Diving equipment
The fundamental piece of diving equipment used by divers is the SCUBA breathing equipment.
Personal equipment worn by divers
- Aqualung consisting of the diving cylinder and diving regulator
- Buoyancy Compensator, Buoyancy Control Device, BCD or BC
- Compass for underwater navigation
- Decompression tables to avoid decompression sickness
- Depth Gauge is used with Watch for decompression monitoring on decompression tables
- Distance line is used to navigate back to a safe start point
- Dive Computer to avoid decompression sickness
- Fins
- Knife to cut ropes and nets
- Mask allows the diver to see clearly underwater.
- Rebreather an alternative to an Aqualung
- Regulator including first stage, demand valve and contents gauge
- Snorkel
- Suit such as a dry suit, a wet suit or a skin
- Torch/flashlight is essential in low visibility or when night diving
- Watch is used with depth gauge for decompression monitoring on decompression tables
- Diving weighting system conteracts the buoyancy of the diving suit
Surface Detection Aids
The purposes of this class of equipment are to:
- allow the boat cover to find divers on the surface after a dive
- prevent the diver being run over by boat traffic on the ascent
- mark the diver's position when drift diving or while at the decompression stop
- help rescue boats and helicopters to locate the diver
Surface Detection Aids (with cheapest and most effective towards the top) include:
- Surface Marker Buoy or Decompression buoy (Delayed SMBs)
- Red or yellow collapsible flag - high visibility, robust, bungeed to cylinder
- Whistle - cheap, will only be heard by people far from engine noise
- Torch/flashlight - if at sea after night fall
- Strobe - needs long lasting batteries
- High pressure whistle - expensive but they are effective
- Orange water dye - increases diver's visibility from search helicopters
- Compact Disk - makes a good, safe mirror of sunlight or searchlights
- Red pyrotechnic flares - for helicopters and lifeboats
- EPIRB (Electronic Position Indicating Radio Beacon)
Other types of Diving Equipment
- Airlift - a gas "powered" tube that sucks small objects, sand and mud from the sea bed that is used in nautical archaeology
- Decompression trapeze consists of one or more horizontal bars, suspended at the depth of intended decompression stops by buoys
- Diver Propulsion Vehicle - to increase the range of the diver undwerwater
- Lifting bag - a robust airtight bag used to lift heavy object underwater
- Underwater camera housing - for still or video cameras
Equipment used by divers from the surface
- Boats such as the rigid-hulled inflatable boat
- Diving shot consisting of a weight, line and buoy used to mark the location of a dive site, allowing divers to navigate to and from the surface and to do decompression stops at a safe location. Typically the weight is 20 kg.
- Echo sounder - a SONAR depth measuring and profiling device used for dive site location
- GPS receiver - for locating dive sites
- Proton magnetometer - for locating ferrous wrecks
- Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle - for locating dive sites
- VHF radio - for communicating with rescue services and other boats