General Info
The history of scuba diving is closely linked with the history of scuba equipment. By the mid-twentieth century, high pressure cylinders were available and two systems for scuba had emerged: open-circuit scuba where the diver's exhaled breath is vented directly into the water, and closed-circuit scuba where the carbon dioxide is removed from the diver's exhaled breath which has oxygen added and is recirculated.
The first commercially practical scuba rebreather was designed and built by the diving engineer Henry Fleuss in 1878, while working for Siebe Gorman in London. During the 1930s and all through World War II, the British, Italians and Germans developed and extensively used oxygen rebreathers to equip the first frogmen. In the U.S. Major Christian J. Lambertsen invented a free-swimming oxygen rebreather. In 1952 he patented a modification of his apparatus, this time named SCUBA, an acronym for "self-contained underwater breathing apparatus", which became the generic English word for autonomous breathing equipment for diving, and later for the activity using the equipment.
Although a working demand regulator system had been invented in 1864 by Auguste Denayrouze and Benoît Rouquayrol, the first open-circuit scuba system developed in 1925 by Yves Le Prieur in France was a manually adjusted free-flow system with a low endurance, which limited the practical usefulness of the system.
In 1942, during the German occupation of France, Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Émile Gagnan designed the first successful and safe open-circuit scuba, a twin hose system known as the Aqua-Lung. Their system combined an improved demand regulator with high-pressure air tanks. This was patented in 1945. To sell his regulator in English-speaking countries Cousteau registered the Aqua-Lung trademark.
Ted Eldred of Melbourne, Australia, who developed the single-hose open-circuit scuba system, which separates the first stage and demand valve of the pressure regulator by a low-pressure hose, puts the demand valve at the diver's mouth, and releases exhaled gas through the demand valve casing. Eldred sold the first model in 1952.
Early scuba sets were usually provided with a plain harness of shoulder straps and waist belt. Many harnesses did not have a backplate, and the cylinders rested directly against the diver's back. Early scuba divers dived without a buoyancy aid. In an emergency they had to jettison their weights. In the 1960s adjustable buoyancy life jackets (ABLJ) became available. The first versions were inflated from a small disposable carbon dioxide cylinder, later with a small direct coupled air cylinder.
In 1971 the stabilizer jacket was introduced by ScubaPro. This class of buoyancy aid is known as a buoyancy control device or buoyancy compensator.
In the 1950s the United States Navy documented procedures for military use of what is now called nitrox. In 1970, Morgan Wells began instituting diving procedures for oxygen-enriched air. In 1985 the International Association of Nitrox Divers began teaching nitrox use for recreational diving. Nitrogen narcosis limits the depth when breathing nitrox mixtures. In 1924 the US Navy started to investigate the possibility of using helium and after animal experiments, human subjects breathing heliox 20/80 (20% oxygen, 80% helium) were successfully decompressed from deep dives.
In the mid 1990s semi-closed circuit rebreathers became available for the recreational scuba market, followed by closed circuit rebreathers around the turn of the millennium. Rebreathers are currently manufactured for the military, technical and recreational scuba markets.
Nowadays, over a handful of things make up the essential list of scuba diving equipment, each designed and improved over and over again to keep both recreational and professional divers safe and to help ensure efficient underwater operations.
Scuba diving has come a long way since it evolved from freediving centuries ago, but it’s still one of the most beloved and adventurous recreational activities of all time.
Scuba Diving
Scuba diving is a type of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba" is an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus". Scuba divers carry their own source of breathing gas, usually compressed air, affording them greater independence and movement than surface-supplied divers, and more time underwater than free divers. Although the use of compressed air is common, a gas blend with a higher oxygen content, known as enriched air or nitrox, has become popular. Also, breathing gas diluted with helium may be used.
Open circuit scuba systems discharge the breathing gas into the environment as it is exhaled, and consist of one or more diving cylinders containing breathing gas at high pressure which is supplied to the diver through a diving regulator. They may include additional cylinders for range extension, decompression gas or emergency breathing gas.
