Scuba Diving In Crete

While on vacation to Crete I decided I wanted to try scuba diving, I used to do some in the Lochs and around the coast of Scotland when I was younger.

It was a beautiful place we were staying with a wide clear bay and a few fishing boats, there was a small diving school just up from the beach. I popped in to see what it would cost and see what sort of things I would be able to do. The scuba industry is regulated by different bodies depending where in the world you dive.

I had trained in Britain where the British Sub Aqua Club (BSAC) is the governing body and you have to get certified and trained by a local BSAC club in order to dive there. They keep records of all your training and any dives that you do in a log book, if your log book is up to date you can take it on holiday with you and show diving schools and tours your experience. The more experience you have the better and harder the dives you are allowed to go on.

Well anyway the school in Crete was a PADI affiliated diving school, PADI is the international version of the BSAC. I did not have my log book with me and it was a little bit out of date anyway, the last time I went diving was when I was at University about 15 years ago.

I would only be allowed to go on a training dive to start with and if that went ok some shallow dives over the next few days.

I signed up for the short day course and another 2 dives I can't remember the price but it was pretty decent, not too expensive but not dirt cheap.

The training started the next morning with theory and book learning in the classroom. It was pretty basic stuff and I remembered most of it from when I had done my training. They just wanted to make sure we knew what we were doing and that we knew what to do in an emergency.

After the work in the classroom we had a chance to check out the equipment and get fitted for our training dive. The training dive was before lunch and we just went into the bay where the diving school was. We carried our equipment down the beach and waded into the water.

There was about eight of us with two instructors to keep an eye on us. They gathered us around in a circle and proceeded to show us how to clear our masks underwater, how to share a demand valve and some basic swimming exercises to make sure we were comfortable with the equipment.

After the short lesson the instructors took us for a swim around the bay, we saw many types of fish and a few crabs, there was some broken pottery and urns and a sunken boat. Then we stopped near a small reef and the instructors took out some slices of bread so we could feed the fish. They took photographs of us being swarmed by hundreds of fish. You could feel them nibbling your fingers as you fed them the bread. The fish were so dense that you had trouble seeing anyone else. It was very exciting and great fun.

After everyone had a shot of feeding the fish we headed back to the dive school. We had to carry our equipment up the beach to the storage shed and clean it down with fresh water, you should do this with all equipment you use on a dive as salt water can be very corrosive if not washed off metal tanks, demand valves and ABLJ's/buoyancy aids. We also washed the wetsuits and accessories we had used.

Once everything had been cleaned up we went back to the classroom and talked about the dive, we got our log books filled in if we had one and were issued a certificate to say we could dive down to a certain depth. This certificate would let me go for other dives while I was on vacation in Crete.

Hege Crowton is an established expert copywriter. She is known for doing in-depth research before writing her articles. www.Ispjv.com www.Submitcontent.com Copyright 2006 www.ScubaContent.com

Scuba Diving And The Of Nitrogen Narcosis

Nitrogen narcosis is a dangerous condition that can affect scuba divers, especially when diving deeper than 30 meters. The exact mechanisms behind nitrogen narcosis are still to be explored, but it has to do with nitrogen gas affecting the nerve transmissions in the body during high pressure. Nitrogen is not the only gas capable of affecting the nerve transmissions when the body experience high pressure; the same state of intoxication can for instance be caused by hydrogen and argon. Since the air inhaled by scuba divers contains a large amount of nitrogen (just like the air that we breathe above the surface every day), nitrogen narcosis was the first type of gas narcosis experienced by scuba divers, hence the name. Today, the condition is also referred to as Inert Gas Narcosis.

The effects of nitrogen narcosis are similar to the effects of anesthetic gas or alcohol. The well known diver Jacques Cousteau expressed it as the ?rapture of the deep?. Since a diver needs to be focused and act responsible ? and even more so at great depths ? nitrogen narcosis can have disastrous effect. A diver can for instance forget to check how much air he or she has left, stay down to long or forget to do safety stops when ascending to the surface. Some divers have even begun to take off their equipment or tried to share their mouth piece with a fish. Nitrogen narcosis can also be lethal due to nitrogen poisoning.

It can be hard for the effected diver to realize that he or she is developing nitrogen narcosis, since the level of intoxication will increase gradually. It is therefore always important to keep an eye on your partner during the dive and try to detect illogical behaviors. Many divers regularly check the mental state of their buddy by showing the buddy a number of fingers. Before the dive, the divers have agreed that when 3 fingers are displayed, the buddy must respond by showing 2 fingers, when 8 fingers are displayed the buddy should hold up 7 fingers and so on. A diver suffering from nitrogen narcosis might calculate the wrong number, or display a number of fingers that is not coherent with the number that he or she calculated. The diver can also loose interest in carrying out these safety checks and ignore the buddy.

If you suspect that you or your buddy is suffering from nitrogen narcosis, you should immediately begin your ascent to shallower depts. Never panic and head for the surface as quickly as possible, safety stops are imperative. The effects of nitrogen narcosis will usually wear of as soon as you reach shallower depths, even if they are far from the surface. Sometimes an affect buddy can be very reluctant to ascend, since he or she is not aware of the problem. Before embarking on a deep dive, it can be a good idea to agree on a sign that means ?Nitrogen narcosis, we must ascend?.

Never dive below 20 meters unless you have completed your deep-dive training. During the training, you will learn more about how to avoid nitrogen narcosis. A rapid descent should be avoided since it will make the pressure increase very quickly and nitrogen gas dissolves more slowly in the blood than many other gases. Nitrogen narcosis seems to be more common during dives where the diver has made a rapid descent, but it can occur even after a very slow descent. Many experienced divers recommend a descent at a very steady pace when deep-diving, since this will prevent any sudden changes and unbalanced solution of gas in the blood. This method has however not been scientifically proven.

Never use sedating drugs, including alcohol and marijuana, before you go scuba diving. Any sedating drugs will increase the risk of nitrogen narcosis. Keep in mind that THC is stored in your body for long periods of time. Sedating medications should also be avoided prior to dives, even when prescribed by a physician.

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