Scuba, an acronym for self contained underwater breathing apparatus was invented in 1943 by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnon. It was the first modern equipment consisting of a tank of compressed air and a breathing apparatus that allowed diving for recreation. This opened up the depths of the ocean to those who braved the watery deep. Scuba diving as a sport took off in the 1950's but it remained in the experimental phase till fairly recently.


Nitrogen Narcosis
One of the things we learned about when we were preparing to go diving is nitrogen narcosis or "rapture of the deep". Its a condition that some people get when they go below 100ft. Nitrogen breathed under pressure can have a narcotic like effect. Though harm may not come directly from the condition, it comes from the actions of the diver while under the influence of narcosis. The symptoms include, erratic behavior, such as taking your regulator out and trying to feed it to a fish, extreme anxiety or euphoria. In either instance your judgment becomes impaired and that can lead to the erratic behavior mentioned above. If you notice these symptoms in yourself or your buddy ascend till the symptoms subside. Once you ascend, the effects of being "narked" will subside and you can resume your dive.


Our Experience

Our class took the basic open water scuba SDI course through a dive shop in Haleiwa Hawaii called Deep Ecology Everyone had a blast. From hand signals to equipment assembly, were able to learn things that even those of us who lived in Hawaii all our life didn't know about the ocean. SCUBA diving is an experience we all would highly recommend to anyone who is lucky enough to live near an ocean. The memories, experience and pictures were well worth the cost. Below are a few pictures from our scuba diving adventure. We took 4 open water dives, 2 at electric beach on the west side and 2 at Jamesons in Haleiwa. Some of us liked it so much that we are currently studying to get our advanced certifications.


    Our dives
  1. Electric beach, Hawaii-the pipe.
    Depth-27ft.
    Bottom time-30mins.
    Remarks: If you ever dive this again remember not to swim directly in front of the pipe, it will shoot you out to sea.
  2. Electric beach, Hawaii-to the left
    3. Depth-20ft.
    Bottom time-41 mins.
    Remarks: For entries, remember to face the shore while putting on fins in waist deep water.
  3. Jamesons, Hawaii
    4. Depth- 25ft.
    Bottom time- 28 mins.
    Remarks: Very murky water, 5-6 ft visibility. There is a current flowing south over the dive site.
  4. Jamesons, Hawaii
    5. Depth- 20ft.
    Bottom time- 22 mins.
    Remarks: Eagle ray sighted along with a lionfish and a small moray eel.

PICTURES


Miki getting some "help" from one of our instructors, Stuart.


One of the cool creatures we found. A sea urchin, which we learned later is an echinoderm who's name means "spiny skinned".


Some of the coral, and an angelfish that we were able to see at Electric beach.

A grumpy eel poking its head out for a look around.

Hey Junichi was that a shark?


Class picture at Electric Beach, Wainae with Stu and Paul =)

Oh no it's the minions of the evil squid queen Ursula...RUN!!