Rulers of the Deep

World's Top 10 Diving Sites

2010-10-22T02:48:00.000-07:00

Read about the top sites to dive around the world! From the north to south, from east to west....dive the best!

1. Rocktail Bay, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

The water in the Maputaland Marine Reserve can be on the cool side, but there are plenty of tropical fish and excellent chances of seeing some really big pelagic species. Rocktail Bay Lodge has the only dive boat on this stretch of fabulous coast, and I even saw bottle-nosed dolphins and humpback whales on the way to the dive site. Clive and Darryl, the dive team, now send me regular emails detailing their encounters with everything from whale sharks and even tiger sharks, as well the more endearing species such as clownfish and manta rays. Between November and February you will see nesting leatherback turtles along the wild sandy shores of Manzengwenya.
Dive details: The Lodge costs from £125pp a night including all meals, with diving around £35 a dive. More information from Wilderness Safaris.

2. Rangiroa, Polynesia

Few places have captured my imagination like Polynesia, and the beautiful islands of the Tuamotu Archipelago about 250 miles from Tahiti felt incredibly remote. Rangiroa means "Long Sky" and it is the second largest atoll in the world. Two passes, or channels, named Tiputa and Avatoru, allow the Pacific into and out of the lagoon twice daily when the tides turn. I remember being carried through by the incoming tide and sharing the ride with scores of grey reef sharks, dolphins, mantas and sometimes large hammerhead sharks, too. It is high adrenalin diving, but above water, the atoll is one of the most laidback places in the world.
Dive details: Dive with The Six Passengers and stay in a locally run pension such as the Tuanake for around £50pp a night.

3. Sulawesi, Indonesia

The dive sites around the small cluster of islands off the tip of Sulawesi have some of the greatest marine biodiversity on Earth. I spent most of my time here looking for pygmy seahorses, but there are more fish, nudibranchs, flat worms and healthy corals than anyone can name, not to mention the chance of bigger things swimming in from the blue. The Bunaken National Marine Park is a world leader in sustainable tourism with every diver paying a park fee that is shared among local communities. Staying with the eccentric but lovable fish-obsessed Christianne Muller and her team at Froggies Divers on Bunaken is unforgettable, with communal dinners each night where everyone talks about the day's diving, fish, sharks and where they will dive tomorrow.
Dive details: Froggies Divers from £15pp a night and expect to pay £40 for a two tank dive with a maximum of two divers per guide. More information from Dive North Sulawesi.

4. The Maldives

The best way to see the Maldives is on a dedicated live-aboard boat: you get as many as four dives a day and it works out good value for money. From May until September (during the south-west monsoon) you are pretty much guaranteed to see manta rays but they are there all year round. North Male atoll and South Ari atoll provide reliably good diving around the atoll walls, with healthy numbers of sharks, turtles and schooling game fish as well as all the small colourful reef life you expect to see. The Maldives still have the best all-round diving in the Indian Ocean, and I feel the adventure begins the minute I get picked up from the airport for a speedboat ride to the dive boat.
Dive details: Maldives Scuba Tours run two excellent live-aboards – MV Sea Spirit and MV Sea Queen with some special expeditions where divers can help with manta ray research - from £1,350 for a week’s all inclusive diving including airfares from London.

5. Little Cayman, British West Indies

Most Caribbean diving is not what it once was, having fallen prey to pollution caused by overdevelopment, golf courses and general over-fishing, but Little Cayman still has a special atmosphere. The island is small – about ten miles long – with just 200 permanent residents. On the northern shore there is the spectacular Bloody Bay Wall and Jackson’s Point, where a sheer coral cliff drops 2,000 metres (7,000ft) into a submarine trench. The wall made me feel dizzy the first time I swam over the edge because the water is so miraculously clear. It is not where I would go to see big fish or loads of sharks, but for relaxing warm water diving in fairly easy conditions this is very hard to beat.
Dive details: Unspoiled diving does not come cheap this close to the USA, so expect to pay around £1,500 for a week’s diving and accommodation. The best place to stay on Little Cayman is the Southern Cross Club.

