Diving medicine
Background
- Scuba diving emergencies
- Underwater diving with the use of a compressed air cylinder, a regulator, a buoyancy compensator, and additional gear that generally includes a wetsuit, fins, mask, dive watch, weights.
- Requires certification, generally through PADI or NAUI
- Divers Alert Network, DAN emergency hotline phone number (919) 684-9111
- Free Diving
- Underwater diving without supplemental oxygen, dating back thousands of years to early shellfish divers. Additional gear may include weights, fins, suit, dive watch.
- Competitive extreme sport, with several sub-categories. Deepest "no limits" depth records for males (214m, 702ft), females (160m, 525ft)
- Snorkeling
- Usually surface or shallow water swimming with the use of a snorkel to allow continuous breathing while the face remains submerged. Often used in resorts or tropical areas.