Ocean diving is an exhilarating sport for any water lover. It’s a fantastic adventure, an aquatic journey, and, most amazingly of all, a deep dive into the unknown. Beneath the surface exists an entire world mostly unfamiliar to us, one, unlike anything we could ever encounter here on land. It’s stunning. It’s beautiful. It’s breathtaking. And, it’s also vast, complex, and varying. That’s why, for those planning to take the bodily plunge into the sea, it’s vital to understand the different types of ocean dives, the respective skill levels they require, and the specific purposes each style serves.
Open Water Diving
While open water diving is one of the most common styles utilized by beginners, it is also very popular among divers of all skill levels. This is the perfect style for those seeking a low-risk but still breathtaking experience, or even newer and more intermediate divers looking to build up their skill and ease in the water. Moreover, any certified scuba diver, regardless of experience or additional credentials, can employ open water diving for the sake of up-close oceanic exploration.
What exactly is open water diving? Well, it’s a type of scuba diving that occurs out in the ocean, far away from the shore — and any other similar surfaces or obstacles. The idea behind it is free, unhindered space for the sake of unlimited horizontal movement beneath the water’s surface.
This begins with the boat, which should drop open water divers far away from the shore and directly out into the open waters. Additionally, while open water diving, one should never dive any further beneath the surface than 59 feet (18 meters). This is for safety, and therefore non-negotiable — especially for beginners. Believe it or not, this style of diving and its corresponding depth restrictions can be a terrific stepping-off point towards deeper, bolder, and even more invigorating underwater adventures in the future.
Deep Diving
Unlike open water diving, deep diving permits divers to exceed the 59 feet (18 meter) depth restriction. This also means that it is best suited for those with a little more diving experience — and, of course, a hankering for deep-water exploration. Even though the common assumption is that all types of diving involve a certain degree of extreme depth, deep diving is the only style that specifically centers it as its key concept. Deep diving is all about the vertical diving experience.
However, just because deep diving exceeds the depth restrictions of open water diving doesn’t mean that there aren’t still recommended limitations in place for your safety. The Recreational Scuba Training Council, for example, recommends that deep divers go no deeper than around 131 feet (40 meters). Of course, this varies depending on the area or region where you are diving. Different places have different environments and, therefore, varying safety concerns.
On a related topic, the deeper you go in the ocean, the more safety hazards there are. For example, equipment failure at such depths can be a major issue. That’s why it’s crucial to double-check the functionality of all necessary equipment before taking that dive. While this especially applies to deep divers, divers of all sorts should also be ensuring that their gear is completely prepared to keep them safe before even leaving the shore, and then again before getting into the water.
The external risks are obvious, but deep-diving ignites the possibility of internal ones as well. Humans are not used to or built for the combination of such low elevation and excessive water pressure. As a result, sometimes deep divers deal with their own bodies rebelling against them. Decompression sickness, better known as “the bends,” is one of the ways your body might try to resist your deep-water excursion. Others include Nitrogen Narcosis and arterial air embolism. Again, while extremely rewarding in the exploration sense, deep diving is not intended for beginners.
Wall Diving
Although it shares an emphasis on the vertical with deep diving, wall diving is another very unique style that many experienced divers enjoy. Here, divers follow vertical objects beneath the surface — generally cliffs and reefs that fit this description.
Wall diving, by nature, often requires deep diving — and, as a result, all the risks that come with it. Therefore, beginners are advised to avoid “walls” that reach into greater depths. More so than with most other types of diving, wall diving requires that divers have a strong sense and understanding of depth and buoyancy even before getting into the water. These instincts are vital for all divers, but wall ones especially.
Having an idea of what you’re getting into before wall diving — which can lead you into very, very deep waters — can help you ensure you don’t leave your intended, comfortable limits once in the water. Because of the path created by the “wall,” divers may end up going too far and end up in depths they were not prepared for — mentally, physically, and/or equipment-wise. That’s why — regarding depth, buoyancy, and even just basic intention — it’s important to plan the best you can before even entering the water. Then, carry that awareness beneath the surface with you so you don’t end up lost or stuck in extreme depths. Many of the sticky, life-threatening situations that divers have the potential to end up in can be avoided with adequate skill, instinct, experience, and preparation.
Drift Diving
The opposite of wall diving in several ways, drift diving diverges from every other type of dive on this list in that to do it, you must first relinquish control. The idea behind it is to simply… drift. The only things you determine are where you enter the water and, later on, where you exit it. The rest is up to — well, the water. Rather than diving, swimming, and navigating with a purpose, you let the tide guide you wherever it is you’re meant to go.
One major benefit of drift diving is that it isn’t nearly as energy-consuming — a result of the low physical exertion involved with drifting through the water. The major things you need to worry about are making sure you have the correct [and functional] equipment, finding a safe area in which to drift and securing a reasonable entry point and exit plan.
Another benefit — and the one that draws many divers toward this particular style — is the fact that drift diving in tougher waves allows you to see larger marine life you probably wouldn’t encounter otherwise. Bigger, more resilient currents are difficult to steer and survive in for many smaller sea critters. As a result, larger creatures tend to be the primary population in patches with tougher currents. They’re strong enough to power through without nearly as much trouble if any at all — and, with drift diving, you are given the opportunity to view them up-close when navigating strong currents.
