Aquatic Adventures Scuba Academy - Technical Dive Training in Northern Virginia

What is Technical Diving?

The past few years there has been quite a bit of talk about Tec Diving or Technical Diving.  Just what do they mean by this?  Before we can answer that question we really have to ask what is scuba diving?  Scuba Diving is diving underwater with a cylinder of compressed air.  You need to be certified as a Scuba Diver in order to purchase scuba equipment and go out on dive boats.

The beginning scuba certification level is the Open Water Diver.  Here a diver is taught the basics about scuba diving and taught to dive to a depth of 60 feet.  Once a diver completes the Open Water course he or she can then take the Advanced Open Water Course.  During the Advanced Open Water course the diver is taught to dive deeper to a depth of 100 feet.  They are also taught underwater navigation and several other advanced skills.  If the diver were to take the Deep Diver Specialty they would be taught even more about deeper diving but would have a maximum depth of 130 feet, which is the recreational diving limit.

Recreational Divers are all certified and all of their divers are to 130 feet or less.  In addition the length of their dives conform to strict adherence to dive tables know as the Recreational Dive Planner, known as an RDP.  The RDP tells the diver exactly how long they can stay at any given depth and still return directly to the service without risk.  Staying longer would put the diver in what is known as Decompression Diving and would require stops at various depths to off gas absorbed nitrogen before going to the surface.  If the diver did not make the stops while surfacing they would run a very great risk of decompression sickness or the bends.  Thus all Recreational Divers stay within these time and depth parameters while diving.

Technical Dive Training involves training diver  to dive deeper then the 130 foot maximum that Recreational Diver adhere to.  In addition Tec or Technical Divers are also trained to stay longer then the Recreational Limits and to end their dives with a series of Decompression Stops, which are beyond the scope of Recreational Diving.

How Long Has Technical Diving Been Around?

Technical Diving is not new.  The first of the Technical Diving Courses – Cave Diving started in the 1960′s and 1970′s.  Since that time Technical Diving has continued to evolve and today many Scuba Training Agencies, such a the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI), the largest scuba certifying agency in the world offer Technical Diving Courses.  PADI’s Courses are called Tec Rec and Tec Deep.  There are many other agencies offering Technical Diving Courses such as TDI and others.

Why Would I want to be a Technical Diver?

Tec Diving not only has more risk, but it requires significantly more effort and discipline and equipment.  It is not for everyone, and you can be an accomplished , avid top-notch diver your entire life without ever making a tec dive.

That said, there’s a cadre of individuals who want to visit places underwater that relatively few people can.  Many spectacular untouched wrecks lie at depths well below the recreational dive limit.  Some people enjoy the challenge and focus technical diving requires.  Still others love being involved with the cutting edge technologies.  These are all reasons that Technical Diving is growing in popularity.

How do I Become a Technical Diver?

You start by finding a Dive Center that you know is reliable and offers the programs that you want.  Many PADI Dive Centers, like Aquatic Adventures Scuba Academy, in Alexandria, Virginia, a PADI 5 Star Instructor (IDC) Development Dive Center offers Technical Diving Courses.

Once you find your Dive Center and verify that they offer the scuba diving courses that you desire you need to make sure that you possess the prerequisite background experience.  The Tec Rec course requires participants to have completed not only the PADI Advanced Open Water Course, but the PADI Rescue Diver Course, The PADI Deep Diver Course and the PADI Enriched Air or Nitrox Course as well.  In addition the diver must also have logged over 100 scuba dives.

What Technical Diving Courses Do I Take?

Once you have completed the prerequisites you can then enroll in the Tec Rec course program.  Divers usually start by taking Introduction to Technical Diving, which is a pool experience where you can test the equipment used in technical diving to see if it is something that you like.  Once you decide that it is you then start with the first course Tec 40.  Tec 40 means you are training to dive to 40 meters or 132 feet using Decompression Diving Techniques.  This course is is followed by Tec 45 (148 feet) and then Tec 50 (165 feet).  While many divers will take all (Tec 40, 45 & 50) many divers will take just Tec 40 or Tec 40 & 45 and then stop.  Not everyone wants to go to 165 feet.  That is the nice part you take the ones you want – you do not have to take them all.

What Scuba Diving Equipment do I need for Technical Diving?

