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SCUBA (Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) diving is swimming underwater, or taking part in another activity, while using a scuba set. By carrying a source of breathing gas (usually compressed air), the scuba diver is able to stay underwater longer than with the simple breath-holding techniques used in snorkeling and free-diving, and is not hindered by air lines to a remote air source. The scuba diver typically swims underwater by using fins attached to the feet. However, some divers also move around with the assistance of a DPV (diver propulsion vehicle), commonly called a "scooter", or by using surface-tethered devices called sleds pulled by a boat.
Water normally contains dissolved oxygen from which fish and other aquatic animals extract all their required oxygen as the water flows past their gills. Humans lack gills and do not otherwise have the capacity to breathe underwater unaided by external devices.
Early diving experimenters quickly discovered it is not enough simply to supply air in order to breathe comfortably underwater. As one descends, in addition to the normal atmospheric pressure, water exerts increasing pressure on the chest and lungs - approximately 1 bar or 14.7 psi for every 33 feet or 10 meters of depth - so the pressure of the inhaled breath must almost exactly counter the surrounding or ambient pressure to inflate the lungs. It generally becomes difficult to breathe through a tube past three feet under the water.
By always providing the breathing gas at ambient pressure, modern demand valve regulators ensure the diver can inhale and exhale naturally and virtually effortlessly, regardless of depth.
Because the diver's nose and eyes are covered by a diving mask; the diver cannot breathe in through the nose, except when wearing a full face diving mask. However, inhaling from a regulator's mouthpiece becomes second nature very quickly.
Recreational scuba diving does not have a centralized certifying or regulatory agency, and is mostly self regulated. There are, however, several large diving organizations that train and certify divers and dive instructors, and many diving related sales and rental outlets require proof of diver certification from one of these organizations prior to selling or renting certain diving products or services.
The International Diving Institute (IDI) was founded in 1996 and offers advanced dive training, especially in the use of surface supplied air, underwater welding, rigging, hyperbaric chamber operation, etc. leading to the certification required for all commercial divers working on any oil platform in the offshore oil industry and for all dive operations in the United States that are regulated by OSHA.
IDI is not simply one of the thousands of schools for Scuba instruction. It is one of fewer than a dozen professional diving colleges currently operating in North America. It is a member of Association of Diving Contractors International (ADC) and trains to the Standards published by the Association of Commercial Diving Educators (ACDE), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and the Sea Research Society (SRS).
The Professional Diving Instructors Corporation (PDIC) is an international SCUBA training and certification agency. It has an estimated 5 million active recreational divers.
Founded in the 1960s, PDIC was established out of the need to properly train SCUBA instructors. After more than ten years of training exclusively instructors, the decision was made to offer training starting at the open water level.
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