Clear Answers for Common Questions

Scuba diving offers people the opportunity to see what life is like below the water in lakes and oceans. The word "scuba" is an acronym for self contained underwater breathing apparatus, and divers wear equipment that allows them to stay below the water's surface for long periods of time ...

Buoyancy is the ability of an object to float in a liquid. The relation of the object's weight to the weight of the water displaced is what determines if the object will float; although the size and shape of the object do have an effect, they are not the ...

Nitrox diving is a method of scuba diving steadily gaining popularity among divers who would like to dive for longer periods of time. It also reduces the chances of having common complications that divers may suffer, like decompression illness, also known as the bends. The word "nitrox" is a portmanteau ...

A decompression chamber, also known as a recompression or hyperbaric chamber, is a sealed compartment that is pressurized to mimic different levels of atmospheric pressure. Small chambers fit just one person, but larger versions can comfortably accommodate up to 10 individuals. They are perhaps most commonly used in scuba diving ...

A diving charter is similar to other types of charters. It involves the temporary use of a vehicle for an outing, in this case a boat for a diving excursion. Instead of simply renting a boat and taking it out yourself, obtaining a diving charter provides you with a crew ...

The term "neoprene rubber" is redundant because neoprene is a type of synthetic rubber. It was developed in the 1930s and since then has been incorporated into many products that are common in everyday life, such as wetsuits and protective gear. Neoprene has a variety of properties that make it ...

A snorkel is a breathing tube that allows a swimmer who is swimming along the surface of the water to breathe normally, even though the swimmer's face is just below the surface, peering down into the water. In the past, a traditional design for snorkels was a U-shaped ...

Underwater cameras are cameras which are either designed specifically for underwater use or housed in a protective device to guard against water and pressure damage. They come in a number of forms, with prices ranging across the entire spectrum of normal camera pricing. The cheapest type of underwater cameras are ...

The bends is the common name given to decompression sickness or caisson disease. The bends occur when the pressure surrounding a person’s body drops quickly. Most commonly, the bends result when a diver resurfaces too quickly, but they may also occur when unpressurized aircraft flies quickly into lower-pressure ...

Packing the right travel medicines can save a lot of time and hassle on your vacation, and can even be a lifesaver in the event drugs are not available locally. But even when you can avail yourself of local markets and pharmacies, it is always more convenient and often less ...

Lobster diving is the sport of hunting for live lobsters in their natural environment. Since lobsters are nocturnal creatures, most lobster diving enthusiasts do their hunting at night. In this way, they can more easily locate the lobsters as they move from place to place along the ocean floor. Since ...

Freediving, also called breath-hold or apnea diving, is diving without benefit of a breathing apparatus. Freediving is a sport with several different competition categories such as diving with or without fins, weight-sleds, depth records set in the ocean and breath-holding records set in pools. There are both ...

There are many different types of fishing, ranging from angling to electrofishing. Sometimes, it is categorized by the type of animal being caught — for instance, fishing shrimp is called shrimping, and catching frogs with a tined spear is called gigging. This practice can also be categorized by the purpose ...

In the most general sense, a liveaboard refers to the practice of living aboard a boat. The term "liveaboard" may be taken to mean either a person who lives on a boat, or a boat designed for people to live aboard it. There are many different kinds of liveaboards, each ...