Scuba Diving Blog & Forum
Scuba divers breath nitrogen under pressure. This produces an intoxicating effect which is known as nitrogen narcosis. If you’re wondering at what depth does nitrogen narcosis occur; the simple answer is that mild symptoms can occur at most depths. However, nitrogen narcosis really only becomes noticeable on scuba dives of around 30 metres (98 feet) and deeper.
Nitrogen narcosis generally occurs noticeably to divers at depths below 30 metres (98 feet) or deeper. Scuba diving involves the inhalation of compressed air at pressure underwater. It’s this breathing of the air under pressure that impacts how much of the nitrogen molecules are dissolved into the tissues and blood. This extra nitrogen finds its way to your brain, where too much nitrogen can affect the brain. This is because nitrogen is an anaesthetic at increased pressure.
What helps with anxiety during scuba diving includes preventative measures like relaxing with breathing exercises. But it’s important that you first accept you have a problem. You can then use techniques such as visualisations or NLP, positive self-talk, subliminal messaging or meditation.
Decompression sickness, which his also known as ‘the bends‘, is so called because the afflicted individuals characteristically bent forward at the hips due to the joint pain it caused. Decompression sickness (DCS) or the bends is a potentially deadly condition. It’s caused by bubbles of nitrogen gas forming in the blood and tissues, which is usually as a result of a fast ascent from a dive or from missed decompression stops.
When it comes to scuba diving safety, a surface marker buoy is an essential piece of scuba diving equipment. A surface marker buoy (SMB or a Blob) remains on the surface for the duration of the dive, which is connected by a nylon line to a reel the diver holds. The surface marker indicates the diver’s position to the dive boat skipper at the surface, whilst the diver is underwater. Surface marker buoys are particularly used for safety during drift diving.
Underwater dive torches form an important part of your scuba diving equipment. A dive torch isn’t only for night diving or cage dives either. But rather it’s recommended to take an underwater torch on all dives. As you go deeper beneath the water’s surface the colours around you will disappear. Having a torch will help you to see the real colours and to illuminate your way in the dark.
A delayed surface marker buoy (DSMB), is similar to a surface marker buoy except that it’s deployed at the end of your dive vs used for the duration of the dive. A DSMB, which is also known as a decompression buoy or a deco buoy, are often used for safe diving ascents from depth on decompression stop dives. They are also used to indicate a diver’s position on ascent. This helps the dive boat skipper spot divers on the surface, especially in seas with a big swell.
Kids getting scuba certified or in this case for 8 year old children to learn to scuba dive is partly down to the diving organisation. But is mostly down to the parent. The dive agencies that allow 8 year old children to learn scuba limit their depth until they are older. But the scuba diving skills these young children learn counts towards their full diver certification. This includes towards their Open Water Diver course with PADI.
The number of dives you need for a liveaboard range from no minimum to 100 logged dives, which is impacted by the type of diving involved. If the type of diving is deeper diving or involves diving in currents, more experience is needed and more logged dives are required to book the liveaboard trip.
What happens if you don’t decompress when scuba diving is you could end up with decompression sickness or the bends. Most recreational diving limits scuba divers to diving depths of 40 metres (131 feet) and ‘No decompression stop diving’. This is to prevent your body from taking on so much nitrogen that it can’t off-gas enough during a direct ascent to the surface. Advanced divers dive beyond the no decompression stop dive limits. This means on their ascent from a dive they are required to stop to allow additional time to decompress. Each decompression stop allows time for gas to move out of the tissues and back to the lungs.
Whilst it’s possible to dive by yourself, it’s not recommended safe diving practice. It’s also not illegal to dive alone and there’s no ‘scuba police’ to stop you from diving by yourself. When you get your scuba certification, you’ll learn that one of the main scuba safety rules is to never dive alone. You will learn about the dangers of diving alone and that all diver training is taught on the buddy system.
What should you not do after scuba diving includes; top of the list is flying, followed by travelling to altitude, mountain climbing or trekking at altitude or drinking excessive alcohol. Other activities include strenuous exercise, taking a hot shower or jumping in a hot tub and having a deep tissue massage.