6. Cocos and Malpelo, Eastern Pacific

These two isolated islands are visited only by divers and members of the Costa Rican and Colombian coast guard. I have never heard of anyone going to Cocos and not seeing schools of hammerhead sharks, nocturnal feeding frenzies by white tip reef sharks and silky sharks. Both islands are marine reserves and have their own endemic land and marine species. The islands are stunningly beautiful, and their isolation gives them a degree of protection. Big schools of tuna and jacks come swooping in from the blue and there are more than two dozen endemic fish species on Cocos alone, including the weird looking red-lipped batfish. The only way to visit the islands is on a dedicated safari boat such as the Undersea Hunter. Dive details: Undersea Hunter - around £2,500 for a 13-day voyage visiting both islands.

7. The Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea

I happen to like coral and sponges and sea slugs and all the weirdly shaped micro-creatures that crawl, slither and hop along the reefs. That is why I love the “fertile triangle” of the Philippines, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea (PNG), where marine biodiversity is the highest on the planet. Getting to PNG from Europe is a long slog, and once in Port Moresby you need to fly on to New Britain Island, but the diving makes up for it. Night diving on the offshore sea mounts rising from the abyss in the Bismarck Sea cured me of my fear of being in the sea at night. Apart from the big stuff, you will see squat lobsters and sponge crabs, dwarf scorpion fish and pygmy seahorses. Some of the best shore diving in the world is accessible from the Walindi Plantation Resort in Kimbe Bay, where biologists have identified more than 800 marine species.
Dive details: Walindi Plantation Resort - around £100 a night on full board.

8. Sipadan Island, Malaysian Borneo

Malaysia’s only oceanic island is a tiny dot in the South China Sea. Underwater it is a magnet for fish: schools of barracuda, trevally and horse-eye jacks swarm over the reefs, which are also home to dozens of breeding hawksbill and green turtles. The turtles are accustomed to divers and I have never found a better place to get up close to these gentlest of reptiles. Shark encounters are reliably good here, though the currents can be strong and I would not recommend Sipadan for inexperienced divers. Close by, the reefs of Mabul and Kapalai are fantastic for spotting rare mandarin fish (I saw them mating at dusk), sea wasps and lots of nudibranchs.
Dive details: Dive Worldwide offers seven nights at Kapalai Resort from £1,603 (full board) including flights via Singapore with up to three boat dives a day and unlimited shore diving.

9. Surin and Similan Islands, Thailand

Close to the border between Thai and Burmese waters lie a string of islands in the Andaman Sea. There is an element of “wilderness diving” hereabouts and a huge choice of little visited dive sites. At Koh Bon, the pinnacle rises from the ocean depths and attracts groups of feeding game-fish as well as whale sharks, mantas and leopard sharks. Richelieu Rock is a similarly rich site, world famous among experienced divers for the plethora of macro-life inhabiting its coral encrusted slopes.
Dive details: The best way to visit the islands is on the luxury live-aboard Ocean Rover - £1,270 for seven-night cruises departing from Phuket.

10. Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands

This is shipwreck heaven. I am not a big fan of wreck diving but I would still put Bikini Atoll very near the top of my wishlist. Halfway between Australia and Honolulu, the Marshall Islands have some of the least explored diving sites on the planet. Bikini Atoll, famously used as an atomic test site in the 1950s is the resting place of several warships including the USS Saratoga – an aircraft carrier longer than the Titanic. Because the island itself is uninhabited (contaminated by radiation), Bikini lagoon has become an unofficial marine reserve where the fish life is stunning. For 10 years a small number of scuba divers have been allowed to dive on the sunken war ships – including a Japanese submarine and several US Navy destroyers. It is the kind of place divers dream of – at a price.
Dive details: Expect to pay around £3,500 for a week’s diving and airfares via Honolulu, Majuro and Bikini. More information from Scuba Safaris.

How To Clear Water From Your Scuba Mask

2010-09-02T11:38:00.000-07:00

It is not uncommon when diving to have a little water leak into your diving mask. This can happen if there is a small breach between the seal and your face (for instance you get hair between them). Sometimes your mask can get flooded if it gets knocked for whatever reason.

