1. HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: Doug Pike
Oct. 21, 2004, 1:03AM
High-tech equipment, training make scuba diving option for most
people
By DOUG PIKE
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle
Many of the world's most dramatic sights and
incredible animals are found in water, which covers
three times more of the planet's surface than it
reveals. Recreational diving enables us to
experience those underwater wonders firsthand.
Nearly a half-million Americans annually earn
certification as sport divers, each of them drawn to
the reefs and wrecks and sea life for the same
reasons today as when underwater breathing
devices and airtight masks were first developed.
Diving is relatively young as a form of recreation
but borders on the ancient as a tool of the military
and scientific communities. According to Dr.
Lawrence Martin's Scuba Diving Explained, diving
bells and surface air supplies date to the 16th century, and the written record of breath-hold diving is
hundreds of years older.
Early forms of scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) gear appeared in the 19th century,
and forerunners to contemporary equipment were on the scene decades before Lloyd Bridges drew
mainstream attention to diving with the classic television series Sea Hunt.
The world's underwater diving industry was drawn to Houston this past week for the 2004 DEMA
(Diving Equipment and Marketing Association) show, which featured representatives from hundreds of
destinations and nearly all of the industry's top manufacturers.
Peter Hughes, who first dove in 1957 and has operated diving tours around the world since the 1960s,
was here to promote his trips, which are as far away as New Guinea and the Galapagos Islands.
"I remember (Bridges); I had one of those double-hosed regulators," Hughes recalled. "Diving is a lot
safer now than it was then."
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
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2. Until electronics went high-tech, recreational divers had to calculate their dive and decompression times
with wristwatches and universal charts usually designed for military divers. The tables were accurate for
young soldiers but tended to be overly aggressive for ordinary (read: slightly overweight and in poor
aerobic condition) civilians.
Special gauges and meters used by divers now enable them to maximize their experiences in the water
with minimal risk of decompression illness, an accumulation of excess nitrogen in the blood better
known as "the bends." Wrist-worn computers are not guarantees against DCI, but models available
today are highly accurate and reliable.
"Sometimes I think (diving) is almost too easy," Hughes said. "You see some divers who aren't as well-
trained as they should be."
Nevertheless -- and despite Hollywood's questionable depiction recently in Open Water -- the dive
industry's worldwide safety record is excellent. Dive operators keep
keen eyes on participants, and the industry enforces strict certification rules. Problems arise
occasionally, but contemporary masks, fins, snorkels, regulators and buoyancy compensators (BCs) are
far better than they were even a few years ago.
"The equipment is so good now that anyone can dive, even people with physical disabilities," Hughes
said. "You still need training, but almost anyone can dive."
And dive they do, around the world, although not so often lately as they once did.
Tightened purse strings and travel concerns during the past few years hit the diving industry just as they
did the airline and hotel industries. A rebound is under way.
"The industry could be healthier," Hughes said. "This year was better than 2003. It's not like it used to
be, but I'm optimistic about 2005."
As is Randy Beal, who keeps watch over Sea Sports Scuba's four locations around Houston. He noted
that scuba diving doesn't get the media attention of other "extreme" sports, such as motocross, but is
more affordable and enjoyable for the entire family.
Even in Texas, Beal said, there are legitimate diving options.
Best known is the Flower Gardens, about 90 miles south of Galveston and the northernmost living coral
reef. Most boats headed there leave port at night; guests sleep through the long ride, then wake refreshed
and ready to see what's atop the reef. Sometimes, they get an eyeful.
"The Flower Gardens is ranked seventh in the world for whale shark sightings," Beal said.
Each of the Gulf's production platforms holds dozens of fish species. Some are larger and more colorful
than others, and deep-water rigs offer the occasional glimpse at a tuna or even a billfish. Inland, Beal
said, Lake Travis "isn't exactly the Caribbean" but is a great place to practice diving skills, and Aquarina
Springs near San Marcos has some of the clearest water within hundreds of miles.
Humans aren't designed to breathe or to see clearly underwater, but scuba equipment enables us do both
-- and to move almost without effort through an environment unmatched in its scope, brilliant color and
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3. diversity.
doug.pike@chron.com
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