Have you ever wondered about enrolling on a diving license in Bali? Scuba diving is fun, amazing, and beautiful. But behind those amazing things you might see on social media, scuba diving can be scary and dangerous. What is dangerous in scuba diving? Sharks? No, what can be dangerous when scuba diving might just be a scuba diver’s lack of knowledge and training. Scuba diving is not only swimming and breathing underwater. Here is why scuba diving is NOT what you think it is.
Some people might not know, but scuba diving needs a license. Just like when you are taking a driving license. You need proper training from a qualified and certified instructor and a well-known scuba diving company able to give you a license or conduct the course. The license is not expensive, the training and knowledge are.
Are there any qualifications? Age 10 – 15 for Junior Open Water Diver. Age 16 and up for Open Water Diver. This license allows you to dive up to 18 meters deep. You just need to be mentally and physically fit to scuba dive.
With Bali Fun Diving, our Diving Course program in Bali, we prioritize quality over quantity. Our policy is to give you an instructor to student ratio of 1:2 while other dive centres might give you 1:4. We want you to be safe, and we want you to have a more focused scuba diving education. There are plenty of program variations for you. The courses portion is theory development in our classroom or online independent learning, pool session and diving in the ocean. It takes 2-3 days of the total course. Contact us for more details about the itinerary and options.
To fully enjoy scuba diving, you will need training. You need to know what kind of equipment you will use and how to use it. Conditions you are normally in and the underwater environment is completely different. Those different conditions affect our bodies because we are not meant to be underwater. Learn about potential danger underwater and how to handle it. Panic is normal, but you will learn how to handle it. You will learn all of this during your training. Here are some things that might be dangerous for you if you do not have the proper knowledge.
Different Pressure, Different Effects
Let’s say you have an empty water bottle. You take that water bottle underwater to 10 meters, what will happen? The water bottle will be crushed due to the higher pressure. To maintain the bottle to its proper form underwater, we need to add more air. Now, imagine the bottle is your lungs. The deeper you go, the more air you will need to consume to maintain your lungs in a proper shape. Your scuba diving gear (regulator) will help you do just that.
Now, let’s imagine the opposite. Your water bottle goes from the bottom to the surface. After it reaches the surface, the bottle will revert back to its original shape. Underwater, your lungs maintain their shape by adding more air to them through the regulator. What will happen when you are going to the surface? Normally it will also revert back to its original size, but remember that you added more air to them during your descent. By keeping constant breathing and releasing air from your lungs, it will prevent you from lung overexpansion (a condition when your lungs burst out because they expand too much).
My Ears Hurt Underwater
What applies to your lungs (which is an air space) also applies to other air spaces inside your body, one of them being your ears. Eardrums are what separates water from the outside from air on the inside. The more pressure underwater, the air space inside your ears needs to equalize to the current pressure. How? There are several techniques that you will learn when taking a scuba diving license. If you fail to equalize and continue your dive, do not be surprised when your eardrums pop.
Drunk on Nitrogen
Surprisingly, the content of a scuba tank is 79% nitrogen and 21% oxygen. “Is it dangerous to have that much nitrogen?” No, it is the same as the air you currently breathe. However, nitrogen within a high-pressure environment has a narcotic effect on humans. This can cause you euphoria, brain function slows down, a harder time to think and make decisions, and other things. Just like a drunk person, but underwater. If people can do irrational things when drunk on the surface, imagine being drunk underwater. What will you do? What can you do to prevent it?
Never Dive Alone
Even if you are the most advanced scuba diver, or if you are just starting out, never dive alone. A Buddy system is always necessary during a scuba diving session. You will never know when danger appears and someone needs your help or vice versa. Having a buddy at all times keeps you away from potential danger. That is why never dive alone.
Buoyancy is Important
Of course, we want to enjoy the natural environment when scuba diving. Corals maintain their colours when untouched. Divers with no control over buoyancy (their own position) can harm corals if you touch them. Dropping to the ocean floor is never a good thing, who knows what creature hides between the rocks or the sand.
Not being able to control your ascent can also harm you. First, remember about lung overexpansion? That can happen. Also, you are more susceptible to decompression sickness, which will not be pleasant.
Bubbles Within My Bloodstream, Decompression Sickness
As a scuba diver goes deep underwater, the pressure changes. The more pressure and air we consume means we also consume more nitrogen. Nitrogen is absorbed by the lungs to your blood by the tissues. The process is reversed when the diver goes up to the surface. Surfacing too fast makes the tissue not able to release most of the nitrogen, much will form a nitrogen bubble inside your bloodstream. So, what happens when there are nitrogen bubbles inside your bloodstream? It can block blood from certain body parts, the worst is the brain. We call this decompression sickness.
Those are the reasons why getting a scuba diving license is important. Scuba diving is not what you think it is right? There is a lot more to it other than swimming and breathing. What makes this sport expensive and exciting is the knowledge you will obtain. Scuba diving will be most enjoyable the more you know about the theories and the fundamental skills. Also, more diving experience helps you to see and achieve more underwater. Do not worry, before going to the ocean you will have training in a special swimming pool to improve your basic skills. Ready to embark?
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