There is absolutely no reason to panic if your mask leaks or gets flooded. It is quite possible to open your eyes underwater with no discomfort (for some people it just takes some getting used to). If your mask is flooded it can obviously have an effect on your vision, so it's nice to clear it. Sometimes you'll even flood your mask intentionally to clear a foggy lens!
Steps to clear your mask of water
1) Inhale through your mouth piece and get a decent lung full of air
2) Hold the top ridge of your mask firmly to your forehead with your fingers
3) While still holding the top of your mask breath out hard through your nose
4) Tip your head back slightly so you are looking diagonally up while continuing to exhale through your nose

Air will now fill your mask and push the water out. Hey-presto! You're water free again.

Breath holding and free diving:

2010-07-26T06:21:00.000-07:00

With the recent breath holding world record set at a new high of over 19 minutes, a lot of people are wondering how it is that a human can go without oxygen for so long. Our guide will give you a quick-start into.

Breath holding and free diving:

Breath holding is one of the most important aspects of becoming a good free diver. Free divers explore the water without carrying an air supply with them. Usually, just a the absolute basic diving equipment (fins, mask, snorkel and weights).

An average free diver can hold their breath for around two minutes before needing to surface. While you may be holding your breath while reading this article, it's interesting to note that it is actually easier to hold your breath while diving due to the mammalian diving reflex. The mammalian diving reflex (essentially triggered when cold water is splashed on the face) causes the body to cut the circulation rate and thus reduce oxygen use, allowing the person to hold their breath for longer.

So what causes the urge to breath in?
Quite a lot of things actually. When you're deprived of a fresh source of air, a lot of alarm bells start ringing in your body. Interestingly though, it is not the lack of oxygen (O2), but the build up of carbon dioxide (CO2) that causes the urge to breath. Professional free-divers sometimes hyper-ventilate before diving, trying to dump as much carbon dioxide out of their lungs as possible. This method is strongly recommended against for those that are not professional divers and under supervision as it massively increases the chances of shallow water blackout, which is normally quickly followed by drowning.

How can I hold my breath for longer?

If you're going to increase the time you can hold your breath, there's a few basics that you're going to want to do before you get training.

1) If you smoke - stop! Stopping smoking greatly increase the amount of oxygen you can absorb and how well your body performs.

2) Make sure you are in reasonable physical condition: This means cardiovascular work: running, swimming, bike rides. All of these exercises will increase the efficiency and strength of your heart and lungs.

3) Eat well & sleep well: Not meaning to sound like your mother, but exercising is pretty much useless unless your giving your body the fuel and rest it needs to perform.

4) Learn relaxation techniques: Part of being a good breath holder means being able to control your body. Sara Campbell, a free-diving record holder puts much of her success on yoga.

Sara Campbell
Breath holding training
One of the biggest challenges of breath holding is your body adapting and coping with the feeling of oxygen deprivation. A popular training technique is the apnea walk.

This consists of a preparation "breathe-up", followed by a short (typically 1 minute) breath hold taken at rest. Without breaking the hold, the participant then initiates a walk for as far as they can, until it becomes necessary to breathe again. Athletes can do close to 400 meters in training this way.

This technique allows the body to learn to cope with the build up of CO2 and trains your muscles to work under anaerobic conditions. It's also really easy to track your progress, as you simply need to record how far you can travel while breath holding.
Breath holding technique
Down to the nitty gritty now. Once your prepared, here's our guide to getting the most out of the air you have.

Step 1: Slowly inhale (5 seconds) and exhale (5 seconds) for a 2 minute period. This will clear your lungs of any low quality / CO2 rich air. Make sure you focus on pushing out every last bit of air!

Step 2: With a partner supervising: Inhale quickly around 80% of your lung capacity and hold the breath. It is important to be accompanied at this stage, as it is possible to lose consciousness.

Step 3: When you get to the point you feel you need to breath, start exhaling slowly.

Step 4: Focus on moving as little as possible and staying calm, this will lower your body's requirement for oxygen.

Step 5: If you feel you need to breathe, come up for oxygen.

That's it! Lastly, I think it's worth saying again - never try breath holding on your own!

