 | This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(April 2013) |
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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry |
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| Founded | Zumikon, Switzerland (December 1, 2012) |
| Headquarters | Zürich, Switzerland |
| Website | diviac |
Diviac is an online booking website for scuba holidays. Diviac started as a digital logbook for divers, the company focus changed in 2015 to scuba holidays. [1]
Diviac was founded on December 2012 in Zumikon, Switzerland by Joel Perrenoud and Thomas Achhorner. The company was officially incorporated in April 2013.
In November 2013, the first version of Diviac Logbook was launched. [2]
In December 2014, Diviac closed CHF 1 million in a financing round led by the StartAngels Network, a Swiss angel investor network. [3]
In March 2015, Diviac Logbook releases two mobile apps for iOS and Android to access the logbook from phones and tablets. [4]
In April 2015, the first version of the Diviac Travel website was launched. [5] In the same month Diviac also acquired Scubadviser.com, a website collecting dive centres and liveaboards reviews.
In December 2015, Trekksoft and Diviac announced a partnership to offer a one-stop solution to dive centers for managing their bookings and increase their online distribution. [6]
In November 2016, Diviac Eco Travel was introduced. This division of Diviac partners with major NGOs and research centers to offer eco-friendly holidays to divers and travelers. During these vacations, guests participate alongside marine experts in field studies and research activities.
As of December 2016, trips are offered in partnership with the Bimini Biological Field Station Foundation, Manta Trust and the Marine Wildlife Watch of the Philippines. [7]
In January 2018, Diviac announced the acquisition of the company by PADI. [8]
Diviac Logbook is a digital logbook that allows divers to keep track of their dives and trips, it serves as proof of dive experience and as a memoir of journeys and trips. Diviac Logbook is one of the few third-party digital logbooks endorsed by Scubapro.
In June 2015, Diviac and Suunto announce a partnership where Suunto users can connect to Diviac through Suunto’s DM5 software and the Movescount sports community, and upload their dives directly to Diviac's cloud-logbook. [9]
In January 2016, the training agency IANTD made Diviac Logbook its official digital logbook and became the first agency to acknowledge digitally validated logs as official proof of diving experience.
Diviac Travel is an online booking website specialized in scuba holidays. The website allows users to research and book diving and accommodation from liveaboards, dive resorts and dive centers worldwide. It claims to have one of the broadest offering on the market with thousands of destinations and dive operators in the platform.
The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) is a recreational diving membership and diver training organization founded in 1966 by John Cronin and Ralph Erickson. PADI courses range from entry level to advanced recreational diver certification. Further, they provide several diving skills courses connected with specific equipment or conditions, some diving related informational courses and a range of recreational diving instructor certifications. They also offer various technical diving courses. As of 2020, PADI claims to have issued 28 million scuba certifications. The levels are not specified and may include minor specialisations. Some of the certifications align with WRSTC and ISO standards, and these are recognised worldwide. Some other certification is unique to PADI and has no equivalence anywhere, or may be part of other agencies' standards for certification for more general diving skill levels.
Liveaboard can mean:
Technical diving is scuba diving that exceeds the agency-specified limits of recreational diving for non-professional purposes. Technical diving may expose the diver to hazards beyond those normally associated with recreational diving, and to a greater risk of serious injury or death. Risk may be reduced via appropriate skills, knowledge, and experience. Risk can also be managed by using suitable equipment and procedures. The skills may be developed through specialized training and experience. The equipment involves breathing gases other than air or standard nitrox mixtures, and multiple gas sources.
A divemaster (DM) is a role that includes organising and leading recreational dives, particularly in a professional capacity, and is a qualification used in many parts of the world in recreational scuba diving for a diver who has supervisory responsibility for a group of divers and as a dive guide. As well as being a generic term, 'Divemaster' is the title of the first professional rating of many training agencies, such as PADI, SSI, SDI, NASE, except NAUI, which rates a NAUI Divemaster under a NAUI Instructor but above a NAUI Assistant Instructor. The divemaster certification is generally equivalent to the requirements of ISO 24801-3 Dive Leader.
The International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers (IANTD) is a scuba diving organization concerned with certification and training in recreational diving, technical diving, cave diving, wreck diving, rebreather diving and diver leadership. Originally formed as the International Association of Nitrox Divers in 1985 by Dick Rutkowski it pioneered the introduction of Enriched Air Nitrox diving to the recreational diving community, before its name change in 1992 to reflect the more "technical" diving courses it had begun to teach. The European Association of Technical Divers (EATD) became part of IANTD in 1993.
Recreational diver training is the process of developing knowledge and understanding of the basic principles, and the skills and procedures for the use of scuba equipment so that the diver is able to dive for recreational purposes with acceptable risk using the type of equipment and in similar conditions to those experienced during training.
Recreational diving or sport diving is diving for the purpose of leisure and enjoyment, usually when using scuba equipment. The term "recreational diving" may also be used in contradistinction to "technical diving", a more demanding aspect of recreational diving which requires more training and experience to develop the competence to reliably manage more complex equipment in the more hazardous conditions associated with the disciplines. Breath-hold diving for recreation also fits into the broader scope of the term, but this article covers the commonly used meaning of scuba diving for recreational purposes, where the diver is not constrained from making a direct near-vertical ascent to the surface at any point during the dive, and risk is considered low.
Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The name scuba is an anacronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus" and was coined by Christian J. Lambertsen in a patent submitted in 1952. Scuba divers carry their own source of breathing gas, usually compressed air, affording them greater independence and movement than surface-supplied divers, and more time underwater than free divers. Although the use of compressed air is common, a gas blend with a higher oxygen content, known as enriched air or nitrox, has become popular due to the reduced nitrogen intake during long or repetitive dives. Also, breathing gas diluted with helium may be used to reduce the effects of nitrogen narcosis during deeper dives.
