Scuba diving is an increasingly popular sport, as people seek out more and more faraway destinations for their holidays. There are some fantastic locations to go to if you enjoy scuba diving, including diving in Thailand or diving in the Red Sea, diving in Sharm El Sheikh.
But before you can do any such thing, you need to learn how to scuba dive of course.
It is possible to just simply do an introductory dive, but you will soon find that if you like it, it simply won’t be enough for you and you will want to get that scuba diving license, allowing you to go to different places and dive in all sorts of interesting locations.
There are a bunch of things you need to know if you are interested in scuba diving, and we will try to discuss a few of these, to give you a little taster.
How To Scuba Dive
information about the diving equipment and how it works, what the effects of air pressure are and what the main signals in diving are. This is incredibly important because you need to be able to know what is keeping you alive underwater and how to communicate with your fellow divers.
You would be surprised at the number of people that don’t think about the fact that you can’t actually speak under water! A combination of hand signals will allow you to communicate some basic facts, such as that you’re ok – or not – that you want to go up or down, that there is a danger, and so on.
Learn How To SCUBA Dive: The Pre Diving Safety Check
One of the most important things, once you have learned the basics about scuba diving, is the pre diving safety check. This is an essential part of learning how to scuba dive and your instructors will most likely be monitoring you on this inspection. The pre diving check is performed by your buddy (it is also commonly known as a buddy check), meaning that you are both fully kitted out and check each other’s apparatus.
This is the first step in demonstrating the importance of having a good buddy: you quite literally hold each other’s lives in your hands. To help you remember the steps of the safety check, PADI uses a handy acronym, which is Begin With Review And Friend. The five steps of the safety check that you need to know if you want to learn how to scuba are:
- Check the Buoyancy compensator
- Check the Weights
- Check the Releases
- Check the Air
- Give the Final OK
Once this is all done, you are ready to go scuba diving!
Learn How To SCUBA Dive: The Five Point Descend
Once you are starting to really learn how to scuba dive, you will be going through the motions of the five-point ascent. The five steps are:
Signal – this is the first step and has everything to do with working together with your buddy. You need to make sure he or she knows where you are and what your intentions are at all times, so make sure you have your buddy’s attention and signal you want to go down with the hand signal you will have learned.
Orientation – Because of currents, you need to be able to find your way back to your start point. One of the easiest ways to orientate yourself is by using a rock or other natural landmark. Some very experienced divers are actually able to use the position of the sun but don’t get involved in that until you really know what you’re doing.
Regulator – this is one of those things that demonstrate how often human error actually takes place. The regulator is the mouthpiece through which the air of your tank flows. You would be surprised at the number of people that still have their snorkel mouthpiece in when they start to go down, mainly because it can feel the same way.
Time – Because you need to leave sufficient air to return, you need to check the time when you start your descent. This means you know how long you have and how long it took you to a certain point. Of course, you also need to write in your log book at what time you started diving.
Descent – Finally, all checks completed, you can start your descend!
Those are the basics if you are hoping to learn how to scuba. Be safe, pay attention and have fun!