A Background to Scuba Diving and One of the Leading Diving Destinations – Grand Bahama Island

One of the fastest growing of all water sports in the world today appears to be scuba diving.

The corresponding growth in increased and easier to use transportation links now makes the more obscure and hard to get to diving locations now much more within the reach of the average diver.

In this article I really want to take a basic look at Scuba diving but also take a look at one of the world’s leading scuba diving locations in Grand Bahama Island.

The activity of swimming underwater whilst using a scuba set is not unsurprisingly known as Scuba Diving. By carrying and using an independent source of compressed air, Divers are able to stay underwater for much longer than they would normally be able to.Scuba equipment gives divers the ability to stay underwater for periods way in excess of normal usage.

The additional advantage to all of this as far as the diver is concerned is that it frees them up from being hindered and attached to some form of surface powered air system.

It is more common to see scuba divers propelling themselves around underwater by the usage of flippers on their feet. That having been said it is not uncommon for divers who are undertaking large scale explorations’ to actually use a DPV (Diver propulsion vehicle). Commonly known as a scooter divers occasionally use sleds which are attached to surface boats to help them with moving large distances.

The original equipment from which modern day scuba equipment was developed came from the use of oxygen rebreathers developed and sued by US Navy frogmen in World War II.Most people now recognize the term as being made popular by the equipment developed by Jacques Cousteau and Emile Gagnan.

For the technically correct amongst us the term SCUBA is actually an acronym for the phrase “self-contained underwater breathing apparatus” but as with other technical phrases such as the word “laser”, the term scuba has now entered into normal linguistic usage and usually refers to scuba equipment, scuba diving etc.

So to Grand Bahama Island. The reputation of Grand Bahama Island as a diver’s paradise has been growing ever since the earliest episodes of the TV Series “Sea Hunt” were filmed there.The seas around the Island boast elaborate coral gardens, a whole series of speciality dives, deep sites, cave diving and in fact a whole series of different dives.

Grand Bahama Island is of course also famous for its “blue holes” – these are spectacular azure portals in the reefs through which you can descend, surrounded by reef wall on all sides. Depending on which way the current is going at any one time these holes can be “blowing” or “sucking” and the currents here can be quite strong and as a result quite dangerous if you are not an experienced diver.

The geographical sub structure on which the Island is based is a massive limestone base and tied into this is also one of the other major reasons why people flock to this area of the world for diving and that is the massive underwater cave network that exists here.

The underwater cave network that is located by and large within the Lucayan National Park is the second largest of its type in the world.

The caves are still being explored, and there are numerous special dive programs that can take you into them (provided you are cave certified).