History of Scuba Diving
Scuba really came into being in the early 1940s.
Prior to WWII, the military of different countries develop methods and equipment that were the forerunner of today’s scuba.
The break through invention was a new type of demand regulator to control the release of the compressed air.
Scuba divers often just shorten the word regulator to reg.
As a safety feature there are two diving regulators attached to a scuba dive tank.
This is a back up in case your regulator fails or another diver runs low on air.
The second reg has a longer hose, is normally yellow and is referred to as an octopus.
Another term you may hear is a sausage. This is another safety device but this is for being seen on the surface. It is a vinyl tube that can be rolled and stored in a pocket.
When you reach the surface and need to attract someone’s attention you just unroll it.
Hold the open end of the tube underwater, place your octopus inside the tube and activate the air flow. The tube fills with air and stands straight up.
In the early days the scuba dive equipment was large and cumbersome. Also the technology was new and mostly untested. So it was the macho risk taker who took up scuba diving.
As equipment became more reliable and more people became interested various organizations formed to teach scuba. An ad hoc industry was established that became self regulating.
Each organization developed their own standards and means of teaching but a common element was that formal training would be required.
Early training was very demanding both physically and mentally.
As things developed and scientific methods were used to advance the industry, diving became safer and open to more people.
In the early days divers would be stricken with a condition called the bends. Anywhere from minutes to hours even a day after completing a dive, a diver would start experience different symptoms including nausea.
Often sever pain followed the initial symptoms rapidly.
Pain so sever that the diver would be bent over in pain. Science was able to determine what was causing it and it became known as Decompression Sickness. Divers use the term DCS for this condition and some closely related ones.
Once DCS was understood then the means of avoiding it were determined.
A set of charts were developed for the purpose of planning a dive to avoid the DCS these charts are called dive tables.
Properly trained divers seldom experience this problem any more.
What Does It Mean To Scuba Dive
Scuba dive – Most people, who have a hobby or activity that they really love, often forget what it was like when they were first starting out.
When we scuba dive, we often use terms or acronyms that outsiders will not really understand. We are going to address some of these to the person who knows next to nothing about the great hobby and sport Scuba diving.
Technically the term should be SCUBA as it an acronym for Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus.
While men do still out number women in the sport, the margin is narrow and getting smaller each year. It is clearly no longer a macho activity.
You can learn how to scuba dive as young as twelve years old. Scuba dive training is still required, however, it is a more practical exercise now than before. As mentioned twelve year old’s are learning.
While the early pioneers had a hard time of it, today’s beginning diver does not.
Once you sink below the surface and take a few breathes of air, the beauty and the wonder of the undersea world will surprise you.
You will see why those early risk takers thought it was worthwhile. There are no excuses now. So look around the site here and pick up additional valuable information.
Look over the information about learning to scuba dive and the resort diver program.
See you underwater soon.