Scuba Diving Article

Scuba Diving on a Rebreather

A rebreather is one of the latest innovations in recreational scuba diving, and represents the next leap forward in bringing extended dive time technologies to the recreational diver. Rebreathers are not new; in fact their inception actually predates the aqualung, being invented some 80 years ago. Since then they have been primarily used by military and commercial divers -what is new, is modifying this technology to the point where it is now safe, albeit with proper training, to be used by recreational and sport divers.

Unlike the traditional Aqualung, which is an open circuit breathing system, the rebreather is a closed circuit sytem in which your exhaled air instead of being expelled into the environment with the familiar Scuba bubbles, is reclaimed, reprocessed and made safe for you to "rebreathe" it. But the real benefit of a rebreather is that it allows the recreational scuba diver to take advantage of Nitrox. Nitrox is also called enriched air. The air we breathe on the surface is made up of oxygen and nitrogen. NITROX is an air mixture traditionally used by commercial and military divers that has greater oxygen content, and a lower nitrogen content then normal air, which allows extended dive times. For the most part however open circuit SCUBA equipment that could use NITROX is way too bulky, and awkward for the average diver - so NITROX allowed the diver to stay under longer but also under a big pile of equipment. The rebreather has changed all that. The rebreathers available for recreational divers are not significantly heavier than a standard open circuit Scuba Rig. As a result recreational divers are now able to have the benefits of NITROX such as safer dives, because of reduced nitrogen content, longer dives, because your no-decompression limit is greatly extended, and less nitrogen means less danger of nitrogen saturation during repetitive dives. Another aspect of rebreather diving with NITROX you will enjoy is that the inhaled air is pleasantly warm and moist. This is because the chemical reaction involved in the absorption of carbon dioxide generates warmth and moisture, and as a result diving in cold water, even ice diving is made much more pleasant. In addition, diving just becomes more fun and many divers report less physical tiredness after repetitive dives using Nitrox compared to diving with normal air. Just how long you can dive, how often and how deep all depends on the mixture. The variable oxygen-nitrogen mix ratio gives you enhanced capabilities. Extra training is essential though, to ensure that you learn how to take full advantage of these possibilities.

Diving with a rebreather is new world to Scuba Divers, on that should be explored but only with proper training. Rebreather Diving can extend dive time up to ten times that offered by a conventional open scuba rig, reduces bubble noise to an absolute minimum it allows you to get closer to marine life, allows you to pack hours of weekend diving into the trunk of a car or the cabin of a boat without having to worry about the next air fill - and gives you access to the underwater world that the divers of decades past could only dream about.