Scuba diving comes with a feeling of weightlessness and novelty. It requires specialized knowledge and skills to dive safely, and divers witness flora and fauna in their natural habitat, as well as pieces of sunken history and a wider experience when traveling to new places.
Keep reading to learn what you should expect while scuba diving and how easy or difficult it is. This article also explores some of the concerns of scuba diving, as well as what many divers find most rewarding.
What to Expect While Scuba Diving
It’s difficult to describe scuba diving to those with no experience. In most cases, it’s not something you pursue on a whim, and you want a general curiosity to have the drive to continue with dive training and practice.
Those who want to try scuba diving without making a major commitment to the sport can try a Discover course at a dive shop. This lets you get first-hand experience with how diving affects:
- Breathing
- Noise
- Vision
As long as you’re comfortable in the water and interested, diving often exceeds any expectations you can set off assumptions alone.
Breathing
One of the biggest changes you experience while scuba diving is how you breathe. It can feel strange while using a regulator and taking breaths underwater, and it may go against your natural instincts.
Many divers practice above the water with the regulator, slowly lowering their face into the water while maintaining mouth breathing. You need to overcome the natural urge to breathe through your nose.
Noise
Because water is much denser than air, it conducts sound with more efficiency. This means that sounds reach each of your airs almost instantly.
Your brain is not accustomed to interpreting sound in this environment, and it’s harder to pinpoint the origin of the sound. You learn not to rely on hearing, and focus on honing your situational awareness and visual skills.
Vision
This doesn’t mean that it’s any more streamlined to see underwater. Many masks infringe on your field of view, and some divers feel claustrophobic.
In most cases, divers adjust to these changes easily and learn their blind spots and how to work around them. Their brains adjust to the differences that cause objects to appear about 33 percent closer in water.
Feeling
Weightlessness is something you’re familiar with if you’ve ever been in a pool, and this only magnifies while diving. You have more freedom of movement in all directions and you let the water and your BCD support you.
Because water is much denser than air, your movements are slower and controlled. This may be alarming at first, but this often results in a relaxed feeling while you dive.
Is Scuba Diving Easy or Difficult?
Scuba diving is generally easy, but it may be difficult for some. Ultimately, the difficulty relates back to:
- Your motivation for diving
- Your previous abilities
- Your current health
- Your education
The information you go over in beginner courses such as PADI’s Scuba Diver or Open Water Diver courses is not difficult, but it’s important that you don’t skip over anything and aim to retain as much as possible.
You don’t need to be perfect, but scuba diving requires a good baseline of knowledge and technical skills to partake safely. You’ll need to exhibit your skills in both a controlled setting and open water dives before you receive the certification needed to scuba dive on your own.
Is Beginner Scuba Diving Safe?
Beginner scuba diving is safe as long as you have the proper certification.
These dives take place in shallower water that doesn’t carry the higher risk of depth-related conditions such as decompression sickness or nitrogen narcosis.
This doesn’t excuse poor diving procedures, but the shallow depths frequented by beginner divers are more forgiving of accidents or injury.
Beginner divers should still take the necessary measures to prevent any hazards of scuba diving, such as:
- Improper gas management
- Diving alone
- Improper interaction with marine life
Diving becomes marginally less safe the deeper you dive, but divers offset this with increased experience and training.
Can Non-Swimmers Do Scuba Diving?
Non-swimmers cannot go scuba diving. While the prerequisites for scuba diving are not difficult to overcome, you should have at least a basic history of swimming.
Anyone interested in scuba diving needs to learn to swim first. They should also have the skills and strength needed to handle movement at greater depths, as the density of water makes it more taxing to move.
Divers should also be able to handle underwater currents. Most swimmers can do this with little to no issue, but failing to do so can lead to separation from your diving group and a greater possibility of drowning.
Is Scuba Diving Scary?
Scuba diving can be scary. You’re in a different environment, and you need to deal with changes such as:
- Limited visibility
- Loss of normal hearing function
- Breathing through a regulator
- The increased pressure on your body
A certain degree of fear is healthy for diving. It encourages you to practice safety measures such as checking your equipment before a dive, planning your dives, and sticking to specific schedules.
Those with anxiety or a history of diving or swimming related trauma may experience fear that evolves into panic. They should learn to overcome their fear and manage this response in the water before attempting open water dives.
Limiting Fear While Scuba Diving
Divers keep their fear to a minimum while diving by ensuring proper preparation. This is why you need certification for most dives, and you’ll go through hours of classwork and controlled practice before you get in the open water.
Divers should also stay within reasonable limits while diving. This includes avoiding situations that you’re ill-prepared to dive in, either because of insufficient experience or improper equipment. This includes:
- Greater depths
- Dive locations with low visibility
- Wrecks and underwater caves
- Cold water
Knowing the difference between healthy fear and panic is also essential for preventing panic-related incidents like poor gas management, rushed decisions, and rapid ascents.
Is Scuba Diving Painful?
Scuba diving may be uncomfortable, especially if you’re on one of your first dives, but it should not be painful.
Your body learns to accommodate the conditions of depth. You may feel uncomfortable pressure in your sinuses or on your face as you descend, but consistent equalization prevents this.
In most cases, the discomfort of scuba diving shows up after you get to the surface. You may be sore around your air spaces, such as your sinuses and lungs, and feel exhausted.
You should not feel pain beyond the scope of discomfort or what you would consider proportion to your exertion. Anything debilitating or inconsistent with your activity is cause for concern.
Health Risks of Scuba Diving
Most of the health risks of scuba diving relate to human error or equipment malfunction. Common examples include:
- Decompression sickness
- Nitrogen narcosis
- Contaminated air
- Running out of air/improper gas management
The level of risk differs depending on your depth and any preexisting conditions you may have (realized or not). In some cases, your medical history can prevent you from diving.
What Is Fun about Scuba Diving?
Diving is a rewarding experience that allows you to:
- Explore the underwater world
- Observe plants and animals in their natural habitat
- Visit new places
- Take part in conservation efforts
- Socialize with others who share your passion
Diving may not be for everyone, but those who love it appreciate the novel experiences and opportunities you would never encounter on the surface.
Should I Try Scuba?
You should try scuba diving if you have an interest. There are plenty of low-commitment opportunities to test it out, and even those who are uncomfortable in the water can work their way up to scuba diving certification.
Whether you fall in love immediately or take some time to get used to it, your first step sits at learning what’s required and getting in the water.
References
https://www.padi.com/courses/discover-scuba-diving
https://www.padi.com/courses/scuba-diver
https://www.padi.com/courses/open-water-diver