Diving and How to Set Up By James Coleman

Diving and How to Set Up

By James Coleman

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: What Is Diving?
Chapter 2: How to Set Up your Gear
Chapter 3: The Most Important Rules
Chapter 4: How to Check your Air, Depth, And More
Chapter 5: Extra Accessories You Might Need
Chapter 6: Hand Signals and How to Make Them
Chapter 7: Conditions to Not Dive In
Chapter 8: How to Save your Local Reef

Glossary / Word Search

Chapter 1:

What Is Diving?

When I was younger, I thought that scuba diving was simply just when you put a mask and a snorkel on and look at the world below from the
surface, and that actually breathing underwater was not real and just a figment of my imagination. But this sport made my dreams a reality.
Diving is a water sport activity which you dive underwater and look at the world of beauty below. Many people love this activity, as the wonders
below are some things people only imagine about, as many people are landlocked in their countries. However, it is not like riding a bike. After you
finish your course, you have 6 months to dive at least once, which the 6 months starts again. If you do not dive in 6 months and try to dive again,
you need to take a Refresher Course, where you take a test to give you a refresher.

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Where can you Go Diving?

You can go diving almost anywhere in the world. As it is popular, you can find it anywhere. Here are some places you can go diving.

1. Barracuda Point, Sipadan Island, Malaysia
2. Blue Corner Wall, Palau, Micronesia
3. The Yongala, Australia
4. Thistlegorm, Egyptian Red Sea
5. Shark and Yolanda Reef, Egyptian Red Sea
6. Manta Ray Night Dive, Kailua Kona, Hawaii
7. Great Blue Hole, Belize
8. Richelieu Rock, Thailand

And many more! There are many places in this world where you can go diving! Visit your local dive center to apply for your first course!

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How was it Made?

A long time ago, instead of using a mask, tank, and
wetsuit, you would have a diving bell to go on your head,
a diving dress, and an air tube to give the user air. You
had to stay vertical for water to not get in. This was not a
self contained underwater device. The first ones came in
the 20th century.

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Chapter 2:

How to Set Up your Gear

BCD

Your BCD is your floatation device, which is why BCD stands for Buoyancy Control Device. It also connects your tank with your regulator, which
is used to breathe through. When connected, you can inflate and deflate your BCD, in case you are too high or too low in the water. If you blow
up your BCD too much, it will break. Once, my friend held down the button to inflate, and he stopped when my instructor scolded me because
apparently I held it down and almost broke it. For the rest of the dive, I was angry at my friend.

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Your Tank

Your tank is the thing which keeps you alive underwater. It is what holds all of your air for you to breathe through. In order to reduce rust, you
have to leave a bit of air in your tank after you use it. Here is a diagram of a diving tank.

Original Photo From
https://www.amazon.com/Cyl-Tec-
80CF-Scuba-Diving-Tank/dp/B00H
7H120G

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Your Regulator

Your regulator allows air to flow from your
tank, through your regulator, and either into
your mouth or into your BCD. Here is a
diagram of a regulator:

Original Image from
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/scd-500-din-300-reg
ulator-pack-id_8399225.html

As you can see, there is two regulators: The
emergency and the normal. You normally use the
normal, but if it stops working, you use your
emergency regulator. Your air gauge is where
you can see how much air you have left in your
tank. The final thing is what connects your
regulator to your tank.You simply put it on the
tank and open the tank to breathe through your
regulator.

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Chapter 3:

The Most Important Rules

The Buddy System

The Buddy System is a way to keep divers not lost and safe. What happens is that you dive with somebody, so that, if needed, you can use your
buddy’s emergency regulator, or if you (or you buddy) get stuck, the other can try to help them out. This system is an effective way to keep
people safe while diving.

All rights reserved by
Rainbow Scuba Hawaii

All rights reserved by
Rainbow Scuba Hawaii

Decompression Sickness

Decompression sickness is when you go up too fast from a deep depth. The pain can even be fatal! You could get a simple bloody nose, or even
ear pain for a week! In order to avoid this from happening, you do a 3 minute, 15 feet, Safety Stop. If you over do your time at certain depths, you
need to take a decompression stop. The decompression stop is NOT a safety stop! Do not get the two confused, as they are very different things.
Here is a story of somebody who went through this, from website https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/pressure-scuba-diving.
“‘I felt like my tooth was going to explode,’ says the 17-year old high school junior from Hackley School in Tarrytown, N.Y. Alex learned to scuba
dive on a school trip to Belize and Guatemala. On a scale from 1 to 10, Alex says, the oral agony weighed in at an excruciating 9. ‘It was the
most painful thing I've ever felt in my entire life,’ he says.” This toothache is only one of the many bad things which can happen underneath the
surface of the sea. Another thing which could happen is ear pain for a week, or a bloody nose which turns your mask red! One time, a man went
down to 350 ft. and was paralyzed down from the neck.
In order to help stop this, equalize every few feet by covering your nostrils and blowing through your nose.

