Confused About Hookah Diving? An Explanation That Will Not Get You in Trouble
Most people know that a hookah is a type of smoking device that comprises a decorative, closed, vase-like device with one or more tubes connected to it. Smokers using the hookah take turns drawing smoke out of the hookah and into their mouths/lungs via the hookah hoses and mouthpieces. Keeping this in mind will help you understand a little about why hookah diving is referred to in this way.
The truth about what a hookah dive is is a little stranger than you may think. Yet, you will be very happy to discover that it is a very normal and completely legal and acceptable thing that only shares a moniker with the smoking device. Here is more information about hookah diving as a diving activity and not a smoking activity.
Free Diving Meets SCUBA
SCUBA diving requires tanks of compressed air and a regulator (mouthpiece) to breathe underwater. Free diving is a trained athletic activity wherein people take a long draw of air from a tank into their mouths and lungs and very carefully and slowly release that air while diving and swimming around for up to ten minutes. Hookah diving is diving a whole new way that is a cross between free diving and SCUBA. In fact, you could almost view hookah diving as a training activity and a transition between SCUBA and free diving, because hookah diving trains you to let go of the SCUBA gear and free dive.
Setting up the Hookah Diving Equipment
Essentially what happens is that a compressor filled with air is placed in the water, sans boat. The compressor churns out air through an attached regulator, sans tank. Attached to the regulator is a long hose that extends into the water and hangs several feet down. The diver is able to dive without tanks, a regulator, or air.
When the diver needs air, he or she swims to the hose dangling in the water, takes a draw of air from that hose, and continues swimming and diving. There is no equipment to carry, like with free diving, but there is also no need to return to the surface of the water to take in air as there would be with free diving. The compressor and regulator at the surface send the air down to the diver. The hose connected to the compressor is reminiscent of the hookah pipe and its long hoses that allow hookah smokers to draw on what it is inside.
Contact a company that specializes in hookah diving systems for more information.
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