SHALLOW WATER BLACKOUT (Latent hypoxia)

2010-07-26T06:05:00.000-07:00

Shallow water blackout (SWB)

A shallow water blackout is a loss of consciousness caused by cerebral hypoxia towards the end of a breath-hold dive in water typically shallower than five meters (16 feet), when the swimmer does

not necessarily experience an urgent need to breathe and has no other obvious medical condition that might have caused it. Victims are often established practitioners of breath-hold diving, are fit, strong swimmers, and have not experienced problems before.

Many drowning and near drowning events occur among swimmers who black out underwater while free-diving or doing breath-hold pool laps. Blacking out, or greying out, near the end of a breath-hold dive is common. Although the mechanism is well understood, it is not common knowledge among breath-hold divers.

Shallow water blackout is related to, but differs from deep water blackout in its characteristics, mechanism and prevention; deep water blackout is precipitated by depressurization on ascent from depth.

Tips to avoid blackouts :

Do not hyperventilate to excess no more than three or four breaths.
Reduce exercise at depth.
Recognize the danger of focusing.
Don't hesitate to drop your weight belt.
Avoid endurance dives.
Adjust your weight belt so that you will float at 15 feet.
Don't practice breath-holding in a swimming pool. Always have an observer standing by to assist.

Still wanna read more !!!!!!

ok go ahead

Conditions that produce latent hypoxia (Shallow water blackout)

Hyperventilation

Hyperventilation is the practice of excessive breathing with an increase in the rate of respiration or an increase in the depth of respiration, or both. This will not store extra oxygen. On the contrary, if practiced too vigorously, it will actually rob the body of oxygen. The magical benefit of hyperventilation is what it does to carbon dioxide levels in the blood. Rapid or deep breathing reduces carbon dioxide levels rapidly. It is high levels of carbon dioxide, not low levels of oxygen, that stimulate the need to breathe.

The beginning diver is very sensitive to carbon dioxide levels. These levels build even with a breath-hold of 15 seconds, causing the lungs to feel on fire. The trained diver has blown off massive amounts of carbon dioxide with hyperventilation, thus outsmarting the brain's breathing center. Normally metabolizing body tissues, producing carbon dioxide at a regular rate, do not replace enough carbon dioxide to stimulate this breathing center until the body is seriously short of oxygen.

Hyperventilation causes some central nervous system changes as well. Practiced to excess, it causes decreased cerebral blood flow, dizziness and muscle cramping in the arms and legs. But moderate degrees of hyperventilation can cause a state of euphoria and well-being. This can lead to overconfidence and the dramatic consequence of a body performing too long without a breath: blackout.

Pressure changes in the free diver's descent-ascent cycle conspire to rob him of oxygen as he nears the surface by the mechanism of partial pressures. Gas levels, namely oxygen and carbon dioxide, are continuously balancing themselves in the body. Gases balance between the lungs and body tissues. The body draws oxygen from the lungs as it requires. The oxygen concentration in the lungs of a descending diver increases because of the increasing water pressure.

As the brain and tissues use oxygen, more oxygen is available from the lungs while he is still descending. This all works well as long as there is oxygen in the lungs and the diver remains at his descended level. The problem is in ascent. The re-expanding lungs of the ascending diver increase in volume as the water pressure decreases, and this results in a rapid decrease of oxygen in the lungs to critical levels. The balance that forced oxygen into the body is now reversed. It is most pronounced in the last 10 to 15 feet below the surface, where the greatest relative lung expansion occurs. This is where unconsciousness frequently happens. The blackout is instantaneous and without warning. It is the result of a critically low level of oxygen, which in effect, switches off the brain.

Well if u r not board yet ,,,,finish this,,,,,it's the physics behind it:

Dalton's Law of partial pressures applies. (Pb - PO2 + PN2 + Pother gases.)

As Pb decreases, the partial pressures of all component gases decrease in the same ratio. The hypoxia of predive hyperventilation is corrected by an increased PO2 during descent.

During descent, the lung volume decreases due to chest compression, resulting in increased lung PO2, PCO2 and PN2.

