Swimming is the movement of the body through the water that entails the use of one’s arms and legs. People enjoy swimming as a leisure activity, a form of exercise, and as a sport. Scuba diving is very different from normal swimming. The scuba gear allows you to breathe underwater and stay submerged longer to appreciate the beauty of marine life. Finning techniques or kicking underwater are important to ensure efficient dives. A good swimmer has developed good kicking movements that can promote efficient scuba diving.
This leads us to the question, can you learn how to scuba dive if you can’t swim? This is a common inquiry that has been raised many times. Generally, some basic swimming skills are important to enable you to move through the water while you’re scuba diving. To properly address this question, let’s go over the vital things that you need to know.
Discover Scuba Diving
If you’re signing up for Discover Scuba Diving, you only need basic swimming skills but you don’t have to be a strong swimmer. Previous scuba diving experience is also not a prerequisite to this one-day Introductory Diving activity. It’s ideal for people of different ages and first-timers who want to experience the thrill of seeing the underwater world. For this try diving course, you will learn basic guidelines about scuba diving and you will be provided with the equipment that you need to have a fun and worry-free dive. You will also be closely supervised by an experienced certified scuba instructor to ensure your safety.
Beginner Dive courses
For people who are keen on learning how to dive but don’t have enough time to complete a full Open Water course, you can enroll in a 2-day PADI Basic Scuba Diving course. You have to be in good health and know how to swim in order to sign up for this course.
If you want to become a certified diver, you can complete the requirements of the PADI Open Water Diver which usually takes 3 days. Basic swimming skills are needed for this certification course.
Advanced Dive courses
Some people fall in love with scuba diving at first breath while others gradually develop their passion for the underwater world. After completing the PADI Open Water Diver course and you realize that you want to pursue diving, you can take the next step. Since you have to know how to swim to sign up for beginner courses, it follows that swimming skills are a prerequisite for the PADI Advanced Open Water course. You will undergo a swim test where your instructor will ask you to float or tread in the water for 10 minutes without the help of any gear. You also have to swim 200 meters without the use of any aids or swim 300 meters using a scuba mask, fins, and snorkel.
Your dive journey doesn’t have to stop here. You can enhance your dive knowledge and skills by becoming a Rescue Diver or taking up Emergency First Response (EFR). There are also Specialty Dive courses like Deep Dive that can qualify you to join dive trips like our deep sea diving Dubai.
Safety first
Don’t worry if you’re not a good swimmer. Our experienced and certified instructors will take good care of you. Our goal is to make your first scuba experience fun, safe and memorable.