Penetration diving

An overhead or penetration diving environment is where the diver enters a space from which there is no direct, purely vertical ascent to the safety of breathable atmosphere at the surface. Cave diving, wreck diving, ice diving and diving inside or under other natural or artificial underwater structures or enclosures are examples. The restriction on direct ascent increases the risk of diving under an overhead, and this is usually addressed by adaptations of procedures and use of equipment such as redundant breathing gas sources and guide lines to indicate the route to the exit.^[1][2][3]

There are some applications where scuba diving is appropriate and surface-supplied diving is not, and other where the converse is true. In other applications either may be appropriate, and the mode is chosen to suit the specific circumstances. In all cases risk is managed by appropriate planning, skills, training and choice of equipment.