A deep-sea diving career is a great way to combine your adrenaline desires with the need to explore the deeper secrets of the oceans. The same goes for those seeking to push their limits by adventuring down to the depths below for recreation. Certainly a fascinating place, given we know more about the surface of the moon, Venus, and Mars than we do our own oceans, if you have a bucket list of places you want to explore or are interested in pursuing a career as a saturation diver, then it’s worth noting that they come with innate dangers.
The dangers of diving are sometimes overlooked however as the fun and excitement of doing such activity is commencing. Those who plunge the Earth’s perilous waters must respect the rules put in place to save lives besides making sure your diving equipment and piston rings are airtight. Here, we’ll discuss the top rules to safely deep-sea dive, including knowing your limits, practising safe ascents, and looking after your teeth.
- Nitrogen Bubble Blunders
The fluctuating pressure that is around you when your above and below the water after you dive can sometimes lead your body to become injured if you don’t give it time to adjust to these conditions. Slowly ascending is as important as breathing constantly — if you ascend too early, the nitrogen in your body from the deep sea won’t have time to exit the body through the lungs and will expand at such a rate that would subsequently lead to a range of dangerous problems.
An incredible amount of pain or rupture can occur in your ear drums or lungs when the tissue in places such as your sinuses, lungs, dental roots or ears become damaged due to the pockets of air. This is what is known as Barotrauma and it can ultimately make it difficult for you to breathe. As you ascend, water pressure decreases and vice versa — when ascending, follow the bubbles you breathe out. Don’t ascend faster than your bubbles or things will get sticky.
Similarly to when you have drunk too much alcohol, when nitrogen builds up in you brain it can lead you to become delirious and make irrational decisions. This is known as nitrogen narcosis. For example, you could end up removing your regulator because you think you can breathe underwater or end up being unable to read your gauges and instruments.
Maintaining a steady rate of 30 feet per minute is advisory when ascending to make sure this is done safely.
- Stick to Your Limits
What may seem like an obvious rule may be forgotten when caught up in the moment of adventure. The most important thing to remember is that diving should be fun, not competitive. Dive within your limits. If you think that you might feel uncomfortable or if the conditions don’t seem safe, don’t be scared to cancel or rearrange at a different site or day. Never attempt something that you know you’re not mentally or physically prepared for because this puts you at risk before you’ve even started.
Likewise, if you’re planning on pursuing a saturation diver career, assess your claustrophobia limits. You’ll be kept in an underwater compression chamber for roughly a month, where you won’t be heading back up to the surface until your time is up. Don’t overestimate your abilities because you could end up in a really uncomfortable situation!
- How Diving Effects your Teeth
Although it’s a rather disturbing image, yes, it is possible for your fillings and crowns to pop out of your gums when diving. Saturation diver David Beckett commented: “After a couple of hours of being in the chamber, one of my fillings blew off. Thankfully for me, when it blew off there was no pain, just a hole left where the filling used to sit.
“Others aren’t so lucky. I’ve seen one guy have a crown blow off, taking part of the tooth and gum with it. Painful stuff to have to endure for the next three days.”
Besides the fear of sharks and other sea creatures being a cause for concern, a survey revealed that 41 percent of recreational divers experienced intense toothache due to fluctuations in water pressure build in the air pockets at the roots of their teeth. This is often made worse by divers who are inexperienced and clench their teeth or if they have underlying dental conditions, cavities, fractures, or poor fillings.
Book a trip to your dentist to make sure you won’t damage your teeth when diving.
There’s plenty to see but also plenty of rules to follow to make sure you’re as safe as possible when diving. So, make sure to stay safe while exploring the deep blue seas and ensure all your diving equipment such as your piston seals are in tip top condition.