Special classes are needed to learn how to scuba dive

"What is the deepest depth a person has gone to in the ocean?" asked Zach Grennie, 11, a fifth-grader at O'Plaine Elementary School in Gurnee.

Scuba -- an acronym for self-contained underwater breathing apparatus -- refers to the equipment people are trained to use in order to dive below the water's surface.

The ocean is filled with beautiful fish, magnificent corals and sometimes treasure waiting to be discovered. Being trained to use scuba equipment means people can stay in the ocean longer without having to resurface for air.

Nancy Boucha and her husband, Larry Boucha, own Scuba Systems diving and snorkeling center in Skokie. It's the only location in the area with an 8-foot deep pool located right in the store, which is built specifically for teaching scuba diving.

Nancy Boucha has been scuba diving for nearly 30 years and is certified to dive to 260 feet. She recently returned from the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean, where she dove and experienced the wildlife below the surface -- magnificent turtles, playful squid and hungry parrot fish.

She also swam through a shipwreck, the Keith Tibbetts, formerly known as the C-53, a Russian destroyer from Cuba.

"It's a growing sport," Boucha said. "You can meet new people, go to explore new places and see exciting new things."

The tricky thing about scuba diving is that the water exerts pressure on the diver's body -- nearly 15 pounds per square inch for every 33 feet a diver plunges under water.

The extra pressure means that nitrogen gas builds up in the diver's body, and the gas has to be released while still under water in order to keep the diver safe and healthy.

Certified scuba instructors teach divers how to take special care when returning to the water's surface by completing a safety stop -- decompressing. On deep dives, the diver decompresses a specified amount of time. Depending on the depth, decompression could take a very long time -- a two-hour dive could take more than one hour to decompress.

When she's diving to explore a shipwreck or see unusual wildlife way below the water's surface, Boucha uses special techniques to pass the time while decompressing.

"I look for fish and think of the next steps I need to take," Boucha said. "I replay the dive in my mind."

Scuba requires specific training to achieve certain depths.

"The entry level class is called PADI Open Water. That's the first step to becoming a Master Scuba Diver, the highest non-professional level a diver can achieve," Boucha said. "Minimum age is 10 years old. A lot of families take the class together."

Boucha said there are a number of options for taking open water certification classes, from once-a-week classes to an intense two-day weekend class. These classes permit the adult diver to dive up to 60 feet below sea level, 40 feet for a child.

"There is a tremendous amount to see in the first 40 feet," Boucha said.

Recreational divers who carry a flashlight can see more color, which is filtered out after the first 10 feet.

"Scuba is generally relaxing and exploring nature," Boucha said.

Additional training and experience can permit a diver to go even deeper. For the 260-foot dive, Boucha was able to peer into two shipwrecks, one piled on top of the other.

"Bottom time is very short at these depths," Boucha said. "I spent about 15 minutes at the bottom, with a total time of 84 minutes -- the rest of the time was decompression."

One way a certified diver can attempt even deeper dives is by wearing an atmospheric pressure suit. The suit allows the diver to go as deep as 2,000 feet below sea level without needing to decompress.

Boucha said that Sylvia Earle, an oceanographer, holds the title for the world's deepest dive at 1,250 feet. Earle, a former chief scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Geographic Explorer in Residence, was able to push the diving limits because she wore a JIM atmospheric suit.

This summer, Boucha will be judging underwater photography and skills at the Ultimate Diver Challenge, a week-long diving competition in Cozumel. Divers will enter a series of events that will test a number of skills, including buoyancy control, rescue, underwater photography and knowledge of scuba equipment.

For updates, see the UDC Web site at www.ultimatediverchallenge.com.

For information on scuba classes, visit www.scubasystems.org.

For more information

The Grayslake Public Library suggests these titles on the ocean:

• "Sylvia Earle, Guardian of the Sea," by Beth Baker

• "I Wonder Why the Sea is Salty?" by Anita Ganeri

• "Oceans: Surviving in the Deep Sea," by Michael Sandler

• "Ocean," by Samantha Gray

• "Jacques Cousteau and the Undersea World," by Roger King