Modern scuba diving is a relatively new recreation, although diving dates back to around 330 BC when Alexander the Great was rumoured to have submerged in a diving bell. During the ensuing centuries diving took many forms, however most diving systems were surface-supplied. It wasn't until 1943, when the late Captain Jacques Cousteau took the plunge in the Mediterranean Sea with his newly invented aqualung, that the modern scuba diving era began. With the advent of the aqualung, divers could enjoy unprecedented freedom of movement underwater.
Until the 1950s, wetsuits and snorkelling gear was home made, and the first scuba regulators were the twin-hose types. Today, because of the advancement in equipment design, scuba diving is a past-time most people can enjoy with relative safety.
In the early days of the modern scuba era, scuba clubs followed military training techniques. It is fair to say that in those pioneering days recreational scuba diving was for the brave at heart and very male dominated. Since the early 1970s, specific training courses have been designed by companies that specialise in underwater education, as a result scuba diving is a main-stream recreational activity enjoyed by millions of people worldwide.
The modern recreational scuba diver can now enjoy diving on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the Middle East's Red Sea, the Galapagos Islands in the Eastern Pacific; explore World War II wrecks in Truk Lagoon; explore the reefs of Florida or the Carribean Islands; dive under ice, including diving in the Great lakes; or explore South Australia's famous sinkholes. This by no means is the complete list.
All these wonderful choices await discovery.
Recreational Scuba Diver—a guide to safe diving, provides all the information required by a recreational diver for safe and enjoyable diving all around the world. It provides, arguably for the first time in a single volume, a complete overview of the theory and practice of recreational diving. Furthermore, this guide does not depend on any specific training system, but rather satisfies the requirements of most international standards and proprietary systems for teaching recreational scuba diving. It also forms part of a suite of dive education support materials produced by In-Depth International. In particular, it was written to be the companion to www.edivecollege.com—the world’s first on-line diver training system.