Each year, people – maybe some you know – head out for fun, fantastic vacations to destinations offering adventurous activities like bungee jumping, paragliding, zip lines, and scuba diving. Of all these activities, scuba diving is among the most popular – and that’s not at all surprising, since almost anyone can become a diver. If you’re at least 13 years old, with average swimming skills and no medical problems which affect heart or lung function, you are probably a good candidate for a discover diving class!
While there are many people who make a career of diving, recreational scuba diving is done just for fun. New divers typically join a group of like-minded individuals including local enthusiasts and tourists on shallow dives, while more experienced recreational divers gain the expertise to explore deeper sites.
Recreational Scuba Diving does not call for cutting edge technologies and uses uncomplicated Scuba Diving Gear. It costs the least and is the most uncomplicated style of Scuba Diving when compared with technical and professional diving. Beginning divers use simple compressed air, while more experienced recreational divers may decide to learn how to breathe enriched air.
A basic open water course is enough to qualify one for this type of Scuba Diving and one does not need to be an expert with risk taking or risk management ability to enjoy recreational scuba diving.
Should you decide that diving is definitely for you and determine that you’d like to go deeper at some point, you’ll be glad to know that only a thin line separates Technical Diving from Recreational Scuba Diving. With technical diving, you can go deeper than 130 feet, whether to encounter certain marine species, explore shipwrecks, or view the earth’s geologic features from a whole new angle. Tech diving was once reserved for scientific purposes, however advances in equipment and an increased interest in diving has made it more popular with non-scientists.
Ready to become a recreational diver? Keep these simple tips in mind:
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REMAIN RELAXED FROM THE WORD GO: Staying cool, calm, and relaxed underwater is a must – and once you understand how easy it is to breathe from your regulator, you’ll discover that this is easier than it might sound. Staying relaxed provides you with a number of advantages:
- Agitation results in higher consumption of breathing gas
- Relaxed divers find it much easier to control buoyancy
- When you remain calm, so does marine life, enabling you to enjoy diving more!
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GAIN THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE: As a recreational scuba diver, there are certain things you’ll need to know to be effective while underwater. Luckily, you’ll get plenty of training in a number of areas; for example, you will learn to use hand signals, clear water from your mask, and more. You’ll also learn to use a dive computer effectively – this piece of equipment has taken a lot of the “heavy lifting” out of the thought processes associated with diving.
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EQUALIZING PRESSURE WHILE UNDERWATER: Travelling underwater is not the same as moving around above ground. While diving, your body is under pressure from all sides. An important part of your training involves dealing with that pressure; you’ll learn to balance or “equalize” the pressure inside your ears and lungs. If you’ve ever been to the bottom of a swimming pool just 8 feet deep, you’ve probably noticed the effect pressure has on the body; learning the appropriate techniques will allow you to dive comfortably and safely.
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KEEP BREATHING: Mammals are equipped with underwater breath holding instincts – and our bodies are effective at using oxygen well while we’re submerged. One lesson you will need to learn is to breathe slowly and regularly while diving, despite the instinctual drive to hold your breath! While it may be a little difficult to fight your natural inclination toward breath-holding at first, learning to breathe underwater gets easier once your brain recognizes that it’s perfectly safe to inhale via your regulator. There’s one more reason you will need to learn to breathe continuously while underwater: frequently holding your breath while at depth can damage your lungs, and the risk of damage increases as you head to deeper depths.
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PATIENCE: As the old saying goes, patience is a virtue – and that’s definitely true when it comes to scuba diving. Developing an attitude of patience, if you don’t already possess it, will enable you to become a more effective diver. You’ll find zen-like feelings of peace as you slowly check your gear prior to making your way into the underwater world, and you’ll feel an even greater sense of peaceful enjoyment as you patiently make your way around dive sites and back up to the surface. Fostering patience and self-control won’t just help you to become a precise, well-prepared diver – these qualities will help you to do well in other aspects of daily life.
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KNOWLEDGE OF DIVING GEAR: To become a diver, you will need to become familiar with basic scuba diving gear. Don’t be afraid – this is a lot easier than it sounds! You can learn the names and basic functions of many types of gear before you even take your first class; this may also help you to understand some basic dive theory. Once you are introduced to the gear you’ll be wearing underwater, be sure to pay close attention to everything the instructor has to tell you, and be sure that all items fit you properly. You’re going to hear this over and over again but it bears repeating right now: your dive gear is your life support system while you are underwater. Knowing how every piece functions and understanding how to use each item properly is essential to your ability to remain safe while enjoying recreational scuba diving.
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CLARITY OF THOUGHT: As a recreational scuba diver, you will need to be able to think clearly at all times. This means waiting until after diving to enjoy alcoholic beverages if you so choose; it means getting enough sleep before diving, and it means keeping your mind in the best state possible. While recreational diving is “just for fun,” it is an activity which requires clarity of thought.
By following these simple steps, you’ll find that becoming a recreational scuba diver is a fairly simple, straightforward endeavor. Once you are certified, you’ll discover that an entirely new dimension opens up for you, and you may find that you enjoy life even more than you do now.