You need to be good swimmer to go try SCUBA DIVING?
My husband and I are planning a trip to Los Cabos in the begining of June. We would love to go diving, bun we are not good swimmers.
My question is… Do you have to be a good swimmer, to go
SCUBA DIVING??
Thank you all for your time
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Tags: diving, Good, Need, scuba, Swimmer
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Scuba diving is fairly easy, although you might have to take a short class before you dive which will inform you of what you need to know. I’m not an amazing swimmer but I have a love for the ocean and that’s all it took to be certified. I do suggest you know how to swim though, as you will be doing a lot of it.
It’s definitely an experience you’ll remember forever, especially when you come to grasp the fact you’re breathing under water.
No you don’t need to be a good swimmer, just as long as you feel comfortable in the water. If you are happy to do normal stuff like jumping/diving in and going underwater without fear and can swim a few laps at a leisurely pace then that is enough. Remember you will be wearing fins also and they turn poor swimmers into good ones instantly. If you are thinking of doing the ‘Resort Course’ as mentioned below then it really is a very ‘low key’ deal, you won’t be expected to perform any exteme physical feats. Enjoying scuba diving is about being relaxed and feeling confident that your equipment will do what it is supposed to… and it does. The scuba regulator is a very simple piece of kit and in 37 years of diving I have never had one stop giving me air, not once!
Go and have a great time!
For the optimal SCUBA experience, it’s not extremely crucial to be a great swimmer, but SCUBA diving does require diving in the water. So, I would say that you need to be a solid swimmer or just be comfortable in the water. You want to be safe and don’t want anything bad to happen. So just be comfortable in the water and I’m sure you’ll have a great time! Hope I helped!!
I don’t know what your definition of a “good swimmer” is, but it is advisable to be fairly proficient in the water. This mainly applies kicking and remain horizontal when underwater. Also, if you are more adapted to the water then you will exert less energy when moving and thus consume less air, making you diving experience more enjoyable. It will also be less likely for you to panic in rough conditions on the surface and underwater
All the answers so far are basically correct: no, one does not need to be a “good” swimmer. In fact, there is little relation between the actions involved in swimming on the surface, and the type of swimming motions one makes in order to proceed underwater on scuba. I can only add one caveat: every certification agency requires their instructors to administer a swim test to ALL prospective students. Because the certification agencies are basically business’s founded on the principle of making money and profit (PADI especially), this swim test is fairly easy and difficult to fail. PADI, the largest certification agency in the world (‘largest’ does not equal ‘best’) requires students to either swim 200 yards without assist (fins), or 300 yards with fins, and also to float/tread water for a minimum of 10 minutes. Other agencies will have similar or stricter requirements.
Your question did not make clear whether you want to actually become certified scuba divers. You simply stated that you wanted to “go diving”. Another option, if all you want to do is “go Diving’ is to take what is called a ‘resort course’, AKA ‘scuba in a day’. With this option, you simply learn the absolute basics you need to know in order to keep from killing yourself on a dive, then you partake in an instructor-escorted dive. It is a good way to sample whether diving is for you or not. When I was an instructor, there were no swimming requirments for this course.
You don’t need to be a good swimmer, but you do need to know how to swim and know basic strokes. Go to the gym/local pool and practice basic kicks and arms strokes. If they will let you, bring a pair of flippers, that will help too. You should have a guide with you at all times while you are scuba diving, so that will help
All I can say is, have a great time diving in Los Cabos!