Shallow Diving

[Thalassamania]

... in the future she could go about any issues she has with a bit more tact and civility.

(1) If I remained at no more than 10 or 15 feet depth is it correct that I could safely ascend quickly in the event of crisis? (The answer to this question may ease an argument I'm sure to have with my wife when I tell her that I'm taking a scuba diving course.)

For a dive that has never been deeper than ten or fifteen feet you can ascend at virtually any rate you might wish, you can not have absorbed enough nitrogen at that depth to have to worry about the bends. The real concern at the this depth is keeping your airway open so that you do not suffer from a lung overpressure injury.

(2) Is diving in the presence of snorkelers safe, or are there separate areas?

No problem

(3) Assuming that I were to follow through on staying with 10 or 15 feet of the surface, is it likely I'd find another scuba diver willing to be so limited (as I assume that it is never safe to dive without a partner, no matter how shallow)? Thanks in advance.

[/quote] Finding another scuba diver who want to do what you want to do has been an issue in this sport since the earliest days. I think that there is enough interesting stuff in the 10 to 15 foot range that it would not bother me at all to dive with a buddy who had that preference. My advise to you is to take a full O/W class (and maybe even a bit more) at home. Come to Hawaii certified. If you can't find a buddy here on ScubaBoard, engage a local dive guide for your first day of diving ... after that you should be fine with the local boats and DMs. Some comments on the other suggestions: IMHO, the greatest danger a newbie diver is placed in revolves about a scenario of having his or her mask flood, getting some water up the nose, a few coughs and a clawing rush to the surface that results in a embolism. What data there is out there suggests that 17 SUCCESSFUL repetitions of a moderately complex skill are required before 95 percent confidence in the successful performance of the skill is achieved. Most (but not all) people pass this threshold, at least with respect to mask clearing and no mask breathing in the course of an open water course, but the do not do so prior to either setting out on a DSD or any of the surface supplied set-ups (while snuba, et.al. may solve problems of running out air, getting lost and staying together it does not, as far as I know, address this issue to my satisfaction). I would not permit anyone whom I cared about, or felt any obligation toward, to participate in either a snuba-type dive w/o complete prior training, or a DSD format experience.

 

[nimoh]

if you are comfortable snorkelling, but now want to use scuba to go down to 15' for a while to look at things, then my guess is that it won't be long after that when you want to go down to 40' to see what is down there

There has been some good advice offered in this thread, I would take it and proceed with OW training

 

[iluvtheocean]

personally I *want* to be able to go deeper which is why i'm working on my AOW - I want to go to Tenneco Towers and the Vandenberg to name a couple of places.
but there is plenty to see and do on scuba at 10-15 feet. Blue Heron Bridge in WPB, FL is famous for macro photography and it's only about 10+ feet average. and most shore dives are in the 15-30 foot depth. Lobster season is here!

so yes i'd recommend getting your OW cert -- you can go deeper but you don't have to except for your checkouts --