Fitness to Dive: Why the Medical Form Is Not a Formality
PFO, asthma, diabetes and certain medications can all change whether diving is safe. Here is why the medical questionnaire before a course matters.
Jan 27, 2025

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PFO, asthma, diabetes and certain medications can all change whether diving is safe. Here is why the medical questionnaire before a course matters.
Jan 27, 2025

A wetsuit that fits badly is a wetsuit of any thickness that does not work. Match millimetres to the water, check the fit at the neck, the small of the back and the wrists, and know which neoprene you are paying for.
Apr 7, 2026

Frenzel and mouthfill solve the one problem that stops more beginner freedivers than fitness or fear ever does: equalising the ears under rising pressure.
Dec 5, 2024

Global Underwater Explorers standardises equipment, teaches in teams, tests fitness, and hands out provisional passes rather than certificates. It is the most divisive system in diving, and the most internally consistent.
Aug 12, 2026

Fluid can flood the lungs of a fit, healthy diver in cold or calm water alike. What immersion pulmonary edema is, who gets it and why mild symptoms should never be shrugged off.
Oct 17, 2026

A diver's surface air consumption rate looks like a fixed fact. It is a moving average that depth multiplies and stress inflates, which is why reserves exist at all.
Oct 16, 2026

Submersion triggers an ancient reflex that slows the heart, redirects blood, and quietly reshapes what a trained freediver's body can survive underwater.
Sep 18, 2024

Glasses do not fit under a mask, so the default answer is contact lenses. Eighty-five per cent of cases of a rare blinding corneal infection occurred in lens wearers who swam or dived in them, and there is a better option most divers never price.
Aug 20, 2026

A flooded mask is a nuisance to a diver who has cleared a hundred and a crisis to one who cleared three on the course. The difference is not technique. It is how many times the reflex has been overridden.
Oct 10, 2023

Divers Alert Network is not a training agency and issues no certifications. It collects the injury data, then publishes guidance based on it. Here is that guidance, in the order it matters.
Aug 12, 2026

Shallow water blackout does not warn its victim first. Here is the physiology behind it, why it strikes trained divers, and why solo breath hold diving is never safe.
Jun 10, 2024

DAN warns that remote liveaboard incidents rose sharply in 2024-2025. Divers can reduce risk by checking oxygen, drills, charging rules, exits and evacuation plans before sailing.
Aug 2, 2026

Scuba has real hazards, but recreational diving within training and conditions is a managed-risk activity, not the extreme gamble suggested by rare accident headlines.
Jul 25, 2026

A dive computer tracks pressure and time with precision, but the model behind it cannot see the diver wearing it. Here is what that gap actually means.
Mar 19, 2026
