Diving Equipment: The basics

What is Scuba?

Scuba is the acronym that we use to describe the equipment we use to go Diving underwater. It stands for Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. I promised in my last blog that, for those not in the know, we would look at the Diving Equipment Basics.

The Scuba Equipment we use has evolved quite a lot since the days of Jaques Cousteau and today comprises of several individual pieces of kit that link together to create a streamlined unit allowing us to breathe underwater.

Cylinder

The first thing we need to go Scuba Diving is a cylinder of air.

Anyone who has put their head underwater in a pool or in the bath knows for sure that a human being cannot breathe in water, so, much like astronauts on a foreign planet, we have to take our own gas supply with us. This usually comes in the form of a rigid steel or aluminium tank of air (NOT oxygen) that we wear on our backs.

Regulators

The tank of air isn't much good to us if we cannot access the gas to breathe it. To facilitate this we use a set of regulators

A set of regulators is usually made up of a 1st stage, which connects to the valve on the cylinder of air. There are usually several hoses that come off the first stage, two of which are attached to second stages. One of these second stages is your primary regulator that you will breathe from while the 2nd is an alternate in case, for some reason, your dive buddy needs to breathe off your cylinder.

There is also a High Pressure Hose connected to a gauge that will tell you what air pressure you have in your cylinder and another Low pressure hose that connects to your Buoyancy Control Device.

BCD

The buoyancy control device is a jacket or wing that you can add and subtract air to/from to assist in controlling your position in the water.

As Scuba Divers, we don't want to be swimming at the surface and we don't want to be walking along the seabed (that is bad for the environment). Neither floating nor sinking but somewhere in the middle, which we call Neutrally Buoyant. Our BCD can help us achieve this.

On Descent, we add some air to the BCD and on ascent, we release air from the BCD and this will help us to maintain that mid-water positioning.

Wetsuit or Drysuit

Water takes heat away from our bodies approximately 20 times faster that air does, so we get cold much wetsuit or a drysuit.
quicker underwater.  For this reason, we wear an exposure suit, which comes in the form of either a

A wetsuit works by trapping a thin layer of water between the neoprene of the suit and your body and this layer is warmed by you. This trapped, warm water will then keep you warmer for longer that water that is continually changing such as when you swim without a suit or water that is swilling in and out of a wetsuit that is too big. This is why putting a wetsuit on can be a challenge. They must be well-fitting to do the job they were designed for.

A drysuit does what it says on the tin. The whole suit is sealed off, keeping the bulk of your body dry and warm with a layer of air between you and the suit and the water.

Fins, Mask and Weights

The final three items are very important for scuba diving.

Our eyes cannot focus in water and so we need to create an airspace around them but we need to be able to equalise this airspace as we go deeper underwater and the water pressure pushes the mask harder onto our face. Enter the diver's mask, made with tempered glass to withstand the increased pressure underwater, with a soft squishy nose pocket that allows us to equalise our ears and the mask airspace.

With all the scuba diving equipment we use, you would think that we would all sink like a stone but unfortunately, we become quite floaty. This is why Divers usually have to add a couple of lead weights to their equipment to allow them to sink below the surface.

Finally, with all this diving equipment, you will not be going anywhere without size 2000 feet. Since adults average between size 5 and 12 feet, an easier option than plastic surgery is to buy a set of fins. These offer propulsion through the water allowing you to swim and glide with ease.

So, these are the basic pieces of equipment needed to go on a scuba dive. As you progress, you will get more essentials to add and as your diving career grows, so will your dive bag :)

5 things that should be on every diver's christmas list

December is finally here and Christmas will soon be upon us, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to give those Divers that are not sure what to ask Santa Clause for, a couple ideas for their stockings.

Now, some of these things are on my christmas wishlist, while some are items that just got me so excited, I had to buy them in advance. However, all of them are pieces of Diving kit that will feed that need that Divers of all different certification levels get when they see new diving toys!

Here we go...

1. The Pathfinder Rebreather.

It is at the very top of my Christmas wish list this year and I am trying to be a really good boy so that Santa says "yes".

