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Sometimes a diver will be in such trouble that he or she can’t signal. It’s for that reason that all participants should keep one eye on a partner at all times. That’s difficult to do when you’re enjoying a dive. There are many interesting distractions. But it’s the best way to stay safe. You and your partners will appreciate it if it ever becomes necessary to take action.

Thanks to advances in electronics and military applications there are now several devices available for divers to communicate under the surface. These can range from very modest to enormously expensive, but every diver can judge for him or herself whether the cost is worth it.

Snorkeling can be a great addition to scuba diving. Or, it can be a fun sport all by itself. You can see an enormous variety of colorful fish and plant species just a few feet under the water’s surface.

There’s plenty of room for spontaneous exploring when you’re under the surface. You’ll find new, colorful species of fish, coral and dozens other interesting things to attract your attention. The excitement of exploring the unexpected is a large part of the fun. But the only way to do that safely and intelligently is to plan your dive well in advance.

Snorkeling can be a great alternative to scuba diving. Sometimes you don’t yet have the training or equipment to scuba dive.

You would think breathing is the most natural thing in the world. You’ve been doing it all your life without much thought. Inhale, exhale. What could be simpler?

A buoyancy compensator (BC) or buoyancy compensating device (BCD) is a jacket that helps divers maintain neutral buoyancy during a dive.

One the earliest and most well-reported cases of DCS, or Decompression Sickness, was encountered during the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. Workers spent long hours in caissons, compressed-air filled chambers underwater near the supports of the bridge. When they surfaced, they experienced joint pain, abdominal cramps and sometimes death. The condition came to be known as ‘caissons disease’.

Early in your exploration of scuba diving you’ll run across the term ‘certification’. What is that, and do you need it?

How to keep your scuba diving experience safe and comfortable is among the first lessons taught in any good dive school. Early in those lessons is one which covers how to handle the effects of pressure.

Divers today are fortunate to have the latest technology available in breathing equipment. It wasn’t always so.

Contemporary buoyancy compensator designs have an array of special features that can turn an ordinary buoyancy compensator into an extremely helpful adjunct to the diver’s gear.

Buoyancy compensator devices are used to aid the scuba diver to maintain neutral buoyancy. ‘Positive buoyancy’ causes the diver to rise, ‘negative buoyancy’ results in sinking.

Choosing a fin is a surprisingly complicated business for such an apparently simple device. But the seeming simplicity of fins is deceptive. There’s a lot that goes into engineering a great fin. Here are some guidelines for novice divers to help make it easier to choose.

There are several essential factors in a successful dive. Breathing, of course, is paramount. Keeping warm is another but, depending on where you dive, that may often take care of itself. But no matter where you dive, visual acuity is important.

Think of scuba diving and images of James Bond wearing fins and sneaking up on the villain come to mind. Or, maybe your first thought is of Jacques Cousteau investigating the creatures of a coral reef. Both scenarios have entered popular culture for good reason - both reflect the adventure and wonder that characterize scuba diving.

Scuba diving is a wonderful sport. Underwater you experience an amazing variety of plant and animal life, physical and sensory effects, an overall environment that simply isn’t possible topside. But diving has serious and real risks, too. Fortunately, with proper guidance and training those can be minimized easily in order to enjoy all the positive aspects.

Ok, so the title is a little misleading. There really is no such thing as the perfect wetsuit. But many manufacturers have come surprisingly close. With almost a hundred years of design expertise and trial and error, they’ve had lots of practice.

Scuba diving is a great adventure. But it is also inherently risky. Novice divers learn early on during a certification class how to dive safely. That’s the only way to enjoy the dive, this time and in the future. Here are some tips on how to stay safe.

Before entering the water it’s a good idea to learn a little very elementary physics. Divers don’t have to be scientists - though many are. But if you want to enjoy the experience a second time, a little knowledge goes a long way toward keeping you safe.

It’s ironic in the extreme that even though a diver may be surrounded by millions of gallons of water, dehydration can be a serious problem.

The computer revolution of the 1980s that led to ever smaller PCs wasn’t a boon only to business. Scuba divers, too, have benefited enormously from the electronics and miniaturization advances. The prime example of this is the dive computer.

Regulators and tanks are critical to scuba diving, that’s obvious. But if you want to get any enjoyment out of the adventure, a good face mask is essential. What makes one good?

It’s well known that scuba diving tanks are the canisters that supply air to the diver underwater. But beyond performing that seemingly simple, singular function there is much variety. For a plain metal cylinder, scuba tanks have a surprising number of differences.

Scuba diving tanks come in a variety of capacities, styles and contents.