When the subject of modern adrenaline and adventure activities pops up, it’s impossible not to mention scuba diving. Dwelling underwater for a short while and exploring the unique beauty of a world one has only read and watched documentaries about is an exciting and unforgettable experience. Keeping in mind that today’s diving equipment is both safe and affordable and the fact that it’s human nature to be curious and to want to discover our home planet’s deepest secrets, it’s easy to understand why so many people are crazy about recreational scuba diving.
In order to evolve into the activity we all know and love today, diving had to take a long and exciting journey. It is believed that one of the first people who tried to breathe underwater was a Greek soldier who supposedly dived off of a ship and breathed for hours with the help of a hollow reed. This happened in the year 500BC. Two hundred years later, Alexander the Great hid underwater during the siege of Tyre using a barrel as his very own diving bell.
In the 1700s, many people attempted to create “rebreathing devices”. In 1715, John Lethbridge built the very first underwater diving machine which was in fact an underwater oak cylinder that was surface-supplied with compressed air. Greased leather connections were used to keep water out of the suit. Inside this cylinder, a diver could stay submerged at 18 meters for half an hour.
However, humans had to wait until the year of 1943 to see the birth of a truly effective rebreathing device – the Aqua Lung. This safe, reliable, and easy to use device was designed and perfected by Jacques-Yves Cousteau (a French explorer, conservationist, filmmaker, scientist, photographer, author, and researcher) and Emile Gagnan (a French engineer). This invention pushed diving into the mainstream, giving people from all over the world the amazing opportunity to experience the magic of an oceanic wilderness. Merci beaucoup, Messieurs!
23 years later, John Cronin, a scuba equipment salesman, and Ralph Erickson, an educator, writer, coach, and waterman, founded the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) which has issued millions of scuba certifications worldwide ever since its creation.
Today, going on a Poseidon adventure is super easy, for all you need to have is “C” Card (Certification Card) and quality scuba diving equipment – a mask, a snorkel, a wetsuit, fins, and of course life-support equipment. You can easily find diving gear online as there are plenty of reputable online stores that sell nothing but high-quality and up-to-date items of scuba diving equipment and offer detailed information about all of them. Plus, if you choose to find diving gear online, you will be able to compare certain products without any interference and make the perfect pick.
