: Simon Pridmore
: Scuba Fundamental Start Diving the Right Way
: Sandsmedia
: 6610000141678
: 1
: CHF 4.50
:
: Sport
: English
: 206
: DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB

If you do not yet scuba dive but are thinking of learning, then Scuba Fundamental - Start Diving the Right Way is for you. It takes you from the germ of the idea that you might like to try scuba diving up to the point where you have done around 20 dives.
This is not your standard how-to scuba diving manual. It is very different. The purpose of Scuba Fundamental is not to teach you how to dive. A dive instructor will do that. But this book will make the learning process much easier. It will help you make the right choices and avoid the pitfalls that await new and uninformed divers coming into the sport.It will also set you well on the road to becoming a capable and competent lifelong diver.
Scuba Fundamental tells you how to make sure you are prepared for a scuba diving course and what a good beginners course should entail. It tells you how to choose a good instructor, how to decide which operators to dive with after you have finished your course and what sort of dives you should be doing when you first start diving.
You will learn the many ways in which diving will change your life and also acquire some extremely valuable advice on the etiquette involved in the sport. Throughout the book and especially in the chapter 'It Happened to Me' you will be entertained, educated and encouraged by anecdotes from people who are now experienced divers but were once beginners too.
There is also an entire section devoted to diving safety, much of which covers vitally important aspects of scuba diving that standard training manuals don't emphasise enough or even leave out completely.
The book's message is: start scuba diving the right way and you will be relaxed and ready for the adventure. You will have more fun, make fewer mistakes and be confident in the fact that you are well informed, have made the best choices and have spent your money wisely.
Scuba Fundamental is a unique, reliable and essential guide: one that you can trust completely and follow during this formative phase of your scuba diving life.
'I wish I had had this book to read when I learned to dive. I remember being totally confused.'
Robin Yao, Executive Editor, EZDIVE magazine
'This is the book divers should give to friends when they say they want to learn to scuba dive.'
Ian Thomas, Scuba Instructor Trainer

2. Reasons not to Scuba Dive


Panic in the Shower

A few years ago, a friend who was always saying that she wanted to join one of my beginner’s courses called me and told me,

“I woke up this morning and said to myself today’s the day I am going to learn to dive.”

“Great!” I said.

“The trouble is,’ she continued, “ I went to have a shower, turned my face up into the spray and immediately started to panic. If I can’t even have a shower without freaking out, how can I ever scuba dive?”

I explained that the reason she had panicked was that she had held her breath when she turned her face into the shower and that the human central nervous system is programmed to induce anxiety when a person is not breathing. “On the contrary,” I told her, “in scuba diving, you never hold your breath.”

I added that this was not to say that she would never become anxious on a scuba dive, but the fact that she had started to panic in the shower was completely irrelevant to the issue of whether she could become a scuba diver.

Eventually she took the course, loved it, as deep down she always knew she would, and is now an enthusiastic diver.

Not for Everyone

You do not have to be a daredevil or a super-fit, well-trained athlete to scuba dive. Scuba divers come from all walks of life and in all shapes and sizes. Some are teenagers, others are great grandparents. Many people count scuba diving among a number of adventure sports they participate in. For many others, diving is the only sport they do.

This is not to say that everyone can scuba dive. Some people cannot dive for medical reasons. They may have physical challenges that mean that they cannot do strenuous exercise. They may have known or undiagnosed cardiovascular disease that may make diving more risky. Or they may not be able safely to breathe air under changing pressure.

They may have psychological issues that mean they should always avoid potentially stressful situations. Scuba diving can involve stress, particularly in the early days, when you are still learning, although one of the main things a scuba class teaches you is how to deal calmly with anything that might happen while you are diving.

Separating the Truth from the Myth

A lot of the reasons that non-divers give for not trying to scuba dive are based on common popular misunderstandings. Many people who would love to learn to scuba dive, like my friend who panicked in the shower, believe it is not for them because they assume either that you need special qualities to scuba dive or that it is dangerous.

Some of these assumptions are false; some are genuine. Some risks do exist: others are cultural myths, figments of the imagination or exaggerated by media hysteria. The aim of this chapter is to separate fact from figment and myth from reality.

First, I would say, that, to quote a Buddhist proverb, “when the student is ready, the master appears.” Before you learn to scuba dive, you need to WANT to scuba dive. Whether you are driven by curiosity, spurred by the adventure or simply want to dive in order to share the experience with friends, family or a diving spouse, the will to dive has to come from YOU. Do not learn to dive just because someone else wants you to do it. That sort of scenario often ends in tears.

After you have decided you want to scuba dive, however, doubts may arise. The following are some common concerns.

I want to scuba dive but I can’t swim very well.

It seems logical that a diver should be a good swimmer but, strangely, many people do not make the connection. Poor swimmers make poor divers, mainly because they are not comfortable in the water. If you are worried that you may not be able to swim well enough, then invest in some lessons before you start your course. The better you can swim and the happier you are in the water, the easier it will be for you to concentrate on learning to dive and the better a diver you will become. Even if you can swim well, a great way to prepare for a scuba diving course is to spend time before the course doing more swimming to improve your stamina and confidence. I cover this in more detail in the next chapter, “Health and Watermanship.”

I want to scuba dive but I can’t afford it.

Learning to scuba dive probably costs less than you think it does. Generally speaking, it will cost you less (and take you longer) to learn with a dive club following the schedule they set than to learn with a dive centre that will work to your schedule. However, as I ex