The diving equipment that you use as a Technical Diver is much the same as that of a Recreational Diver.  The Technical Diver, however, used two to five regulators, a dive computer, and several scuba cylinders.  Redundancy is the word.  Everything is backed up in case of an equipment malfunction.  The costs involved are greater then that for a Recreational Diver, but since at greater depths an equipment malfunction can be much more hazardous then it is for Recreational Divers the extra precautions are well worthwhile.

Once you have completed the training a whole new world awaits you.  There are many ship wrecks and dive sights that await you.  While the training is fun and enjoyable the diving once you are a Tech Diver is a whole new world!

Aquatic Adventures Scuba Academy – Northern Virginia - PADI Underwater Photography Course & underwater Cameras Sales

It is only natural for us divers to want to bring back memories of those fantastic dive vacations that we worked for all year.  Many of these are once in a lifetime trips that we may never be able to take again.  Some of the best memories are underwater photographs of those great dive sites and great dive vacations.

Today you do not have to be a photographic Guru and you do not have to spend incredible amounts of money to obtain a good underwater camera.

The most common problems that most of us face is what camera or camera system to buy?  There are so many how do I choose and once I have decided how do I get started?

One of the best ways to get started is to find a Dive Center that you trust.   I live in Alexandria, Virginia so I would start by searching for a dive center near me.  I might search the internet by keying in: Dive Center, Alexandria, Virginia or Dive Center Northern Virginia.  I might want to narrow that by looking for Underwater Cameras Alexandria, Virginia or Underwater Cameras Northern Virginia.  If they offer underwater cameras then they will usually have someone on staff who is familiar with underwater photography.  Talk the them and feel free to ask questions.  In addition to underwater cameras they will probably offer courses in underwater photography as well.  Ask what brand cameras they stock.  Sealife Underwater Cameras and Sealife Digital Strobes are among the more popular brands available.

Underwater Cameras run the gamut from inexpensive to incredibly expensive and everything in between.  If you already have a camera that you like you may be able to find a universal camera housing that will fit it.  These camera housings tend to be relatively inexpensive and allows you to use a camera that you already own,

The next step would be to obtain a matched camera and underwater housing.  There are several out there like the Sealife DC-1200, a 12 megapixel camera and underwater housing.  This camera takes excellent photos and can be taken  out of the housing for use on land as well.  Several of the photos that accompany this article were taken with earlier Sealife Cameras.

Once you get started with a camera and housing you may find that this is all that you need to be happy and get good underwater photographs.  If you are a perfectionist you may find that you want more options.  The Sealife system can be added to as your photography grows.  You can add an external digital strobe.  The external strobe give you far better lighting then the camera’s built in flash.  The extra lighting will give your photographs greater color and detail.  A wide angle lens can also be added to further improve your photographs.   Quite often you may want to include a wide area in your photograph.  On land you just back up and then you get a wider panorama.  In the water if you move back you will limit the amount of light that you receive from your strobe and your photographs will be darker and less colorful.  By adding a wide angle lens (a lens that is curved to allow a wider panorama) you will be able to stay up close to your subject and thus you will get full benefit from your strobe giving you greater color and detail.   The wide angle lens and the digital strobe can be added later or you can even purchase the DC-1200 in a package called the Sealife Elite Package, which includes all of them bundled together.

If you are an elitist type – and everything has to be the very best that money can buy then you will want to get a very good Single Lens Reflex or SLR Camera.  Then you can get a custom made camera housing for it.  One of the very best camera housing manufacturers is Ikelite.   The custom Ikelite Housing can often cost as much as the camera but it offers you the best combination of camera and  housing available.  A strobe and either wide angle lenses or color correction filters can also be added to this system.

Regardless of what system you choose you will want to learn  how to safely use it.  One of the best ways is to take an underwater photography course such as the PADI Digital Underwater Photography Course.  This course is usually available at most PADI Dive Centers like Aquatic Adventures, which is a PADI 5 Star Instructor Development (IDC) Dive Center.

The UW Photography Course will show you not only the basics of taking photos underwater but will also show you several related safety aspects as well.  In addition the course will also often include aspects of other PADI Specialty Courses such as proper buoyancy control (Peak Performance Buoyancy) and Night Diver Specialty so that you can take photographs at night.  These dive specialty courses will make you a better diver in general and a better photographer as well.

