Considering Scuba

[SeaTriskeLion]

Hey! I am from the Pacific Northwest, and have never SCUBA dived before. However I know a whole family of certified divers, two of which are certified instructors, who can introduce me to it. I have always loved water and swimming, so scuba sounds pretty awesome to me.

I'm a bit hesitant though. With all of the stories of people dying or getting injured while scuba diving, I'm afraid of something happening to ruin my love of the water. :/ I have noticed that many stories have a theme: bad things happen because someone made a stupid mistake or was not properly trained. Of course, this is not always the case as there can be unexpected variables such as weather/water conditions that can affect a dive.

Anyone have anything to add? What is the actual risk of something going wrong and someone getting hurt/killed? I imagine that if you and your buddies have proper training/equipment, and good judgement and skills, you'd be as prepared as you could possibly be to prevent anything bad from happening.

I have heard a few awesome diving stories from my friends and it just sounds amazing to be able to explore an alien world and interact with the animals! One story involved an octopus who imitated the diver. So cute! I would love to be a scuba diver, but I would like to know the facts and the risks of what I'm getting into. Thanks for any input!

 

[Lorenzoid]

The vast majority of people who get injured were doing something that was either beyond what they were trained to do or at variance from from what they were trained to do. It's highly unlikely you will make a "stupid mistake" that is serious enough to injure yourself if you stay well within the limits of your training and experience. If you get trained and follow what they told you and don't try to push it, your chances of being injured are very very low. (That's two "very"s worth of low--which is to say, LOW.) Scuba is a safe sport when engaged in that way.

You mention weather as being a possible factor, and that's a great example. Your training tells you that if the weather looks rough compared to the conditions you were trained in and have had experience diving in, then a prudent diver would decide not to dive that day.

The very fact that you came here to Scubaboard and posted this question shows that you are the kind of person who considers risks and takes things like training seriously--the kind of person who will do just fine as a diver. Welcome!

 

[John A Lewis]

Echo what Lorenzoid said. Take a careful approach to your diving training and you'll be fine.

Get trained, get wet, have the time of your life!

 

[SeaTriskeLion]

Awesome, thanks! Like I said, I would LOVE to be a diver, so it's great to hear some support and encouragement.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I consider scuba one of the safest sports. The gear, if properly maintained, is extremely reliable these days, there really isn't anything available new that is unsafe as far as build or design. If you stay within your training and don't push outside of your comfort level too far, a little is necessary sometimes for growth, you will be fine. Maintaining and keeping up with the basic skills they teach you is important too, not just to get through the class figuring you'll never have to worry about it.
I consider scuba to be safer from a bodily injury standpoint than mountain bike riding, road bicycle riding, skiing, sky diving, surfing, or the drive to the dive site.

 

[hotelconucc93]

Earlier this year, I was driving to Florida for three weeks of cave and deep (200-300ft) spearfishing technical diving. Georgia had a sign up that says over I-95 "550 Deaths on Georgia Highways Year to Date". Two weeks later it was up near 700.

A few weeks back I went to Florida to accompany a friend doing some cave training. I had my rebreather. The sign was reading in the low 1100's of deaths on the highways.

I will note when driving, I had a seatbelt on, and was not intoxicated. Barring any wierd events like bridges falling on me or being shot in a gas station, I was well in my training as a motorist.

GO DIVING.

 

[gypsyjim]

If such a statistically slight risk of death and, or injury that might occur diving, scares someone away from trying scuba, how could one ever venture into a car, bus, truck, or (horrors!) a motorcycle on the highway? Your risks on the highway far surpass the risks faced by most recreational divers.

Getting to and from the dive sight carries more risk than the dive itself, if you are diving safely, and within your training and comfort level.

Scuba is not a no risk sport (humans cannot actually survive under water for very long without life support), but if you learn from instructors who teach you safely, and teach you well, the risks become quite manageable.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

And just like driving a car, you can run on bald tires, go double the speed limit, pass around blind curves, never serice the brakes or other critical systems, drive drunk, etc.
And in diving, you can never check your depth and time, never look at your air supply remaining, constantly ditch your buddy, go way too deep for your training, surface too fast, never get your gear serviced, dive intoxicated or hung over, and a multitude of other things.

So in this regard (or disregard) both driving and scuba could be made very unsafe, but it's up to each and every one of us to take care of all these problems and make sure everything is up to snuff and we do things right.
The difference is, in driving you have very little control over unforseen circumstances like the guy who's coming the other direction down a two lane hwy texting and turns the wheel into oncoming traffic, or the lady who's dog gets under the foot pedals and she slams into the back of you, or a freeway shooting, or the gunman at the gas station, etc.

In diving we can choose whether or not to go in if the upcoming weather looks bad. If there are sharks reported in an area or are known to frequent an area for instance we can minimize the exposure by choosing somewhere else to dive. Other than a meteor hitting the water right where you're diving I really can't think of a parallel in diving to stuff that can happen while driving.

 

[gypsyjim]

At least (in most cases), unlike driving, the actions of every other diver, even those on another boat, do not put you at risk.

You can not say that about driving. You have to trust that every single driver you meet on the highway will stay on their side of that painting stripe, and is sober enough to drive with some degree of awareness and caution.

 

[timz]

Risk in diving?? Shark bite maybe?? Haha... Just kidding... there's only 5 fatality from shark attack each year and most are non diving related.

Last month in my country, someone decided to end his life by jumping from a building. So, he jumped and landed on a car. The car owner was killed and the suicide commiter survived with mild injury.

So, we just don't know when. But talking abt risk...

Maybe Decompression sickness. But that can be avoided by following a certain procedure.

And nitrogen narcosis like drunk caused by the pressurized air we breath underwater and do stupid things. But it can be traced...

As long as you stay calm...