Scuba diving is not easier than snorkeling. It involves more knowledge and you must know how to use more technical equipment to scuba dive. Scuba diving also involves higher risks than snorkeling.
Keep reading as we compare snorkeling to scuba diving by evaluating cost, difficulty, and what you may experience. While both are reputable and amazing sports, they attract different crowds seeking different experiences.
Which is Better: Snorkeling or Scuba Diving?
To determine whether snorkeling or scuba diving is better for you, you need to figure out your priorities. These activities differ in terms of:
- Cost
- Difficulty
- Experience
Cost may not be as much of a factor for one individual, while another needs to have a strict budget during their trip. Each activity has its own benefits and downsides, and exploring them can help you determine which is better for you.
Cost
The cost of each activity can be broken down into:
- Cost of equipment
- Cost of training
- Cost of tours
Snorkeling comes in much lower than scuba diving. You don’t need nearly as much equipment as you do for scuba diving, and it’s less technical (therefore less expensive). You can get by with spending $40 to $60 on a good mask and snorkel tube, then decide whether you want to spend more on fins or rashguards.
Snorkeling does not usually require any certification, and many destinations let you get right in the water with your snorkel for free. If you want to go on a tour it can cost about $70 to $150 per person.
A full suit of scuba gear can cost up to $2,000, including:
- Mask and snorkel
- Fins
- Buoyancy Control Device
- Breathing regulator
- Scuba tank (+air)
- Dive weights
- Weightsuit
- Dive computer
You can also rent some of this equipment from a dive shop, but it will still run you $40 to $60 per day or $125 to $200 per week. Certification courses start around $200, and you’ll still need to schedule time in the water with an instructor to complete the requirements.
Scuba diving tours start around $200 per dive, but this fluctuates depending on the location, who you’re diving with, and what type of equipment you need to rent.
If you’re looking only at budget, start to finish, snorkeling is likely the better option.
Difficulty
Scuba diving is more difficult than snorkeling. This is why most dive sites require certification to visit, and why even amateur divers need certification before getting into the water.
Scuba diving also has several levels of certification, each one allowing you to do more during a dive but also allowing you to risk more.
Scuba diving puts more demand on the body, and you need to deal with more complex equipment. Understanding how to deal with all these changes may be more difficult than it’s worth for casual divers.
Snorkeling does not require certifications in most areas, and you can have a great experience by learning a few techniques from YouTube videos. You should be a decent swimmer, but you’ll need to learn:
- How to clear your mask or tube of water
- Techniques for holding your breath and diving underwater
- Returning to the surface and clearing your airways
- How to interact with marine life respectfully
While you spend less time learning how to adapt to snorkeling, you won’t get nearly the same experience as you would scuba diving.
Experience
While there is less to worry about with snorkeling, your experience is limited to what you can witness while you hold your breath. There is little chance for extended exposure, and you can’t go very deep with the equipment you have.
Scuba diving still offers you the gorgeous top-down view of snorkeling, but you can go deeper and spend more time underwater. You get a closer view at everything, and you get to see parts of the world that many only dream of.
For most people, this outweighs the higher cost and difficulty that comes along with scuba diving.
Can a Normal Person Do Scuba Diving?
A normal person can do scuba diving, but they must:
- Be a decent swimmer to handle underwater currents
- Learn all the skills and techniques
- Spend some time practicing in a controlled environment before their first open water dive
Scuba diving is not something to pick up and get right into. It requires a basic set of knowledge and understanding of skills to keep you and those diving with you safe. These aren’t hard to learn, but they require dedication and comprehension.
Is Scuba Diving Easy or Difficult?
Scuba diving would sit somewhere in between easy and difficult, and different people have different experiences with the sport.
The information you need to learn is pretty easy to comprehend, and most of the technical details are worked out by a dive computer or a professional diver. It’s not taxing on your body, and you can have a good time with basic comprehension alone.
It can be difficult if you end up in an emergency, but this is why you work through them in your courses. Diving may also put too much stress on the body for certain medical conditions, so it’s important to share an honest medical history when signing up to dive.
Is Snorkeling Safer than Scuba Diving?
Snorkeling is safer than scuba diving. It keeps you in safer conditions, and you have easier access to medical attention should an issue arise.
Many scuba-related injuries and illnesses occur due to depth and improper gas management, and this is less of a problem with snorkeling. While you get to experience more, those who want to prioritize safety should start with snorkeling.
References
https://coralnomad.com/is-snorkeling-or-scuba-diving-better-5-comparisons/