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Quick answers
Which local rescue or training agency should I check first?
Use the local lens: coastguard/federation norms and the shop briefing for that bay — not a blog visibility claim.
What is a typical first depth limit?
Many Open Water cards are written to 18 m. Further training raises that toward 30–40 m inside recreational no-stop diving.
Who invented the Aqua-Lung?
Emile Gagnan and Jacques Cousteau’s 1943 demand regulator is the usual origin of open-circuit scuba.
Is Nitrox required?
No. Enriched air is a common extra course. Air remains the default.
Can people stop after a course?
Yes. Skills decay. A checkout after a layoff is normal.
What does recreational exclude?
Planned decompression, overhead wreck or cave penetration, and untrained solo diving.
Recreational incidents cluster around out-of-air, rapid ascent, and diving while unwell. This page is orientation, not a live briefing or medical advice.
Cancel. The reef does not grade bravery.
Hazards
- Barotrauma and DCI — Pressure injuries. Prevention is equalisation and no-stop discipline.
- Out of air — Poor gas planning or a failed alternate.
- Rapid ascent — Panic or a runaway inflator.
- Currents and boats — Same as snorkeling, with more metal on the back.
- Narcosis near rec limits — A reason 40 m is not a first-year toy.
- Medical unfitness — Congestion, alcohol, and forms people lie on.
Rules
- Plan the dive, dive the plan — Including a turn pressure.
- Stay with the buddy — Or the agreed lost-buddy drill.
- No deco as the recreational default — A surprise stop means the plan already failed.
- Listen to the local brief — It beats an atlas.
- Do not dive to please a flight — Schedules kill this rule.
Red flags
- Blocked ears from a cold — Stay out.
- A buddy who will not check gear — New buddy or no dive.
- A shop that skips briefings — Walk.
- Feeling off at 30 m — End the dive. Not a diagnosis.
First response
- Surface, buoyancy, call the boat — First actions in most recreational emergencies.
- Oxygen where the operator has it — This page is not that plan.
- Not medical advice — DCI treatment is clinical.
Safety is a turn pressure and a willingness to skip the dive. The chamber is a hospital, not a plot twist.