Scuba Diving Guides - OpenWaterHQ

Best Sidemount BCD Review – Perfect for Cave and Wreck Diving

If you’re tired of traditional backmounted diving and want to try a new and exciting way of diving, then give ...

Best Yamaha Underwater Sea Scooters Review

Looking to have more fun in the water and enhance your scuba diving experience? Then you should consider using a ...

Fastest Underwater Sea Scooter Review

If you thought that your favorite water activity couldn’t get more fun, then clearly you’ve never used an underwater scooter ...

best underwater sea scooter diver propulsion vehicle

Best Underwater Sea Scooters Review

Divers should avoid any unnecessary movements to keep their oxygen consumption and heart rate to a minimum. With that in ...

Best Cold Water Regulator Review and Buying Guide

Cold water diving requires specialized equipment to keep divers warm and comfortable. The equipment itself must also have anti-freezing properties ...

Best Scuba Regulator Review – Which One is the Most Reliable?

The scuba regulator is arguably the single most important piece of equipment in a diver’s kit. While there are other ...

Best Scuba BCD Review

You’ve probably worn a few rental BCDs on vacation or during your Open Water course. Chances are you’ve had one ...

Best Beginner BCD Review

Most beginner divers spend their first few dives using rental BCDs until they’ve had a chance to try out some ...

Back-Inflate vs. Jacket BCD – Which Style is Right for You?

The most popular type of BCD is the jacket style. It is probably what most beginners were taught to dive ...

Best Back Inflate BCD Review

In the past, back inflate BCDs were used almost exclusively in technical diving. They require less air pressure to fill ...

If you are looking to get started with scuba diving, you should first try out snorkeling. Snorkeling is a fun and cheap way to the ocean without much investment. Just rent a snorkel, mask, and fins and you can start snorkeling without any certifications.

Scuba diving, on the other hand, requires much more equipment, knowledge, and a 4-day certification course. Beginner divers are limited to shallow depths of just 16-32 feet below sea level, but with more practice and training can reach greater depths.

Once you have more certifications, you will be able to go to more places, and of course, attempt to reach deeper depths when you dive. Generally speaking, the further down you go, the more the aquatic flora and fauna changes. Scuba diving is best done with a group, because any equipment malfunctions or accidents are deadly without anyone watching your back.