Less than 10 years ago, around 23 million PADI certified scuba divers were in existence worldwide.
PADI, or the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, is an exciting field to take part in no matter where you live. People that want to learn how to become a diver will usually seek out an officially recognized diving instructor who is certified when you begin to take lessons. There are additional certifications for advanced training and instruction, as well. People that get the additional training usually seek the title of dive master which may further their goal of becoming a certified scuba instructor. Even though most people do not become certified trainers, most of them do this because they enjoy their experience of being in the ocean.
Making proper adjustments so you are at neutral buoyancy are a must for any diver. Depending on how deep you are, it is important to know how that will affect of your buoyancy. There is more pressure as you go deeper, which compresses bubbles causing your wetsuit to lose its buoyancy. When you are in shallow waters you may feel like you need more weight. As just mentioned, the feeling of needing more weight will go away the deeper you dive. That is one good reason to buy your own wetsuit if you plan to dive in waters that require it. Knowing what buoyancy does at certain depths, is easier to figure out, when you are always wearing the same wetsuit.
One thing you will learn while diving is to become neutrally buoyant which will help you when doing 15 foot safety stops You want to begin at the surface level of the water, and strap on a virtually empty oxygen tank for this type of test. Additionally, slightly negative buoyancy could be established using a buoyancy compensator; to do this you need to have no air in the BC, your lungs only half-full, and the tank completely full of air at the surface level.
When preparing for a dive, make sure you do not have too much weight which could definitely affect your buoyancy. Your best bet is to only use a couple pounds of extra weight at any one time. No matter how you find the right level of buoyancy, always experiment until you get it perfect.
It is a very good idea, prior to your descent into the water, to begin equalizing. The popular Valsalva maneuver is used by many divers to clear their ears out before going into the water and descending into the deep. More than likely, even if you do not dive, you have done this before. By pinching your nose, and then trying to blow your nose as you normally would, you accomplish the task. The Valsalva maneuver works best if you do it prior to your dive.
The goal is to make sure your ears are pre-pressurized before you start to descend which will make equalization much easier. So before you go under, do this technique, and you will have no problem equalizing the pressure in your ears.
PADI certification is definitely the direction you want to go in if one of your lifelong goals was to be able to explore the oceans of the world while scuba diving. It is always important to recognize that, no matter how good you are at diving, even after certification, you must be ready for problems that may come your way. The best way to always be prepared for safety issues is to follow the rules that you have learned to the letter.
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