Scuba Diving Vacations and Safety Tips

If you’re planning on scuba diving while on your next
vacation, you’ll need to be aware of a few general safety tips. Don’t
confuse Scuba diving vacation activities and snorkeling—they are completely
different animals. In order to scuba dive, most states require that you be
certified by a school.
Never go into the open water without an insulated wet suit—or a dry suit.
Water is twenty five times more efficient at carrying heat away from your
body. This means, essentially, that even in water you’d normally consider
safe, you’re in severe danger of hypothermia. Make sure that your diving
suit is thermally insulated. If it’s ripped or torn anywhere, or if the
material is frayed and showing through, it is vital that you get it repaired
before taking it on another dive.
If you’re learning to Scuba Dive for the first time, you should take a
medical examination and have a doctor OK the expedition first. Swimming
against an ocean current three hundred feet below the water’s surface is a
completely different animal from swimming normally, and the danger cannot be
emphasized enough. Take a swim test first, too; if you aren’t proficient
enough at moving underwater, Scuba diving will just be an elongated form of
suicide.
After you’ve been certified, make sure to stay away from areas you aren’t
qualified to be near. Ship wrecks, coral reefs, and waters populated with
sting rays, sharks, and jellyfish all require special certification and
training to dive in. There may also be waters that are off-limits altogether
because of politics. Scuba Divers have caused international incidents in the
past because they are easily mistaken for combat divers and covert
information gathering units. If certain places are off limits to you,
respect those limits. They’re there to keep you from dying. (Or starting a
war with México.)
That said, have a blast on your scuba diving vacation.
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