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Recreational Scuba Diving – An Introduction [click here to return to the Omni Diver Homepage]

Recreational scuba diving grew out of related activities such as snorkeling and underwater hunting. For a long time, recreational underwater excursions were limited by the amount of breath that could be held. However, the invention of the aqualung in 1943 by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and its development over subsequent years led to a revolution in recreational diving. However, for much of the 1950s and early 1960s, recreational scuba diving was a sport limited to those who were able to afford or make their own kit, and prepared to undergo intensive training to use it.

As the sport became more popular, manufacturers became aware of the potential market, and equipment began to appear that was easy to use, affordable and reliable. Continued advances in SCUBA technology, such as buoyancy compensators, modern diving regulators, wet/dry suits and dive computers, increased the safety, comfort and convenience of the gear encouraging more people were to train and use it.

Until the early 1950s, navies and other organizations performing professional diving were the only providers of diver training, but only for their own personnel and only using their own types of equipment. There were no training courses, in the modern sense, available to civilians who bought the first scuba equipment. Some of the first training started in 1953 Trevor Hampton created the first British diving school, the British Underwater Centre and 1954 when Los Angeles County created an Underwater Instructor Certification Course. Early instruction increased in the form of amateur teaching within a club environment, as exemplified by organizations such as the Scottish Sub-Aqua Club and the British Sub Aqua Club from 1953, Los Angeles County from 1954 and the YMCA from 1959. Professional instruction started in 1959 when the National Association of Underwater Instructors was formed. Professional Association of Diving Instructors was formed in 1966; PDIC professional diving instructors college was formed in 1965.Later changing its name to PDIC professional diving instructors Corporation in 1974, providing training in a retail environment.  Further developments in technology have reduced the cost of training and diving. Scuba-diving has become a popular leisure activity, and many diving locations have some form of dive shop presence that can offer air fills, equipment and training.  In tropical and sub-tropical parts of the world, there is a large market in 'holiday divers'; people who train and dive while on holiday, but rarely dive close to home.  Technical diving and use of rebreathers are increasing, particularly in areas of the world where deeper wreck diving is the main underwater attraction. Generally, recreational diving depths are limited to a maximum of between 30 and 40 meters (100 and 130 feet), beyond which a variety of safety issues make it unsafe to dive using recreation diving equipment and practices, and specialized training and equipment for technical diving are needed.

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Reference material for this scuba diving related informational article: wikipedia – the free online encyclopedia, scuba diving category

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