How to dive

Oxygen toxicity, like most other potential dangers in scuba diving, is easy to avoid – simply understand the risks and dive within the limits of your training!

Many people think of the earth as two separate worlds; the ground and the air. But ninety- five percent of the ocean floors remain unexplored. There is another world underwater, and the most intimate way to explore it is by scuba diving. “Scuba” stands for self- contained underwater breathing apparatus. In this post I will teach the basics of how to Scuba dive. It starts with the pre-dive.

-         2 days before the dive, start eating bananas. Bananas are high in potassium and will help prevent the bends, a diving condition caused by surfacing too quickly and putting nitrogen bubbles in the bloodstream. The only cure for the bends is to go to a decompression chamber.

-         Then you get on the boat, and you have to put your gear in place. You put your gear bag under the bench with your assigned dive tanks. You may have as few as one tank or as much as three.

-         Then, as the boat gets underway, you have to set up your gear for the dive itself.

-         First, take the strap off of your fist tank. Then, put your buoyancy compensator, or B.C. vest, around the tank, strapping it in tight enough that it holds the tank while you shake it. It should be low enough so you don’t hit your head while looking up underwater. Then you put on your “octopus”, the regulator system. Make sure your compass is facing down and turn on the air all the way and then tighten it ½ turn. Last, put in your weights for your personal weight and set up the rest of your gear; mask, fins, gloves, snorkel, mask, and notepad.

-         Get in your gear.

-         You have to walk backwards in fins because of their size, so when you have to get in the water, walk backwards to the launch rack and turn around. Then you can do your entry.

-         There are many different entry positions, but the most popular are the Nestea plunge and big stride. I won’t go into much detail but whatever you do, hold your mask down or it will come off.

-         When you get in the water, get buoyant and swim back a few yards. Wait for your dive partner, when they’re in go down.

-         After the dive, go up and break down your gear. The most important step is to dry off your air nozzle on your regulator. The rest is easy.

-         Repeat for however many dives needed.

-         Enjoy the ride back!

picture by: http://discovermagazine.com/2008/apr/11-the-race-to-find-the-world.s-biggest-underwater-caves