In the lung there is an increased breathing rate and a reduced PCO2. Lung volume is reduced to one-half, lung PO2 is increased, lung PCO2 increases initially, but is followed by lowered PCO2 due to reversed gradient.
The blood reacts by developing a respiratory alkalosis and a right shift of the HbO2 (oxyhemoglobin) curve. The reaction is CO2 + H2O - H+ + HCO3.
Carotid body chemoreceptors cause a slow-down of the heart and permit longer breath holding.
There is vasodilatation of the brain vessels with hypoxia (low oxygen). There is rapid O2 usage, the arterial PCO2 is lowered so that respiration is not stimulated until )2 drops s low that the breath hold breakpoint is reached. The breakpoint (PCO2/PO2) in a trained person is less sensitive to increased PCO2 or lowered O2. The act of consuming oxygen rapidly (as in chasing a large fish), delays the breakpoint because of the higher PCO2 and the exercise per se. The diver becomes lightheaded, dizzy, has tingling, air hunger, muscle rigidity and unconsciousness.
While at depth, increased lung PO2 provides a favorable gradient for O2 transfer from the lung to blood, occurring more rapidly than if the diver were on the surface.
Because alveolar PCO2 increases with compression, CO2 does not leave the blood to enter the lung. Arterial CO2 rises rapidly (especially with exercise) initially, then the tissues store CO2. Trained divers use a timed bottom time ( 1.5 minute maximum) to avoid unconsciousness on return to the surface.

On Ascent to the Surface:

The lung re-expands to normal, the PCO2 becomes elevated as more diffuses into the lung and the PO2 drops dramatically.
In the blood the PCO2 elevates depending on the depth of the dive and the amount of exercise. Deep dives drive more CO2 from the lungs into the tissues and increases the problem. There is a right shift of the HgbO2 curve.
When the break point is reached , the chemoreceptors are stimulated by CO2, thus stimulation of respiration. Low O2 also stimulates respiration.
In the brain:

CO2 stimulates respirations
Vasodilation encourages O2 consumption
Latent hypoxia occurs
Unconsciousness ensues

On ascent the lungs re-expand reducing the favorable diffusion gradient for oxygen. Shallower depths cause this gradient to approach zero, the diver reaching a critical state of hypoxia.
Hypoxia causes unconsciousness, possibly before the diver reaches the surface.

Signs and symptoms of latent hypoxia (Shallow water blackout)

Extreme weakness, trembling, unconsciousness in the water, amnesia of the event, drowning.

THE PHYSIOLOGY OF SHALLOW-WATER BLACKOUT

In addition to the changes due to the Physics of Dalton's Law, there are other physiological changes that take effect during shallow water blackout and free diving.

Diving Reflex

The human body is capable of remarkable adaptations to the underwater environment. Even untrained divers will show a dramatic slowing of the heart when immersed. This is commonly referred to as the diving reflex. Immersion of the face in cold water causes the heart to slow automatically. Chest compression can also slow the heart. Untrained divers can experience up to a 40 percent drop in heart rate. Trained divers can produce an even lower heart rate some can slow to an incredible 20 beats per minute.

Spleen Effects

Trained free divers develop several other physiological adaptations that lead to deeper and longer dives. The spleen, acting as a blood reservoir, assists trained divers in increasing their performance. Apparently their spleen shrinks while diving, causing a release of extra blood cells.

According to William E. Hurford M.D., and co-authors writing in The Journal of Applied Physiology, the spleens of the Japanese Ama divers (professional women shellfish free divers) they studied decreased in size by 20 percent when they dove. At the same time their hemoglobin concentration increased by 10 percent (Volume 69, pages 932-936, 1990).

This adaptation, similar to one observed in marine mammals (the Weddell seals' blood cell concentration increases by up to 65 percent), could increase the divers ability to take up oxygen at the surface. It could also increase oxygen delivery to critical tissues during the dive.

Interestingly, the spleens contraction and the resultant release of red cells is not immediate- it starts taking effect after a quarter-hour of sustained diving. This spleen adaptation, as well as other physiologic changes, probably take a half-hour for full effect. This might account for the increased performance trained free divers notice after their first half-hour of diving, and also may be one of the causes of unexplained heart failure in the diver with a border line heart condition.