Of course, for those looking to explore in more detail or encounter tinier critters in the sea, areas with weaker currents will better serve your intents. Drift diving is also excellent for viewing gorgeous scenery in a relaxed manner, and at a non-rushed pace. This is the delicate art of visiting with the sea and letting it take you wherever it deems fit.
How Many Types of Swim Dives Are There? Find out here.
Wreck Diving
Wreck diving is another very popular diving style. Sometimes, and sadly enough, ships and aircrafts meet with accidents, attacks, or malfunctions. In these events, some end up at the bottom of the sea. Incidents like this are slightly more common than most people realize, therefore resulting in a decent number of underwater wrecks for divers, marine biologists, historians, and other curious, adventurous parties to explore.
The ruins of brilliant vessels aren’t the only marvels which await you should you choose to visit them. You see, wrecks don’t just sit there and slip into oblivion — they also inadvertently create unique underwater conditions. As a result, they attract an array of fascinating organisms you wouldn’t find elsewhere.
The combination of delicate artifacts and the sea life which now inhabits the areas beneath, between, upon, and surrounding these wrecks requires that human visitors do not change or remove anything from the scene. Doing so is not only an actual chargeable crime in most nations and jurisdictions, but such acts also have massive ethical and academic implications — none of which are positive.
Ice Diving
Ice diving is glorious — and also intended for more experienced divers with high cold tolerance and general resilience. In other words, this is probably one for warm weather folks and beginning divers to sit out until they’re ready. Getting started with ice diving too early on is not only detrimental to a diver’s safety and the sea life awaiting said diver beneath the surface, but it also promises a miserable experience with undesirable outcomes.
As you may have already realized, this style of diving is deeply unique. And yes, it does involve ice! More specifically, this type of diving is the act of breaking through and plunging beneath the ice — a frozen surface of the ocean. This means that in many circumstances, you may have to break the tough, solid ice sheets or blocks standing between you and the ocean, and do so safely and broadly enough that you don’t cause any additional danger to yourself. However, in doing so, it’s important to secure an awareness of the life beneath the surface, and do your utmost not to disrupt or harm any sea life in the process of clearing your area.
In creating your own, single spot in which to enter the water, you are also determining your only exit. This means that once you are underwater, you need to make sure that you are always able to locate and access the area you broke through to get into the water in the first place. This is a matter of life and death — especially since breaking the ice from beneath the surface is virtually, if not entirely, impossible. Failure to locate your exit will almost certainly result in drowning.
Other risks include frozen, nonfunctional gear (an issue applicable even to your mandatory, ice-specific equipment), hypothermia, and potentially, frostbite. Remember — this is a type of diving best reserved for those with certain levels of experience, expertise, and cold tolerance. It also is not recommended for those with claustrophobia.
Why, then, with all these hazards, would someone even do something as absurd as ice diving? Well, because it’s absolutely beautiful. Beneath the ice awaits a unique and fantastical aquatic winter wonderland. For many, this payoff makes the risk worthwhile.
Night Diving
Night diving is extremely rewarding, but not optimal or advised for beginners. Diving at nighttime is distinct, and that isn’t just because of the natural light — or lack of it, thereof. Rather, night diving allows divers to experience a different side of the ocean due to the underwater organisms that only come out once the sun goes down.
This applies to fish, flora, and so much more. These cannot be seen when the sun is out since they are not built to thrive or function in daytime conditions. The opportunity to encounter this other side of ocean life is one of the many factors that make the risk of night diving worth it to the eager, curious explorer.
Diving at night is absolutely nothing like doing so during the day. Just as the world on land feels and appears entirely different in the absence of sunlight, so does that beneath the ocean’s surface. Like nighttime on land, your only reliable source of light will be that which you bring with you. In other words, bringing an underwater torch for night diving is essential. The brighter it is, the better.
In the daytime, you can see far and wide while underwater. At night, you can only see what falls within your torch’s direct path of light. This adds an additional layer of danger to these proceedings, but also an additional aspect of awe that many night divers seek during the day.
Night diving requires a specific set of skills and elements that others don’t — or do but on a reduced level. Instinct and strong spatial knowledge are vital for divers both new to night diving, and those already seasoned in the practice. Without these, you run the risk of hurting sea life, damaging your surroundings, getting lost, injuring yourself, or even putting yourself in grave peril.
Again, don’t forget to bring that bright underwater torch! Night diving is virtually impossible without it.
This all may seem intimidating, but night diving is very possible with adequate skill, experience, and preparation. More importantly, it exists for a reason — that reason being the physical freedom to intimately experience the marvels of the sea after hours. If you’re at the appropriate skill level as a diver and want to try night diving, don’t let the fear alone deter you. Just realize what you’re getting into, and plan accordingly so that you can enjoy yourself when the time comes.
In case you need any additional inspiration, bioluminescence is a stunning spectacle that can sometimes be observed underwater, but only at night. Some divers are lucky enough to witness it for themselves — the nearly otherworldly circumstance in which underwater creatures quite literally glow and exude magnificent light into the pitch-black world around them.
Please note: This blog post is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or medical advice. Please consult a legal expert or medical professional to address your specific needs.