These are some of the frequently asked questions about Scuba Diving, certification and recommendations.
1. What is sport diving?
It is a sportive and recreational discipline that requires an appropriate theoretical and practice training before being certified as a sportive diver. In sportive diving it is not necessary to have a decompression because dives are done with time and depths limits, different to those commercial and professional divers do.
2. What is decompression?
When we immerse breathing compressed air (ambient air forced into a tank by a special compressor) a quantity of nitrogen is dissolved in our body due to the greater pressure from the water above us. This nitrogen forms bubbles in our body when we ascend and the pressure we support decreases.
It could be compared to shaking a soda and opening it all of a sudden: a lot of bubbles appear when the pressure inside the bottle goes down right after we open it. If we keep ourselves within certain time and depth limits, estimated by immersion tables, that nitrogen liberation is gradual and harmless. If we exceed these limits we are obliged to stop from time to time during the ascent to avoid these bubbles to form and put our life at risk.
These stops are called decompression stops and in sport diving the tables are calculated to avoid them.
3. What physical condition do I need to practice sport diving?
For the basic level any certifier will require a good physical and psychic shape and a minimum sportive condition. The more levels a diver wishes to achieve, the better physical abilities it has to show.
4. At what age can I start practicing?
Most certifiers have 12 years old as the minimum age to start. One can obtain certain certifications according to this age.
5. What does it mean to be certified?
Diving certification means that the diver has completed a course in one of the many existing agencies. There are different levels as in other learning areas, from basic to advanced. There are also different agencies offering similar programs. At the end, when choosing a particular course it is convenient to evaluate options in order to decide the one who offers more reliability and teaching responsibility.
6. Why do I have to get a certification in sport diving?
The underwater is not our environment. We are subject to many physical changes that we must know and understand to perfection; motion underwater is totally different also, we have to get used to this change. Adapting to this new ambient is something that we achieve after hours of practice in pool and open sea guided by a qualified instructor (to achieve a satisfactory level of aquaticity is something like getting to feel as comfortable underwater as on land).
7. What are the certification levels and what are the differences between them?
All sport divers certificating companies issue a first or basic level certification. This basic certification receives different names depending on the certificating company, and it enables the diver to descend down to certain depth and under specific conditions related to sun light, area knowledge, weather conditions, and geographic conditions. Afterwards, according to the diver’s interest, additional courses could be done to exceed the limits established by the first certification.
Obviously no one will measure how deep we go in our immersions, neither under what conditions we go, therefore it is extremely important to understand that the limits are established by the certification for a reason and it is not safe to ignore them.
8. Who will ask for my certification before diving?
Each time you go to a dive shop, national or foreigner, to rent equipment or hire transportation to the dive sites, someone should ask for your certification in force. Not every operator does it and this incident should indicate irresponsibility on the operator’s behalf for they are authorizing a dive to someone who’s probably not trained.
We must, then, report this situation to the certificating company or the proper authority because these actions damage the sport diving, for those non divers risk their lives by ignorance and certified divers sharing the dive with someone who they think is trained while he isn’t.
9. How long will my certification last?
If there are certain variations in criteria among different certificating companies, they all agree that if the diver maintains a constant activity, diving at least once every 6 months, his certification has no expiry. They recommend, nonetheless, updating courses if some periods without diving are exceeded.
10. How long does a diving course last?
The duration of a course is, perhaps, the point that generates more controversy among fans and directors of the different certificating companies. There are two day courses on one hand and two month courses in the other side of the spectrum. No survey indicates a relation between accidents happened to graduates from both systems. If one is superior to the other is due to the time you want to invest in your training only.
11. What certificating company is the best?
Each dive certificating company claims to be better than its competitors, maybe without bad faith. The best way to decide is to select a place where a diver that we know for his/her common sense (the least common of the senses) did his/her course.
12. Are there some recommendations previous to the immersion?
Do not take a flight in the first 24 hours after the immersion.
Do not drink alcohol in excess before diving.
Drink lots of water to hydrate your body.
Have a light breakfast.
Sleep well and enough before the immersion.
13. Can everyone dive?
No, it is not recommended for:
Asthmatics.
High blood pressure patients.
Epileptics.
Pregnant women.
People with respiratory problems. |
