Scuba Diving

A steady diet of Jacques Cousteau since the 60s has led many people to associate scuba with rainbows of reef fishes, razor-toothed sharks and encounters with whales. For some, the sole purpose of the seabed is to provide a home for the remains of wrecked ships. Another group will talk endlessly about the dangers of the deep and the thrills of diving down to the limits of safety. A rare few will smile contentedly and talk of the simple pleasure of just being and breathing underwater without the need to surface for an hour or so. The oceans are large enough to accommodate them all.

One popular misconception is that it takes ages to get the necessary qualifications to go diving. That used to be the case, and certainly when I started diving through the old club system it was months before we were even allowed to put a dainty neoprene-clad toe into the water. Now, however, all of the major diving organisations have wised up to the fact that people want to enjoy themselves right here and right now. Diving qualifications get as complex as you can wish, but the major organisations all offer a very basic entry point where you can go diving (under supervision) right away to see if you like it. As can the kids - even those as young as ten. After that it's just a question of taking it as far as you wish. Here are a few ideas of where you might want to go with it.

Marine conservation

Many organisations now use volunteer divers to help with the work of charting marine life as part of measuring our impact on the oceans and how to preserve them. Sometimes referred to as 'starfish counting' this can be a great way to put a little back. You may also want to take part in 'clean-up dives' where volunteers help to tidy up the daily debris that finds its way into the sea.

Marine archaeology

As above, it is becoming increasingly common for volunteer divers to join the ranks of foot-soldiers marking and mapping wrecks, prehistoric fish traps and sunken cities. Normally this involves a brief introductory course in archaeology before working under the supervision of qualified archaeologists. At its best it may mean you get to dive on sites that have previously been reserved for a privileged few from the scientific community.

Wreck diving

Where there are wrecks there are usually reputable dive centres (look for membership of organisations such as PADI, NAUI, BSAC or CMAS) offering wreck-diving specialty courses. Not only will this give you specific information on the wrecks but it can prepare you for the skills needed to penetrate wrecks where safe to do so.

Tech (technical) diving

By mixing different gasses into the cocktail (commonly 'tri-mix' which blends nitrogen, oxygen and helium) it becomes possible to go deeper for longer and therefore access sites beyond the reach of most divers. Tech diving is also associated with sinister black clothing, plus lots of impressive metal D-rings and gadgets, all of which make you suspect that, in fashion terms at least, it never made it out of the 80s.

Try nitrox diving. To extend the limits of bottom time and depth it is possible to use a number of enriched breathing mixtures which change the levels of the major gasses. Nitrox is a mixture where oxygen and nitrogen dominate - which means that technically normal air is nitrox (air is roughly 21% oxygen, 78% nitrogen). For the purposes of diving, however, nitrox normally refers to mixes where the oxygen levels have been increased, the advantage of which is longer dives with shorter surface intervals. You need to qualify, but the joy of a nitrox course that it's a brief theory course - once underwater you just get on with breathing so it can be a great qualification to get prior to diving wrecks, for example, lying at a depth that normally permits only a few minutes at the bottom.


Custom Search