Skydiver wanting to turn to Scuba Diving

[northen diver]

Hi people

Newbie here. My name is Ruaan and I am from South Africa.

I want to try out scuba diving on a recreational level. I am actually more of a trill seeker and I am a skydiver but since I messed up my shoulder I am thinking of leaving skydiving before I hurt myself more. Now I never Scuba dived before but I think its something else. I personally don't think I will get the rush from it as I got from skydiving but the idea of seeing a whole new world intrigues me.

So yes that is my story and hopefully I will learn a lot from the more experienced divers on the forum

Sounds like you got hurt skydiving. What kind of flying did you do??

Scuba diving is a whole new world and if you are looking to be intrigued, this would be the sport for you. If you are looking for a rush and dont want to skydive anymore, try rock climbing for a rush.

 

[wmw999]

The last time I looked at the stat's, there were a lot more deaths in SCUBA than there was skydiving. I believe there were 54 skydiving deaths in the world with 23 being in the USA.

There were also a lot more scuba divers and scuba dives.

Wendy P.

 

[DevonDiver]

Scuba diving shouldn't be an adrenaline sport if you're doing it right. I find it provides me with a 'zen-like' experience - floating weightless, noiseless and absorbing the spectacle through my eyes. It's soulful.

 

[fnfalman]

SCUBA can be an adrenaline sport if you do it wrong (or right if adrenaline is what you're looking for). The problem with that is you may not survive the experience.

Do an uncontrolled descend in blue water with heavy current would definitely gets one's adrenaline pumping...

 

[northen diver]

There were also a lot more scuba divers and scuba dives.

Wendy P.

From the USPA website:

The sport of skydiving continues to improve its safety record. In 2009, USPA recorded the fewest fatal accidents in the U.S. in almost five decades—16 fatalities out of nearly 3 million jumps made by over 32,000 USPA members and 400,000 first-time skydivers.

In the 1970s, the sport averaged 42.5 skydiving fatalities per year. Since then, the average has dropped each decade. In the 1980s, the average was 34.1; in the 1990s, the average was 32.3; and in the decade just closed (2000-2009), the average dropped again to 25.8.

With 14 fatalities, 1961—the first year records were kept—stands as the only year with fewer deaths than 2009. USPA was considerably smaller then, with just 3,353 members, and the total number of jumps was far fewer than today’s roughly 3 million jumps. To put this in perspective, in the 1960s, there was an average of 3.65 fatalities per thousand USPA members. In contrast, over the past five years, there has been an average of 0.71 fatalities per thousand USPA members. And estimating about 3 million jumps per year over the past five years, that’s one fatality per 133,928 skydives.

I wonder if the SCUBA industry can say the same?

And BTW, I do enjoy reading your thoughtful posts at DZ.com

 

[diver 85]

The 'rush' probably won't be there but the beauty will be.....You might want to take up neckcar racing for that 'rush', they do take passengers along??.....


Seriously, go get certified & try it---the worse that will happen is you start looking for those junky cars....

 

[fdog]

Since you'd mentioned a shoulder injury, I'd pass on that scuba diving is considerably more physically demanding than jumping.


All the best, James

 

[mikescooling]

Sky diving and scuba diving have lots in common. For example, the bond fire at the camp grounds at night and the close friendships. Scuba is exploring the 70% of the world underwater, like wreck diving, deep tech diving, Ice diving or spearfishing, just to name a few. You can get any type of rush you can handle, or not.

 

[SelkieDVM]

I've only jumped out of a plane once myself but I will tell you I did assist in a class once where the student was a new scuba diver but a very experienced skydiver. She had really great natural talent for trim and buoyancy, and the sort of self possessed, not easily ruffled, safety conscious mindset that makes a good diver. Maybe it was just her, but I suspect the two sports might have some useful crossover in terms of the type of people who could do both rather well. I say, go for it!

 

[northen diver]

I've only jumped out of a plane once myself but I will tell you I did assist in a class once where the student was a new scuba diver but a very experienced skydiver. She had really great natural talent for trim and buoyancy, and the sort of self possessed, not easily ruffled, safety conscious mindset that makes a good diver. Maybe it was just her, but I suspect the two sports might have some useful crossover in terms of the type of people who could do both rather well. I say, go for it!

I jumped out of a plane on scuba once. I even have a picture to proof it....