We love an acronym in the diving industry and when your learning to dive, the shear amount of seemingly random letters thrown at you can be overwhelming! In fact, SCUBA itself is an acronym! To help you decipher this code among divers, we've compiled a list of some of the common ones, so you can feel a bit more in-the-know in your next diving convo!
All About Equipment...
These diving acronyms are terms we use when talking about our dive gear
BCD Buoyancy Control Device (sometimes also BC for Buoyancy compensator): The jacket style piece of equipment we wear to control our buoyancy on the dive.
CCR Closed Circuit Rebreather: A type of system, which allows the diver to recycle their exhaled air thus, no bubbles when you breathe.
DIN Deutsche Institut fur Normung: A type of fitting on the first stage of the regulator. The DIN fitting differs from the alternative yoke fitting by having the O-ring in the regulator not the tank.
(D)SMB (Delayed) Surface Marker Buoy: A long, brightly coloured inflatable tube which signals the divers position in the water so they can easily been seen by boats. A DSMB is deployed from depth, and an SMB from the surface.
HP/LP High Pressure/Low Pressure: Commonly refers to the ports in the regulator 1st stage, but also the hoses themselves: The high pressure port is for the SPG, and the Low Pressure ports are for the primary & alternate air sources and LPI hose.
LPI Low Pressure Inflator: The hose which connects to your BCD allowing to inflate using gas from your tank.
SPG Submersible Pressure Gauge: This device shows how much gas you have in your cylinder; either measured in BAR (metric) or PSI (imperial)....psi being yet another acronym for Pound per Square Inch
All About General Diving....
These diving acronyms are all general terms that will pop up in most dive related conversations
ABT Actual Bottom Time: The amount of time you spend underwater, from the start your decent through to the start of your ascent.
DCI Decompression Illness: An umbrella term for both Decompression Sickness (DCS) and Lung Overexpansion Injury.
EAN(x) Enriched Air Nitrox: A blend of gas which has an increased amount oxygen in order to reduce the amount of Nitrogen. Also known as Nitrox, the oxygen content in EAN, includes anything from 22% up to 40% oxygen. The (x) will refer to the percentage; EAN36 means a a gas with 36% oxygen.
GF Gradient Factor: A slightly more advanced diving term and refers to the speed at which we absorb and release nitrogen on a dive. Some computers allow for you to adjust the conservatism, and some by controlling and adjusting the gradient factors.
MOD Maximum Operating Depth: The depth at which the gas you are breathing becomes dangerous. Mostly used when diving with Nitrox; oxygen can become toxic when the partial pressure exceeds 1.4 bar, so your MOD must always be calculated when you dive with Nitrox.
NDL No Decompression Limit: Measured in minutes, it is how long you can stay at depth before being required to do a decompression stop. Recreational diving means not exceeding this limit; the safety stop is an "optional" stop, which can be omitted in emergency situations unlike a decompression stop, which is compulsory.
RNT Residual Nitrogen Time: After a dive, even if we ascend slowly and do a safety stop, we will be left with Residual Nitrogen in our system. When using dive tables, we need to add this theoretical amount of time to our next planned dive time, to work out our dive plan - happily, computers do this all for you!
SAC Surface Air Consumption: A measurement of how much you breathe per minute if you were on the surface. When calculating your SAC rate, both your depth and the size of the cylinder you're breathing from, need to be taken into account.
SI(T) Surface Interval (Time): The amount of time spent on the surface between dives. It is very important to allow enough time on the surface, to reduce your residual nitrogen before your next dive.
All About Training
These diving acronyms are used in PADI diver training to help us remember the vital steps in various skills
BWRAF: BDC ~ Weights ~ Releases ~ Air ~ Final OK
This acronym guides us through the Pre-Dive Safety or "Buddy" Check before the dive.
There are many ways to remember these random letters and you can come up with
whatever mnemonic you like, a few examples are:
Begin With Review And Friend (as used by PADI)
Breakfast With Rice And Fish
Bruce Willis Rocks All Films
Barf Will Really Attract Fish
Breathing Water Really Ain't Fun
...The list goes on and on!
CESA: Controlled ~ Emergency ~ Swimming ~ Ascent
The method taught by PADI for reaching the surface in the unfortunate event that you
run out of air and have no buddy near enough to share air with. The key to this skill is
that you continuously breathe out as you slowly kick toward the surface, made easier
by making an "ahhhh" sound.
SORTED: Signal ~ Orientate ~ Regulator ~ Time ~ Elevate ~ Descend
Known as the "5 point decent", this is the last check before we start our dive. It
helps us remember important steps like taking a land and underwater reference
(orientate), replace our snorkel with our regulator, and deflate our BCD (elevate), all
before we descend.
STELA: Signal ~ Time ~ Elevate ~ Look & Listen ~ Ascend
Known as the "5 point ascent", this is our check before we ascend to the surface at the
end of the dive. It reminds us to ensure our safety stop is clear (Time), to deflate our
BCD (elevate), and both look and listen for boats.
PADI Certification levels and courses:
OWD/OWC Open Water Diver/Open Water Course: The first level of recreational diving certification. Completion allows you to dive independently with a Buddy to 18m.
AOWD/AWOC Advanced Open Water Diver/Course: This continuing education course contains 5 adventure dives, with the aim to show you the wonderful and varied types of diving available. Completion allows you to dive to 30m.
RD Rescue Diver: Once you are an Advanced certified diver, you are eligible to take this course to learn how to assist other divers respond to surface and underwater emergencies.
EFR Emergency First Response: A first aid course, which includes basic life support and secondary care for injuries and illnesses. This course is for divers and non-divers alike, however, is a required supplement course for the Rescue Diver course
DM(T/C) Divemaster (trainee/candidate): The first professional level in PADI. Certification as a PADI Divemaster allows you to work as a professional diver, guiding certified divers
IDC Instructor Development Course: The PADI course to train Instructors and can only be taught by PADI Course Directors
IE Instructor Exam: Successful completion of the IDC is the only way to be eligible to take the 2 day Instructor Exam. Successful completion allows you to teach all PADI courses up to and including the Divemaster course
DSD Discover Scuba Dive: This is an entry level experience, which does not result in a certification. Instead it allows beginners to try diving safely, without having to commit to a whole course.
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