Other adaptations

There are other known adaptations: blood vessels in the skin contract under conditions of low oxygen in order to leave more blood available for important organs, namely the heart, brain and muscles. Changes in blood chemistry allow the body to carry and use oxygen more efficiently. These changes, in effect, squeeze the last molecule of available oxygen from nonessential organs. Most importantly, the diver's mind adapts to longer periods of apnea (no breathing). He can ignore, for longer periods of time, his internal voice that requires him to breathe.

Nitrogen Narcosis While Scuba Diving

2010-07-22T09:14:00.000-07:00

What is nitrogen narcosis?
Nitrogen narcosis is a condition of confusion or stupor resulting from increased levels of dissolved nitrogen in the blood, occurring when breathing compressed air. Its effects usually become noticeable when diving below 30m (100ft), although it is reported some divers are affected as low as 20metres (65 feet) while some are fine
at 40m (130ft).

Why is nitrogen narcosis dangerous?

In itself, nitrogen narcosis is not life threatening. The danger occurs from poor decision making while under the effects of nitrogen narcosis. A diver affected by nitrogen narcosis behaves as you might expect someone to behave if intoxicated. Narcosis will impair both the coordination and judgement of a diver, sometimes causing a false sense of security which results in foolish behaviour and a disregard for safety.
Sometimes, nitrogen narcosis can make a diver feel anxious and uncomfortable, which can lead to higher stressed and panic states, which can result in making poor decisions.

How can I avoid nitrogen narcosis?

The only sure way to prevent nitrogen narcosis is simply to avoid deep dives (greater than a depth of 30m). As we mentioned earlier, everyone is affected differently by nitrogen narcosis and it can affect the same person differently on a day to day basis. If you are going to be diving deeper than 30m, then you should be prepared and knowledgeable for the warning signs for both yourself and your buddy. If either of you suffer nitrogen narcosis, the effects will disappear when you go to shallower water.

How can I spot the signs and symptoms of nitrogen narcosis?

You can spot signs of nitrogen narcosis in your buddy by looking out for:

• Slow reaction time to signals
• Poor coordination and confused movement
• Foolish behavior like the following diver!!

or simply having fun like these divers !!

last but not least
• Anxiety or panicked movements

You can spot the symptoms of nitrogen narcosis in yourself by looking our for:

• Feeling of wooziness / giddiness / drunk
• Feeling of euphoria
• Disorientation
• Loss of balance
• Loss of manual dexterity
• Slowing of reaction time
• Fixation of ideas
• Inability to focus

What is the science of nitrogen narcosis?

Nitrogen narcosis is caused by gases in the body acting in a manner described by Dalton's Law of partial pressures: the total pressure of a gas mixture is equal to the sum of the partial pressures of gases in the mixture. As the total gas pressure increases with increasing dive depth, the partial pressure of nitrogen increases and more nitrogen becomes dissolved in the blood. This high nitrogen concentration impairs the conduction of nerve impulses and mimics the effects of alcohol or narcotics.

What should I do if I am suffering from nitrogen narcosis?

If you believe you are suffering from nitrogen narcosis then signal to your buddy, by doing the "I'm narc'd!" hand signal, which is moving your index finger in circles at the side of your head (more diving hand signals here). You and your buddy should then make a slow ascent to shallower water, while ascending at a safe rate (no more than 18m/60ft per minute) until you feel better. This procedure should be repeated if you spot signs of nitrogen narcosis in your dive buddy.
When planning a dive you should also be aware than stress factors such as cold water, physical exertion or a fast rate of compression exacerbate the onset of nitrogen narcosis.

Rules of the Deep

2010-07-17T12:16:00.000-07:00

Being under water is like being in the outer space, every thing is different and knowledge is no luxury it's a matter of life and death ,,even the smallest bet of information can save your life

The effects of pressure

2010-07-16T06:51:00.000-07:00

Rules of th Deep

The effects of pressure
Being underwater means being under pressure, and that pressure increases rapidly as you dive deeper. That means that the various gas laws come into play, and those laws can impact the "function of living organisms and their parts," i.e. YOU. So let's quickly revisit those laws:

Boyle's law says that as gas pressure increases... , gas volume decreases. Charles' law says that with constant pressure, gas volume increases and decreases with its temperature. Dalton adds that in a mix of gasses, the total gas pressure is equal to the sum of their individual pressures. And Henry, finally, figured that the amount of gas that will dissolve in a liquid is a function of its partial pressure and how easily the liquid absorbs gas.