Scuba Schools International (SSI) is a for-profit organization that teaches the skills involved in scuba diving and freediving, and supports dive businesses and resorts. SSI has over 2,500 authorized dealers, 35 regional centers, and offices all over the world.
PADI AWARE Foundation is an environmental nonprofit organization with three registered charities in the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia. Their mission is to drive local initiatives contributing to global ocean conservation efforts, through engagement with the international community of professional and recreational scuba divers via the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI).
Advanced Open Water Diver (AOWD) is a recreational scuba diving certification level provided by several diver training agencies. Agencies offering this level of training under this title include Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI), and Scuba Schools International (SSI). Other agencies offer similar training under different titles. Advanced Open Water Diver is one step up from entry level certification as a beginner autonomous scuba diver. A major difference between Autonomous diver equivalent Open Water Diver (OWD) certification and AOWD is that the depth limit is increased from 18 to 30 metres.
A Diving certification or C-card is a document recognizing that an individual or organization authorized to do so, "certifies" that the bearer has completed a course of training as required by the agency issuing the card. This is assumed to represent a defined level of skill and knowledge in underwater diving. Divers carry a qualification record or certification card which may be required to prove their qualifications when booking a dive trip, hiring scuba equipment, having diving cylinders filled, or in the case of professional divers, seeking employment.
The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, is a small archipelagic state in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about 700 kilometres (430 mi) from the Asian continent's mainland. The chain of 26 atolls stretches across the Equator from Ihavandhippolhu Atoll in the north to Addu Atoll in the south. The land area is roughly 298 square kilometres. Malé is the capital.
TangaReef is a company providing online booking for scuba diving, snorkeling and freediving around the world. The service allows tourists to find dive centers based on location, activities and instruction language. Divers can conveniently make bookings online as well as review and rate dive centers. TangaReef has been compared to Hotels.com, with a focus on dive centers. The website is currently in English. It provides online bookings for more than 60 dive centers in popular tourist destinations such as Thailand, the Philippines, Egypt, and the Caribbean with Mexico, Curaçao, Colombia, the Virgin Islands and Jamaica.
Autonomous diver is an international minimum standard for entry-level recreational scuba diver certification. It describes the minimum requirements for basic training and certification for recreational scuba divers in international standard ISO 24801-2 and the equivalent European Standard EN 14153-2. Various organizations offer training that meets the requirements of the Autonomous Diver standard. A certification which corresponds to Autonomous Diver allows for independent diving with a dive buddy in open water. Most training organizations do not recommend exceeding a depth of 18 or 20 meters at this level of certification. After completion of this certification the training can be extended to a dive leader to ISO 24801-3 or an intermediate not defined by international standards.
The history of scuba diving is closely linked with the history of the equipment. By the turn of the twentieth century, two basic architectures for underwater breathing apparatus had been pioneered; open-circuit surface supplied equipment where the diver's exhaled gas is vented directly into the water, and closed-circuit breathing apparatus where the diver's carbon dioxide is filtered from the exhaled breathing gas, which is then recirculated, and more gas added to replenish the oxygen content. Closed circuit equipment was more easily adapted to scuba in the absence of reliable, portable, and economical high pressure gas storage vessels. By the mid-twentieth century, high pressure cylinders were available and two systems for scuba had emerged: open-circuit scuba where the diver's exhaled breath is vented directly into the water, and closed-circuit scuba where the carbon dioxide is removed from the diver's exhaled breath which has oxygen added and is recirculated. Oxygen rebreathers are severely depth limited due to oxygen toxicity risk, which increases with depth, and the available systems for mixed gas rebreathers were fairly bulky and designed for use with diving helmets. The first commercially practical scuba rebreather was designed and built by the diving engineer Henry Fleuss in 1878, while working for Siebe Gorman in London. His self contained breathing apparatus consisted of a rubber mask connected to a breathing bag, with an estimated 50–60% oxygen supplied from a copper tank and carbon dioxide scrubbed by passing it through a bundle of rope yarn soaked in a solution of caustic potash. During the 1930s and all through World War II, the British, Italians and Germans developed and extensively used oxygen rebreathers to equip the first frogmen. In the U.S. Major Christian J. Lambertsen invented a free-swimming oxygen rebreather. In 1952 he patented a modification of his apparatus, this time named SCUBA, an acronym for "self-contained underwater breathing apparatus," which became the generic English word for autonomous breathing equipment for diving, and later for the activity using the equipment. After World War II, military frogmen continued to use rebreathers since they do not make bubbles which would give away the presence of the divers. The high percentage of oxygen used by these early rebreather systems limited the depth at which they could be used due to the risk of convulsions caused by acute oxygen toxicity.
Diving support equipment is the equipment used to facilitate a diving operation. It is either not taken into the water during the dive, such as the gas panel and compressor, or is not integral to the actual diving, being there to make the dive easier or safer, such as a surface decompression chamber. Some equipment, like a diving stage, is not easily categorised as diving or support equipment, and may be considered as either.
Scuba diving tourism is the industry based on servicing the requirements of recreational divers at destinations other than where they live. It includes aspects of training, equipment sales, rental and service, guided experiences and environmental tourism.
Cristina Zenato is an Italian-born shark diver and conservationist. She is known for her work with Caribbean reef sharks in The Bahamas.
Szilvia Gogh is a Hungarian scuba diver and stunt performer. In 2016, she was inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame. Gogh is the founder of Gogh Jewelry Design.