If you have been up to date with our blogs, you will know that a couple weeks ago, I was lucky enough to "try-dive" this fantastic little Rebreather (if you missed it, check it out at this Pathfinder Rebreather Blog Post) and I have wanted one ever since.

Made by the same guys that made the Megalodon CCR, the Pathfinder is a much smaller and lighter Rebreather aimed at the travelling diver or those slightly smaller in stature but to the same high quality that Divers have come to expect from this company (ISC).

2. The Shearwater Petrel.

If you are considering a CCR, then you will need a diving computer that will accommodate this... Enter the Shearwater Petrel.

Little Brother to the Shearwater Predator and descendant of the Pursuit, the Petrel is a smaller sized computer that is open for Trimix and CCR use alongside normal air and nitrox, if you aren't a Technical Diver.

The Petrel sports a 2.4 inch HD screen, which shines brightly in the darkest of caves or shipwrecks, is user customisable and adjustable. The menus are simple to use and highly intuitive, especially important on deeper dives where narcosis could be an issue. You can use up to 5 different gas mixes and swap at the touch of a button.

3. Halcyon Traveller Wing.

In this day and age of technology, the world has become a much smaller place and, as divers, we can easily travel from the UK to Thailand to Egypt to Cyprus for Scuba Diving. 

The only drawback for the travelling diver is the cost of baggage transporting all your Scuba Equipment from one destination to another.

Thankfully, manufacturers have started to bring out a number of items for the travelling diver and for those who want to dive with a single tanks set-up, there is no better travel buoyancy control device (BCD) than the Halcyon Traveller Wing

The Halcyon Traveller combines the simplicity of small jacket systems with the performance of back-mounted BC systems. It uses a unique PA6 Nylon backplate and has an integrated single-tank carrier and Cinch quick-adjust system. The shoulders and back are padded and this provides unparalleled comfort with a 30lb lift capacity.

Weight Belts are not needed with this fabulous piece of equipment, as there is a specialised weight attachment system, allowing weights to be distributed across the diver's back rather than the waist.

All of this combined with a number of other unique design features means the Halcyon Traveller BC System weighs in at less than 3kg. A must for the Diver on Tour!

4. Full Set of Miflex Hoses.

Miflex Hoses are flexible and durable and a great alternative to the usual rubber hoses that are commonplace on Scuba Diving Equipment.

They have an average lifespan of three times longer than traditional hoses, excellent resistance to abrasion with a Kink-resistant design. You can even tie an XTREME hose into a knot and air flow remains continuous.

These hoses also have a burst pressure more than twice that of traditional hoses and since they are available in a multitude of colours, such as; Green, Black, Red, Purple and Glow in the Dark Yellow to name just a few, you can stay colour coded and at the height of fashion.

Miflex are currently running a "Pink Tank" promotion, which means that miflex will donate £1 to Project Pink Tank for every Pink, Red, White or Purple Hose they sell.


 



With 30 individual safety tests performed on every hose, Premium Packaging that doubles as a water-resistant document wallet and all hoses approved and certified to EN250 Standard, why are you still in rubber?




5. A Diving Holiday.

This one is always at the top of the list and although we live in Cyprus and get to enjoy year round diving here in the balmy waters of the Mediterranean sea, it is always nice to get away and dive somewhere new

Maybe this year, our holiday diving will be in the somewhat cooler waters of the UK, at Stoney Cove and/or we might get to travel somewhere more exotic like Egypt's Red Sea or the Canaries

Top of our travel list, you will find the Galapagos, where you can supposedly find all kinds of aquatic life including Dolphins, Whales and penguins etc but I think that will have to wait until we win the lottery. I mean, even Santa Clause has his limits



So, for me, these items are some of the best on the market at the moment. There are always new toys available and something else exciting that we want and this list could have been 100 items that scuba divers would want for christmas but I guess we shouldn't be greedy. After all, christmas is a time to give...so if you are listening friends and family, I give you the gift of knowledge. You can give me anything on this list