The most important issue here is that, in accordance with Henry's law, the increasing pressure correlates to increased absorption of nitrogen. Once the pressure decreases as you ascend, it takes that nitrogen time to get safely released from the body. If we ascend too quickly, the nitrogen bubbles can get too large to safely be eliminated through breathing, and that can have dire consequences. We'll discuss all this in some detail.

Unfortunately, there's more. Other indirect effects of underwater pressure include shallow water blackout, oxygen toxicity, carbon monoxide toxicity, nitrogen narcosis, and full blown decompressions sickness.
Shallow Water Blackout
This is an odd but dangerous syndrome based on the little-known fact that it is not the lack of oxygen that creates in us the urge to breathe, but the build-up of carbon dioxide. Normally, as the oxygen level in the blood falls, the carbon dioxide level rises and we feel a need to breathe. When diving, things can be a different. For example, a breath-hold diver may rapidly take a number of deep breaths before diving. That hyperventilation removes carbon dioxide and thus increases the period of time before s/he'll be overcome with the urge to breathe again. Once underwater, the diver may use up oxygen without feeling a need to breathe, and eventually s/he may black out from insufficient oxygen in the blood, a state called hypoxia. A similar thing may happen when a breathe-hold diver goes deeper. Upon ascent, the oxygen pressure drops below the level to sustain consciousness. This is called deep water blackout.

Scuba

2010-07-16T06:11:00.000-07:00

Scuba diving ("scuba" originally being an acronym for Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, although now widely considered a word in its own) is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater for recreation, commercial or industrial reasons.
Unlike early diving,
which relied exclusively on air ... pumped from the surface, scuba divers carry their own source of breathing gas (usually compressed air), allowing them greater freedom than with an air line. Both surface supplied and scuba diving allow divers to stay underwater significantly longer than with breath-holding techniques as used in snorkeling and free-diving.
According to the purpose of the dive, a diver usually moves underwater by swim-fins attached to the feet, but external propulsion can come from an underwater vehicle, or a sled pulled from the surface.

Can Air bubbles be that amazing !!!!

2010-07-14T14:14:00.000-07:00

The smoke that was coming out of the boat exhaust was filling my air passages, and the diesel engine of the tug boat was wouding my ears... the sun was so hot, that you could not walk on the surface bare foot without getting ur feet burned... the waves were higher than usual making it unsafe to dive, especially in ur early training days. But in NAVY they don't spoil their men - in one word it was "pain" being on the tug boat that day. However, the clear deep blue water of the Mediterranean made it worth it, it wasn't my first dive in open water using scuba but it was the first one to the depth of 50 meters where the water is clearer and there are no annoying herds of jelly fish. It's fun to watch them swimming like sciene fiction creatures, but swimming with them is not so pleasant especially in close encounters !!!
Finally we jumped into the water...and as I was descending focusing on my breathing through the regulator, clearing my ear as we go deeper, I couldn't help it not to be amazed by the serenity, the calmness, It was like being on some other planet, or having trampled into the rabbit hole of Alice in her Wonderland. I won't tell u about sharks or whales or things I saw or did - it's the water itself feeling so different than any where u can ever be. All of your senses work differently underwater, u use your head bones for hearing; and colors r fading as u go down red turns purple, green goes blue...then finally everything is blue ..yellow is the last u see before all blue. The amazing view is when we where descending, few divers were below us and in a hard to describe view their air bubbles formed a jungle of silver spheres starting small and got massive as they reached the surface with the sun rays threw the water reflecting on their surface making it so magical like a fiction movie!
got the picture!!!!!! the rest is yet to come !! Get your Gears ready pall ,a journey of a life time is about to begin.....to be continued...