Is Scuba Diving Safe
Author: John Published Under: Sports
One of the great allures of scuba diving is a need to explore and with the ocean making up about 70% of the Earth's surface, there are countless places that have literally never seen the light of day.
From amazing animals, plants, and rocks, to countless shipwrecks, there are many places that have never been seen before by human eyes under the sea. It is also believed that there are millions of species that have yet to be discovered living under the sea.
Up until recently, scuba diving was usually only done out of necessity and was rarely done for pleasure or sport. For example, salvage operations have traditionally been extremely popular and very profitable. There are also many times that scuba diving provides a practical and inexpensive way of fixing a ship or bridge. So, for some time, scuba diving was typically only done by working professionals.
Today, however, scuba diving has become more of a sport, with divers from all over the world participating in it. It is not even necessary to live near the ocean to enjoy scuba diving, with many using lakes, rivers, or large pools to practice their scuba diving.
It is not known for sure how many people scuba dive, but since the creation of the Professional Association of Diving Instructors(PADI) in 1966, more than 13 million instructors have been certified.
Is Scuba Diving Safe?
One of the most common questions about scuba diving is if it is safe or not, which is not a simple question.
The practice of scuba diving itself is incredibly safe, but each year a number of divers do die. However, usually this is caused by poor training, diving in rough conditions, or diving in conditions that exceed the skills of the diver. Diving accidents are, in fact, rarely caused by equipment malfunctions.
Many of the common problems faced by divers can largely be avoided by proper training. It is also important to have a dive buddy and maintaining a open line of communication while diving. Simply by having someone else present, many of the problems faced by a diver can be safely and easily overcome.