Scuba diving never fails to stimulate non-divers and extreme sports lovers to engage in this fun recreational activity. This is evidenced by pertinent enrollment statistics with PADI-affiliated diving schools, among other professional diving organizations, and with diving resorts. Meanwhile, the increasing demand for packaged diving vacations with popular diving destinations likewise confirms this observation. But what likely fuels the continued interest for scuba diving, apart from the sheer excitement that diving conveys, is the availability of high-performance, moderately-priced scuba equipment and scuba gear to support this recreational sporting activity. Let us review a few scuba items and their pertinent functionalities to this end.
Diving Mask
Without the diving mask, the scuba diver will not get an excellent focus of underwater flora and fauna. By creating an air space between the eyes and the tempered lens of the mask, the diver catches a regular view of his surroundings instead of getting refracted or distorted images when the eyes are in direct contact with sea water. Your choice of purge and non-purge diving masks to match your water clearing preferences.
Buoyancy Compensator Device
The buoyancy compensator device (BCD) and weights are designed to support the neutral buoyancy requirements of the diver. The implementation of proper breathing techniques along with the skillful operation of the BCD and weights is key to the attainment of neutral buoyancy. Getting a mid-range BCD with an integrated weight system better supports the objective of buoyancy and vertical cruise control.
Diving Wetsuit
The human body easily succumbs to cold when immersed in water. Thus, a diver would need a diving wetsuit to insulate his body from the chilly water temperatures as well as get protection from coral abrasion and jellyfish stings. Many diving wetsuits are not only produced from high performance neoprene rubber but are now outfitted with spandex panels to increase flexibility, despite the don of wetsuits with thicker torso thicknesses (intended to enhance its insulation properties).
Diving Cylinder
The standard 80 cubic feet tank can hold compressed Air to a maximum volume of 4500 per square inch (psi) of pressure. While atmospheric gases remain as the commonly used breathing gas for scuba diving, professional divers have been utilizing Enriched Air or Nitrox mixes which increases Oxygen proportion in the mix (up to 40%) and reduces Nitrogen absorption by the body, resulting to increased bottom times and reduced decompression stops.
Scuba Regulator
The scuba regulator is integrated into the open circuit scuba set to minimize intermediate pressures flowing from the tank which could cause lung injury if air (in the tank) is fed directly to the diver. Basic components of this scuba equipment [http://www.scubasuppliers.com] include the first stage, a mechanism that drops tank pressure to intermediate pressure and the second stage which converts intermediate pressure to surrounding water pressure. Breathable air flowing from the second stage is conveyed to the scuba diver through a mouthpiece. Most scuba regulator sets have balanced first stage mechanisms out of the box with either a balanced or unbalanced second stage.
