Shaiful
9th July 2009
Simple answer? No. You just need to know how to snorkel and you must be able to float.
According to PADI (the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, the organization that issues you your scuba diving license) you have to demonstrate 2 water skills before you can be certified as a scuba diver:
- swim 200 meters freestyle OR snorkel 300 meters with fins (you may choose)
- tread water for 10 minutes
Students who can't swim will opt for the snorkel and fin. The 10 minute water tread is easier than it sounds because technically you don't have to tread water - you can swim, doggy paddle, float or do whatever you please, as long as you don't touch the sides or bottom of the pool for 10 minutes.
But you didn't come here for a simple answer, now did you? You want an honest, dependable, in-your-best-interest kind of answer.
So let me ask you a question. Why would you want to know how to swim?
Scuba divers wear an inflatable jacket called a Buoyancy Control Device or BCD. Don't know how to swim? Don't know how to float? No problem. Just hit the big bright round button on your inflator/deflator device that's attached to your BCD and and air will flow out of your tank, into your BCD and it doesn't matter if your aquatic skill is like Eric Moussambani's or worse, you'll float like big piece of polystyrene in the Dead Sea. Time to descend and go underwater? Press the other button, let the air out of your BCD and down you go! But how do we move around in the water then? Well, we have these big flappy things that we attach to our feet called fins. As long as you can kick your legs up and down in a pendulum-like motion, you can move through the water.
So back to my initial question. Knowing that you have all these fancy equipment to help you in the water while diving, why then would you want to know how to swim?
Well, first of all, in my experience and that of the rest of the crew at Dolphin Sport Adventure, scuba trainees that know how to swim are much more comfortable in the water. They move around a lot more easily, are usually better students, and in general enjoy their scuba sessions more because their minds are not preoccupied with the fear or nervousness of being in the water.
The second reason has to do with the realities of life: equipment will fail and accidents will happen. What if your BCD springs a leak and you can't use it anymore to float? What if you fell off the boat with no gear on? What if you had to tread water while waiting for help to arrive?
Just to comfort the worrywarts and the doomsayers, according to this article you are about 4 times more likely to suffer a fatality driving your car than scuba diving! So let's get one thing clear: scuba diving is safe, equipment rarely fail and accidents seldom happen.
But flying is supposed to be VERY safe too but as I write this there has been two recent plane crashes - the Yemenia Airways crash and the Air France crash. But that's not going to stop you from your next overseas vacation now is it?
My motto: be an optimist, but be realistic too. Wouldn't you feel safer if you knew that in case something did happen and you had to swim to save yourself, you could?
And let us not miss the forest for the trees. Swimming is just darn fun! Don't you want to jump in the pool or the open ocean and have a real good time with your family and friends?
So here's a summary of my long winded explanation. You don't have to be in the same league as Michael Phelps, but we at Dolphin Sport recommend that you should, at the very least, be comfortable moving about in the water before taking up scuba.
By the way, I feel it is my duty to say this. I have heard anecdotes of dive centers not requiring students to do the swim and water treading test. If these are PADI certified centers, then they not complying with PADI training standards. Please do not sacrifice safety for convenience.
I hope to see you in the water.
