deepestdiving

Deepestdiving is the pursuit and study of reaching the greatest depths achievable by human divers. It encompasses scuba diving using open-circuit and technical systems, saturation diving with controlled living chambers, and freediving where the diver descends while holding breath. The term is used across professional, scientific, and sport contexts to describe depth records, safety practices, and technological advances.

History and scope: Progress in deepest dives has followed improvements in gas mixtures, equipment, and procedures. Early depth records relied on standard scuba gear, while technical diving introduced mixed gases such as trimix or heliox and more complex decompression. Saturation diving enables extended work at depth by staying in a pressure chamber and traveling to the work site through a single, short ascent.

Records and notable milestones: The deepest scuba dive is commonly cited as Ahmed Gabr’s dive to 332.35 meters in the Red Sea in 2014. In freediving, no-limits records have reached beyond 200 meters, with notable performances such as the 214-meter depth set in the discipline in the early 2010s. Record figures are subject to verification and depend on the rules of the governing bodies at the time.

Risks and safety: Deepestdiving carries significant risks, including decompression sickness, nitrogen narcosis, oxygen toxicity, and equipment failure. Safety practices emphasize thorough gas planning, staged decompression, redundancy, trained supervision, continuous monitoring, and adherence to certification standards.

Training and organizations: Technical diving certifications are offered by agencies such as TDI, GUE, and IANTD, while freediving organizations such as AIDA and CMAS establish discipline-specific standards. Ongoing research in physiology, gas management, and dive logistics informs best practices for extreme-depth operations.