Don’t Touch Wildlife!

One touch to coral will kill it! Even though they don’t look alive, they very much are! In order to save underwater wildlife, try to avoid touching the
sand by controlling your buoyancy. Even in the sand, there is some life. If you ever do go diving, try to stay cautious and not bump into anything.
This may become more difficult when cave diving, as you are in a small area with a roof over your head, and sand beneath you, containing life.

Chapter 4:

How to Check your Air, Depth, and More

Your Air Gauge

Your air gauge shows how much air you have, by having a pointer which points to the amounts that’s left. If it is in the red zone, you don’t have
much air left. If it is in the blue section, though, then you have a lot of air left. The white section means you have not too much, not too little air.
You always want to remember how much air you have before the dive, so if you started at the end of the blue zone, you wouldn’t be too stressed
about how much air you have. You always want the most air, which is at the blue zone.

How to Read your Dive Computer

Original Photo from
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/puck-pro-di
ve-computer-id_8246008.html

This is a dive computer. As you can see, it shows the temperature, time, the time length of
the dive, and your depth. It also tells you when to begin your safety (or decompression)
stop, and how long to stop. Dive computers are used during your first course, but after,
you need to buy your own if you want to dive with one.

Chapter 5:

Extra Accessories You Might Need

Normal Tanks As you can see, the Pie
Chart includes what gases
and Nitrox are in Nitrox. Liquid
Nitrogen is the most, with
Nitrox is an extension of your 78%, Oxygen with 21%,
normal dive courses. As it and 1% of other gases.
only changes the amount of
oxygen in your tank, it isn’t
mandatory. Here is a Venn
Diagram of the differences
and similarities between
normal tanks and Nitrox, and
finally a pie chart of the
percentages of gases in
Nitrox. Here they are.

Hand Signals and How to Make Them

Chapter 6

There are two different ways to make hand signals:
Overwater and Underwater. When you are overwater, you
say ok by waving your hands in the air. To go down, make a
thumbs-down. To go up, make a thumbs-up. When you are
Underwater, make a 0 with your fingers and point the rest up
to say “Ok”. If you are at half tank, make a T with your hands.
If you are in The Red Zone, make a fist. If you have no air,
put your hand up to your neck and pretend to slice it.

Conditions to Not Dive In

Chapter 7

If you are planning on doing 4 dives a day, don’t do it. After
your first dive, wait 12 hours until the next. If you have
breathing problems like Asthma, don’t go diving, as it may
be fatal if you get a attack underwater, but ask your doctor
first. If you have Asthma, you need to wait until you are 15 if
you had it as a toddler.

How to Save your Reef

Chapter 8

Instead of adding to the trash littered in the sea, get rid of it. If you see trash, pick it up
and recycle it when you get back to the surface. When you dive, don’t touch any wildlife,
as even a simple poke might kill an animal. As coral are very slow growers, if you cut off
even the smallest bit of coral, it might take decades for it to grow back, which is why coral
is still small after all these years. It takes a very long time to grow, and if you kick one,
they would die even before you realize. Therefore, it takes a bit of time for them to show
that they died, and when they do, you would be far off, either finishing your dive or some
other place, farther from the coral.

Conclusion

Overall, many people may think this activity is too hard and complicated, but it actually
isn’t. Although it isn’t like riding a bike, it gets easier if you dive frequently, and some
things you will begin to know off by heart. This activity is favorited by many people, and
finally shows you the wonders below the surface.

Word Search

When you find a word, use a pencil
and circle the word!

Glossary

Buoyancy: A force which keeps you afloat. This word is on page 5 the first time.
Regulator: The connector between your tank and your BCD; also used for breathing. This word is on page 7 the first time.

Citations

Bryant, Charles W. “Who Was the First Scuba Diver?” HowStuffWorks,
HowStuffWorks, 26 Oct. 2009,
adventure.howstuffworks.com/outdoor-activities/water-sports/first-scuba-d
iver.htm.

Sohn, Emily. “The Pressure of Scuba Diving.” Science News for Students, 15
June 2004, 12:00 EST,
www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/pressure-scuba-diving.

Studholme, Jill. “Great List of the World's Top 10 Scuba Diving Locations.”
SCUBA Travel, SCUBA Travel, 12 Sept. 2018,
www.scubatravel.co.uk/topdives.html.