drrich2
Contributor
Welcome to ScubaBoard. Given your history, I suggest snorkeling for awhile, and once you get comfortable with that, you can consider progressing to dive training. Breathing through a regulator isn't quite the same as a snorkel, but it's not entirely different...in both cases, you can breath okay in a controlled fashion, but you can't such in a lung full as fast as you can on the surface.
In terms of getting some sense of safety and risk issues, I think diving is impacted by the issue of mental bandwidth. Consider your computer. If you do one taxing thing, maybe photo editing, it may run okay. But if you simultaneously have some background processes running (e.g.: anti-virus software is running, hard drive backup software is running, web browser has multiple tabs open), then both RAM memory capacity and processor capacity get limited and your main focus bogs down a bit.
Or, consider your broadband Internet connection. Perhaps you watch 4-K streaming programs on t.v., and your fiancé games and watches videos in the other room. Which works fine...till you both try to do your tasks at the same time. Then you find out your broadband capacity is limited.
In scuba diving, a number of issues come into play:
1.) Due to mask and the 'zoom' effect of being underwater, you lose some peripheral vision.
2.) Due to the speed sound has underwater, you lose directional hearing capability; you can hear noises, but can't localize where they're coming from. In effect, you lose a bit of 'radar' ability you had on land.
3.) You can't talk to other divers. We have a crude signing system, but we can't shout to warn each other, etc...
4.) You need to control your buoyancy by adjusting the air volume in your inflatable dive vest (or wing) to off-set your tendency to sink. This changes with depth and how much air is in your lungs. On land, you just sit or stand; you don't have to worry about sinking into the ground or floating away.
5.) You need to be mindful not only of what's around you, but what's below you (e.g.: don't hit the reef or kick another diver's mask off) and above you.
6.) You need to be mindful of your depth, the amount of air left in your tank, consider how far into the dive you are and whether and when you need to alert the dive leader how much air you've got left, and your total dive time (so you don't incur a deco. obligation, though this is mainly with deeper diving and/or multiple dives/day).
The practical reality is a typical recreational scuba dive is easier, more fun and less demanding than my list makes it sound like. But those factors are in play, and while the more experience you get the less mental bandwidth they take, they still take a little.
So when you run into an unexpected problem at depth, you've got less 'extra' mental bandwidth to focus on dealing with it than you would have at the surface. Diving can be done competently with an excellent margin of safety. I'm not trying to dramatize it or scare you off. But given your interests and what brought you here, I thought it might help.
In terms of getting some sense of safety and risk issues, I think diving is impacted by the issue of mental bandwidth. Consider your computer. If you do one taxing thing, maybe photo editing, it may run okay. But if you simultaneously have some background processes running (e.g.: anti-virus software is running, hard drive backup software is running, web browser has multiple tabs open), then both RAM memory capacity and processor capacity get limited and your main focus bogs down a bit.
Or, consider your broadband Internet connection. Perhaps you watch 4-K streaming programs on t.v., and your fiancé games and watches videos in the other room. Which works fine...till you both try to do your tasks at the same time. Then you find out your broadband capacity is limited.
In scuba diving, a number of issues come into play:
1.) Due to mask and the 'zoom' effect of being underwater, you lose some peripheral vision.
2.) Due to the speed sound has underwater, you lose directional hearing capability; you can hear noises, but can't localize where they're coming from. In effect, you lose a bit of 'radar' ability you had on land.
3.) You can't talk to other divers. We have a crude signing system, but we can't shout to warn each other, etc...
4.) You need to control your buoyancy by adjusting the air volume in your inflatable dive vest (or wing) to off-set your tendency to sink. This changes with depth and how much air is in your lungs. On land, you just sit or stand; you don't have to worry about sinking into the ground or floating away.
5.) You need to be mindful not only of what's around you, but what's below you (e.g.: don't hit the reef or kick another diver's mask off) and above you.
6.) You need to be mindful of your depth, the amount of air left in your tank, consider how far into the dive you are and whether and when you need to alert the dive leader how much air you've got left, and your total dive time (so you don't incur a deco. obligation, though this is mainly with deeper diving and/or multiple dives/day).
The practical reality is a typical recreational scuba dive is easier, more fun and less demanding than my list makes it sound like. But those factors are in play, and while the more experience you get the less mental bandwidth they take, they still take a little.
So when you run into an unexpected problem at depth, you've got less 'extra' mental bandwidth to focus on dealing with it than you would have at the surface. Diving can be done competently with an excellent margin of safety. I'm not trying to dramatize it or scare you off. But given your interests and what brought you here, I thought it might help.
