Types Of Diving

Once you have your scuba license and have mastered some of the basics of diving such as fining, trimming and buoyancy, it does not mean that the ocean automatically becomes your unrestricted playground. Various places, times, temperatures, visibilities and depths are suitable only for the trained diver with a focus on specialised equipment and skills.

Night Diving

Scuba diving makes you realise that the world that lies inside the ocean is a fascinating and alien place. At night, the change in light and water conditions transforms the depths into yet another world that brings about a whole new gamut of sea life and activity. Alongside this are new dangers and restrictions which change the rules of regular day diving.

A good torch is mandatory, not necessarily for viewing because you will probably want the light off at times so you can observe ocean life discretely, but more so for safety and communication purposes. Traditional sign language used under water is performed close to your chest with the help of torches to either highlight signalling of your hand or to signal on the seafloor. Waving of the torch will indicate your position, grab a buddys attention or light up an SMB. An SMB (Surface Marker Buoy), is an inflatable device that helps divers to remain in contact with the boat during the dive. Lighting up the device with a torch greatly increases its visibility. Avoid directing the torch towards fellow divers’ eyes as it may disorientate them.

Drift Diving

Drift diving takes advantage of the oceans natural currents and tides to move a diver quickly through the water, over longer distances with much less effort. The feeling of freedom and movement is compared to flying, the currents allowing one to swiftly move over reefs and past walls. Drift diving provides a diver with a greater possibility of viewing top level predators such as sharks and manta ray. With these pros come dangers and engaging in drift diving requires a high skill set and plenty of diving experience. Underwater currents can be unpredictable and this adds another dimension of danger to drift diving. Divers are basically being carried by the current and though direction may not always be under their control, good buoyancy skills will help to ensure safe manoeuvring. Learning and observing movements of the sea life are necessary; their behaviour e.g. direction of swimming, provides you with useful information on the currents.

Surface Marker Buoys are incredibly important seeing as divers can be taken by the current quickly in any direction. Not only will boats use the SMB as a means of tracking but the guideline to the SMB can be used by diving partners to stay connected in more difficult conditions.

Deep Diving

Technically, a deep dive is considered to be at a depth of at least 18m below the surface, but in reality deep dives will generally be at least 30metres. The attraction of deep diving is far different from the visual splendour of marine plants, reef and aquatic life found in shallower waters. Reasons to dive deep generally involve a wreckage of some sort to explore or to sort out a view of a specific species of fish that can only be found in these deeper waters. An increase in the danger of a deep dive calls upon extremely careful planning and diving.

When deep diving, particularly beyond 50 metres, divers are taking considerable risk with the compressed air they breathe. The nitrogen in the compressed air often becomes a narcotic at these depths resulting in state comparable to alcohol intoxication. This of course is extremely dangerous in a situation where an alert and sharp mind is crucial. This narcosis results in illogical behaviour and the effect of the narcosis can be reversed by returning to shallower waters.

Multiple tanks of various gases are mixed at different depths to account for these volatile changes in oxygen and nitrogen. It is important to have at least two separate tanks of gas to ensure a backup. Decompression stops are all the more important during ascent from such depths and a bar that hangs beneath the boat with an extra cylinder and regulator are good pieces of extra safety equipment to include in the dive.