A scuba diver moves underwater by using fins attached to the feet. Other equipment needed for scuba diving includes a mask to improve underwater vision, exposure protection by means of a diving suit, ballast weights to overcome excess buoyancy, equipment to control buoyancy, and equipment related to the specific circumstances and purpose of the dive, which may include a snorkel when swimming on the surface, a cutting tool to manage entanglement, lights, a dive computer to monitor decompression status, and signalling devices.
Courses
Scuba divers are trained in the procedures and skills appropriate to their level of certification by diving instructors. These include standard operating procedures for using the equipment and dealing with the general hazards of the underwater environment, and emergency procedures for self-help and assistance of a similarly equipped diver experiencing problems. A minimum level of fitness and health is required by most training organisations, but a higher level of fitness may be appropriate for some applications.
Scuba doesn't end with the Scuba Diver entry-level certification. As you gain confidence, you will be able to take more advanced course work that enables you to explore new environments.
Take advantage of all the educational programs from Scuba Diver to Advanced Scuba Diver to Master Scuba Diver and master any Specialty course that interests you. You’ll discover something new about the underwater world and yourself every time you venture in!
Do you have greater aspirations and want to learn even more or teach your passion? Follow your dream, become a professional diver as an Assistant Instructor, a DiveMaster or even an Instructor and embrace your future!
Excursions
Umbria Wreck
The Umbria wreck site has the reputation of being one of the world's best wreck dive sites. The 150m (492ft) long wreck lies on the Wingate Reef near Port Sudan at about 40m (131ft) deep. The Umbria was built in 1912 in Hamburg, Germany, and had been in service for 28 years before she was deliberately sunk in 1940 during wartime.
This area has fantastic diving conditions all year long, with a low temperature of 24°C. On average, the sea temperature is 28-30°C, with the warmest water in June and September. The best time to snorkel or dive is from November to June, when the visibility is the best, sometimes reaching over 35m (115ft).
Divers can admire the wreck sea life, there are such species as sea lilies, sponges of various colors, corals, and algae, as well as floating butterflyfish, snapper, barracudas, and cleaner shrimp.
Sanganeb
Sanganeb Atoll was the first marine national park to be gazetted in Sudan in 1990. The only atoll in the Red Sea, Sanganeb has one of the most unique reef structures in the whole Red Sea whose steep slopes rise from a sea floor more than 800m deep.
Sangeneb is renowned among divers as one of the best diving spots in the world. The park is known for its richness of marine life and breathtaking underwater vistas, hosting at least 300 fish species including numerous endemic and rare species of sharks, dolphins, marine turtles, and a good representation of other invertebrates such as molluscs.
Sanganeb Atoll Marine National Park is renowned for its beautiful and unique coral reef which are among the best in the Red Sea. Sanganeb’s reef rises from 800m depth to the surface. The reef itself, has one of the richest displays of hard and soft corals in the Red Sea, and supports a total of 124 coral species.
Dungunab
Dungonab Bay and Mukkawar Island, situated 125 km north of Port Sudan. It includes a highly diverse system of coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass beds, beaches and islets. The site provides a habitat for populations of seabirds, marine mammals, fish, sharks, turtles and manta rays. Dungonab Bay also has a globally significant population of dugongs.
Shaab Rumi
Without a doubt it is one of the most picturesque dive sites in the Red Sea. This reef lies 48km from Port Sudan and encircles a beautiful lagoon which we can cross through a man-made strait (actually blown up by Cousteau).
The outer reef, surrounding Shaab Rumi’s various dive sites, contains a place that makes this area unique. Outside of the lagoon, about 100m from the entrance, Cousteau built his futuristic world, the Precontinent II, in 1963. During the experiment he researched whether a group of scuba divers could survive for several weeks underwater in a village specially designed for this purpose. What also makes this place so unique is the always present barracuda, tuna, batfish, and reef, grey and hammerhead sharks.
