by Ben Winsor

Created on: March 18, 2008   Last Updated: September 30, 2008

The first Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA) is said to have been invented by French seaman Jacques Cousteau (with Emile Gagnan) in 1943. He called it the aqualung. Although Englishman Henry Fleuss developed a similar device as early as 1877 and Leonardo da Vinci had drawn up plans for a leather scuba suit about 300 years earlier.

Michael Proudfoot smashed regulator while investigating a sunken naval ship off of Mexico in 1991. He lost all his air in the accident but was found underwater and alive two days later. He had found an air-bubble trapped in the ship's gallery and a tea urn full of fresh water. He was able to survive by taking shallow breaths, rationing the water and eating sea urchins.

Some people will try it anywhere. Sex underwater isn't recommended by instructors, purely for safety reasons of, but that doesn't stop the determined few. If one thing leads to another, there are companies out there who specialize in underwater weddings.
Worldwide sharks only kill 8 to 12 people each year. In contrast humans kill 30 to 100 million sharks annually.

Red and Yellow light is filtered out by the water above divers, making everything appear bluish. To see natural colors divers must bring their own light-source.

A regulator has two parts, one controls the pressure, preventing compressed air from shooting into you and inflating you like a balloon. The other part is the valve which allows air to flow when you breath in, but stops it when you breath out.

Sound travels five times faster underwater than it does in the air. This is why SCUBA divers can't tell where sound is coming from when they're underwater. On land we rely on the split second difference between hearing the sound in each ear, underwater that trick is useless.

69 days and 19 minutes is the world record for the longest deep dive. It was completed by Richard Presley in 1992 in an deepwater module at Key Largo, Florida.

Nitrogen Narcosis is a condition which affects every scuba diver but is only noticeable at depths below 30 meters. It has effects similar to alcohol intoxication and in severe cases can lead to hallucinations and unconsciousness. This is why it is recommended that recreational divers don't proceed below 40 meters. Because a number of divers have died due to nitrogen narcosis trying to set world records, the Guinness World Records no longer publishes the figure.

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