Diving is so great that it has became a dream of many people. But what is the definition of diving? We all remember the wonders Jacques Cousteau showed us. We watched his TV programs with such interest - as if he showed us the miracle of the Resurrection .The world he managed to videotape is so colorful, so different from our world, so enchanting, that diving has become the greatest dream of people all over the world, even those from Central Africa and Antarctic.

Not all people who dream about the underwater world managed to become divers, because what they expected and what they were learning were very different. Such a beautiful world appeared to be dangerous, hard to handle and, we need to accept it, very expensive.

We cannot do anything about the price we need to pay for diving and to the danger it brings, but at least we can get to know what diving is. Before attending a course on "How to Dive," we should get to know the exact definition of diving - so that we will not to be disappointed.

Let`s look it up in a dictionary. There are several meanings of diving.

Any dictionary firstly tells us that diving is the process of working underwater, using special breathing equipment. Another amazing definition of diving is that it is a kind of sport in which you jump into water with your arms held straight above your head. (Sounds awful, and, God bless, but it seems to have nothing in common with what Cousteau did!). But wait!

Here is something else: snorkelling and scuba diving. Scuba diving is the process of working underwater, using special breathing equipment and the equipment consists of cylinders of air which you carry on your back and which are connected to your mouth by rubber tubes. Can you really imagine having fun like that? The most awful thing is that all dictionaries give almost the same definition of diving. No hope left now. There are also several words about snorkeling.

It is somewhere near to diving as well, but not with such a threatening definition. With the help of several dictionaries we get to know that to snorkel means to swim under water using a snorkel. Sounds ok for now, yeah? Let's try to get to know what is a snorkel. It is a tube through which a person swimming just under the surface of the sea or lake, can breathe. That is ok and easy to imagine. But unfortunately that means you would not be able to touch a nice thing that is on the seabed where you are diving, if it is not at the length of your hand!

You can look up in some other dictionaries for the definition of diving, but I guess you will find it mostly the same. The point is, that to have a chance really to dive you need to be physically fit and strong to handle all the equipment you need to carry. You need to have a strong nervous system, so as not to panic, if this complicated thing will not work. And you need to be very patient to learn how the equipment works, how to dive with it, how to behave underwater. Maybe it is really better to snorkel, at first! Sounds funny and is not so hard to learn. And after seeing all the beauty of the underwater world, you surely would be able to overcome some of the obstacles of scuba-diving, and then you could have real pleasure visiting in another wonderful world.