater adventure sport requiring proper training to ensure its safety and enjoyment. Scuba diving offers an exciting way to see the world, explore underwater creatures and exercise weightlessly while simultaneously relieving stress from daily life.
Diver safety is of utmost importance when exploring the ocean, and they should never dive alone. For maximum effectiveness, divers should always dive with a buddy and make an dive plan before each dive that considers depth, time and air consumption limits. It is also essential that gauges are checked regularly during dives in order to avoid potentially hazardous scenarios like running out of air during a dive or exceeding decompression limits and leading to nitrogen narcosis.
Most underwater emergencies involve compromised breathing gas supplies that must be managed by making an emergency ascent or using another air source, but other emergencies such as medical conditions or navigational complications also need immediate attention. Divers are instructed on procedures for receiving or giving breathing gas during emergencies from their buddies and learning how to communicate underwater using hand signals and hand gestures.
Between 1943 and 1959, as scuba diving became more widely practiced worldwide, clubs were formed around the globe to promote and protect it. Jacques Cousteau collaborated with French engineer Emile Gagnan in designing the first fully automatic compressed-air Aqua-Lung, as well as producing numerous underwater cameras and photography equipment; eventually popularizing scuba diving through books and films.
Through these efforts, divers today benefit from safer and more comfortable equipment than ever before. Many accidents involving scuba gear don’t occur because it malfunctions; rather, many occur because divers do not understand how to operate or maintain it correctly.
For their own safety, divers must familiarize themselves with their equipment before every dive and practice proper operation and maintenance of it before each dive. Most accidents involving diving equipment involve the connection between demand valve hoses and tanks – so divers must remember to disassemble each tank after use if their use if multiple tanks. Divers should also practice equalizing ears and other air spaces prior to every dive and check gauges regularly during each dive session to ensure they stay within planned dive limits as well as factor in enough air for an emergency stop in deep dive scenarios.
Scuba divers should always ascend slowly at the end of each dive to allow any nitrogen absorbed at deeper depths to dissolve back into solution as pressure decreases on their journey towards the surface, helping prevent decompression sickness and decompression sickness. A good rule of thumb for safe ascent would be not ascending faster than you can see rising bubbles ahead of you (or at least 30 feet per minute).