Children and Diving
MINORS HAVE BEEN DIVING FOR DECADES, but the incidence of scuba diving injuries among them remains poorly studied.
Alert Diver Category: Safety 101
Freediving Risk Assessments
THE RAPID GROWTH OF FREEDIVING in the U.S. brings a positive light to a sport that is mentally healthy and physically inspiring but has little tolerance for error. Shallow-water blackout and respiratory barotrauma are the most feared consequences of freediving, but they can be minimized with training and good safety practices.
Optimal Nutrition for Diving
Scuba diving demands not only physical fitness but also proper nutritional preparation. Like with any activity, we expend energy while diving; surprisingly, the energy required for routine recreational diving is somewhat moderate. Under unusually strenuous recreational conditions, however, it’s possible to burn more than 500 calories.
Hose Failure
Some first-stage scuba regulators have a shared low-pressure hub. Purging the second-stage regulator to release pressure from all hoses before disassembling gear causes gas in the other hoses to move backward toward the first stage. The gas could carry debris from the other low-pressure hoses and possibly through the first-stage regulator into the hose being used to vent the system. Performing regular maintenance, checking your hoses and noting any difficulty in breathing or inflation during your predive check should prevent hose degeneration from causing an underwater incident.
The Importance of a Predive Safety Check
Certified divers learned to do predive safety checks during training, but do they perform one every time they dive? It is one of the easiest ways to prevent oversights, gear malfunctions and forgotten pieces of equipment. But predive safety checks often aren’t as thorough as they should be. Complacency and skipping your predive safety check or buddy check are entirely preventable factors in dive accidents. Complete all your checks before every dive.
