Psychological Aspects and limitations of Scuba Diving

Many scuba divers have compared the “thrill” of their sport to that of piloting a plane. The scuba diver is exposed directly to the underwater environment. He has no contact with the surface and depends entirely on his breathing apparatus and its limited air supply. Even though he is diving with a buddy (a basic rule of scuba diving), he must face most of his problems alone. These conditions demand an ability to adjust mentally to diving. The mobility of scuba diving is perhaps its greatest appeal. The diver has no bulky equipment to hamper his actions. At neutral buoyancy he can swim under water in any direction. He can cover considerable distances unaided, and with the use of any of a number of propulsive devices he can greatly increase his operating range. Depth control is another major advantage of scuba. There is little buoyancy in the equipment. This eliminates the need for carrying heavy weights. As a result, the scuba diver can maintain or change his depth at will. He can cruise under water at safe depth, can search deep areas from shallow depths, can explore underwater caves and travel under ice floes. The water is his domain.

Limitations of Scuba

Any person who undertakes scuba diving should be aware of its limitation of duration. The most important factor in this limitation is the gas supply in the apparatus. In open-circuit scuba the gas supply seldom lasts over 3 hours at the surface, and exhausts in much shorter time at any depth. In closed-circuit or semiclosed-circuit scuba, the gas supply may last 4 hours or more, but the absorptive capacitiy of the canister rarely exceeds 3 hours under any exertion. These durations are the outside limits. Under normal conditions, the safe duration of a scuba is 2 hours or less.

The second important limitation is that of depth. The United States Navy has found that in open-circuit scuba the increase of air consumption with depth limits the apparatus to 130 feet for reasonable working dives. Nitrogen narcosis and decompression limit the open-circuit apparatus to 200 feet, even for short dives. In closed-circuit or semiclosed-circuit scuba, oxygen tolerance imposes very restrictive limits on depth. Also, scuba limits exertion to some extent. In open-circuit scuba, the main limitation is breathing resistance. In closed-circuit or semiclosed-circuit scuba it is usually canister capacity.

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