Which ever way you go the really big part is to get out and start taking photographs.  The more photos that you take the better photographer you will become.  Keep in mind the rules that you learn to prevent camera mistakes and go out and have fun.

Aquatic Adventures Scuba Academy - Specialty Dive Courses in Northern Virginia

Previously we have looked at the PADI Open Water Diver Course and the value of following that up with the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver Course.  There are dozens of other potentially fun and rewarding PADI Specialty Diver Courses that are worth looking at.

Just as before you want to find that Dive Center that offers you the options and choices in dive courses and dive equipment that appeals to you.  Ask around, often the advise of friends is helpful in finding a quality dive center.  Once you find your ideal PADI Dive Center look to see what courses appeal most to you.  Feel free to avail yourself of the expertise and experience of the Instructors or Divemasters at the Dive Center for advice.

One of the best first Scuba Specialty Diver Courses is the PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy Course.  This course deals with the various aspects of proper weighting, proper fin kicking, and proper techniques of scuba diving.  The idea is to learn how to move through the water with a minimum of effort.  You want to be able to maneuver through the water without creating extra motion that might might scare the fish.   This is not only an excellent course in its own right but is a great first step to many other courses like: Underwater Photography, Wreck Diving and even Aware Fish Identification all of which you want to be able to move within spaces without silting the bottom or creating other underwater disturbances.  Peak Performance Buoyancy is a 2 dive PADI Specialty and we try and start our PADI Advanced Open Water Course with one of these dives.  It is the perfect specialty for the new or experienced diver.

Wreck Diving is probably the second most popular of all of the PADI Specialty Diver Courses.  The idea of diving on ship wrecks is exciting.  Many of the ship wrecks on the East Coast of the United States are ships that are actually a part of history.   Many were torpedoed during World War I or World War II.  There are also several German U-Boats that were sunk during the war.  These are fun to dive on and really give you an appreciation of our history.  In addition there are several ships that have been sunk as part of the reef project.  They now form artificial reefs that are homes to countless fish and underwater critters.  Wreck Diver is a PADI 4 dive Specialty Course.

If the PADI Wreck Diver Course is the second most popular – what is the most popular and why?  The most popular of all PADI Specialty Courses in the Eastern United States is  PADI  Enriched Air – Nitrox.   By scuba diving with Nitrox or Enriched Air (air that contains more then the normal 21% oxygen) divers are allowed longer bottom times.  Longer bottom times mean more time to enjoy that incredible reef or ship wreck.  Many people also report feeling far less tired after diving with Nitrox then they do when diving with regular air.

Today we are in a very visual world.  Everyone today carries a camera.  If not a camera a cell phone with a camera inside.  The idea of diving on a beautiful reef and being able to bring back very special photographic memories is exciting.  It is one of my most favorite things about diving and a special passion of mine.  Underwater Photography and specifically the PADI Digital Underwater Photography Course is incredibly popular.  It is especially popular on one of our Scuba Diving Trips.  Our Dive Center offers Dive Vacations or Store Sponsored Dive Trips several times throughout the year.  These are very popular with our former students and a great way to Dive Travel with people you know and to obtain PADI Continuing Education Courses at the same time.    During the PADI Underwater Digital Photography Course you learn the obvious about photographic techniques such as composition but about features specific to the underwater world such as color loss, magnification and back scatter.  It is very easy to take photographs underwater and with the proper instruction (PADI Underwater Digital Photography Course) and practice you will get very good photos very soon.  Your PADI 5 Star IDC Dive Center is a great place to look for that special piece of dive equipment – the Underwater Camera!

If your Dive Center has a Scuba Trip to Cozumel on its schedule – that is a perfect location for the PADI Drift Diver Specialty Course.  Cozumel  has some very outstanding reef systems.  They are all in areas that have some mild current so all of the dives are usually Drift Dives.  Drift Dives are dives where you do not navigate back to the boat.  The boat will follow your bubbles and be there when you surface after the dive.  It is fun, easy to do and allows you to explore double the area then you would normally.  This is a two dive PADI Specialty.

Speaking of Navigation another great course that is both fun and is also incredibly useful is the PADI Underwater Navigation Course.  This is a 3 dive specialty and teaches you how to use both compass and natural underwater topography to figure your way around underwater.

There are a whole host of PADI Specialty Diver courses out there.  Look around and see what interests you and dive right in!