Question: How dangerous is scuba diving?

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Answer #1:

Very! My friend hit a rock and the oxygen tank exploded and killed 5 people.

Answer #2:

Its not really. the only thing is if you move to fast and youre really deep underwater, then the pressure on you lungs will go crazy. And you might get eaten by a shark...

Answer #3:

My husband and I are going Skydiving this year and I was doing a lot of research on it. Turns out more people die a year from scuba diving then sky diving...Thought that was odd. So, I'd say it's pretty dangerous.

Answer #4:

It can be, it depends on three or four major things.
One your climate, if you are in an indoor swimming pool (which you probably wont be) the danger is minimal, but if you are in the ocean, surrounded by sharks then much much larger. You want to be in the right place at the right time.
Two, your training, if you have no/little training it is NOT going to be safe, you need to have some experience, and be with people who have good training. Bringing us to number three.
Three who your with, if everyone else has no training and you have some, it still isn't going to be a great idea, others can get you in trouble too, but DON'T go alone! (unless you have ALOT of training).
Four, accidents happen, so be prepared, you cannot over prepare for the unexpected and you need to have people who can deal with it!

hope this helped!

Answer #5:

Scuba diving has risks, and yes those risks include the possibility of injury or even death. However, the whole point of scuba certification is to teach the diver how to reduce the risk of injury to acceptable levels (ie very low numbers). If done properly, scuba divers are much more likely to be hurt in the car on the way to the dive site than they are during the dive itself. Unexpected things can and do happen but with proper training, proper attitude/presence of mind, and well-functioning equipment the risk of having a problem underwater is unlikely...and if one should occur it can be reduced to nothing more than a nuisance instead of a life-threatening event. This all depends upon the diver's ability to react to the problem in a calm and calculated way and deal with it as they were trained to do. Unfortunately, a poorly-trained, inexperienced, or emotionally unprepared diver may react to underwater difficulties with panic instead of a calm-headed, methodical solution. A state of panic will often cause a diver to do exactly the wrong thing, and is a contributor to a large percentage of documented scuba-related injuries.

The risk of a shark attacking a scuba diver is incredibly remote under most circumstances, and expressing shark attack as one of the main things to be worried about while scuba diving is a sure sign of someone who is misinformed and unknowledgeable about diving. Most divers consider themselves lucky if they get the opportunity to see a shark while diving, and there are places that even offer "shark dives" using bait to lure the sharks in just to provide that opportunity (for a price). To a shark, we appear to be big, clumsy creatures that smell of metal and rubber, blowing loud, scary bubbles into the water...certainly not something that would be first choice on the menu. Most sharks tend to keep their distance and swim away if approached by a diver. Of course, sharks are wild animals and their behavior can be unpredictable so the risk of a shark attack is never zero...but the probability of an unprovoked attack is very, very low and should not be a big reason for concern.

Besides panic, the things that carry higher risk of injury to a scuba diver have to do with physics and physiology...especially how gases behave under pressure and what effect that has on our bodies. This is where we spend the most time during the academic portion of scuba training and where many of the "rules of diving" come from. Being a certified diver requires you to know these gas behaviors so that you can understand and minimize the risks that come along with breathing air underwater.

So with all that said, scuba diving is not an especially risky activity if done with proper training and a reasonable attitude of respect for the dangers. But do I disagree with your mother telling you to wait until you are older? Not necessarily, because I am not a big proponent for teaching kids to dive. It's a bit hypocritical to say that because I've certified kids as young as 12 who enrolled in classes with the dive shop that I teach for, but if I was teaching independently I would have (and have) advised their parents to wait. Why? When it comes to kids younger than 15 or 16, there are a lot of unknowns about their psychological and physiological ability to deal with the stresses associated with diving. By age 15 or 16, kids may have matured enough physically and developed the abstract thinking skills needed for better problem solving but still may not have the emotional skills needed to react properly in the face of unexpected problems underwater. This is a general statement of course, which has to be evaluated on an individual basis and so may or may not be applicable to you personally...but if your mother is concerned about your safety waiting a couple of years until you can make the decision for yourself won't be the end of the world. I certainly understand your desire to become a diver, it's my favorite thing to do in the whole world, but while a few years sounds like a long time to you now in the big scheme of things it isn't much time. Here are some links to a couple of pages that have influenced my opinions on kids & diving:

Click Here
Click Here

I hope this helps. Good luck with whatever happens. :-)

Answer #6:

I'm 15 too and I was certified when I was 12. It is dangerous if you don't know what you are doing or just plain stupid, but as long as you are careful and sensible, it's safe. I do strongly recommend however that if you do get certified, you have a certified parent as well. I dive with my dad, I KNOW that you're mom wouldn't be comfortable with you diving with a stranger (generally you must dive with a buddy, some people do it independently but they are very experienced and there are many risks). Another thing, if you get certified, do it in saltwater, I was certified in a lake and it was AWFUL. The ocean is much better for a first experience because of the difference in visibility, even if a lake has good visibility it's brown and murky and dark. You can actually see the sun in the ocean! Also, if you plan on buying your own gear, it is very expensive, keep this in mind. I hope your mom lets you get certified. (-:
Everything moviebuff said as well.
And sharks??? Really people??? Somebody's been watching too many "Open Water" marathons, hah, i enjoyed that movie.
But really, I'm pretty serious about things and have always been very observent and careful. I wouldn't advise this to anyone who isn't mature enough to make good decisions and handle things under pressure.
And for the future, if you get certified and make your way to Hawaii, the manta ray night dives there are really amazing. One actually brushed my mask with its belly as it sweeped over me.





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