To be certified at scuba diving

[sorefeet]

do you have to know how to swim????????????? I know two guys who both claim to be certified but one doesn't know how to swim and says that doesn't matter. He said the only thing you have to do is retrieve your tanks from the bottom of a pool and you are certified. The other guy called him on his bullshit. So does anyone know the truth here???

[octoberlib]

1. I'm pretty sure you have to know how to swim.

[madokie]

2. Even though I never learned how to swim

I'm a navy vet. Anyone can dog paddle and thats what I did, that and float on my back and stroked my way around the pool. Turn me over face down and dog paddle is all I can do.

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

6. i recall swimming 4 laps

This was PADI in the 90's.

[octoberlib]

3. Here's a wiki on it.

Pass the required watermanship test. The most basic prerequisite to becoming a qualified scuba diver is comfort in the water. In order for you to begin a scuba training course you must first demonstrate to an instructor your ability to swim continuously for 200 yards and float for 10 minutes, both without aids. Alternatively, if you would like to swim using a mask, fins and a snorkel, you must swim continuously for 300 yards and then float for 10 minutes without any aids.

http://www.wikihow.com/Become-a-Certified-Scuba-Diver

[JaneyVee]

4. Yes you most certainly have to know how to swim.

[MohRokTah]

5. Google Scuba Diving Certification Requirements.

Nobody will teach anybody to scuba dive unless they can demonstrate that they are capable of swimming 200 meters.

[Scuba]

7. Yes, but you don't have to be a strong swimmer. Many handicapped people dive ...

... including some with no use of their legs. When SCUBA diving, one can "hover" over reefs and wrecks and enjoy the undersea world without doing any swimming.

As for the claim that "the only thing you have to do is retrieve your tanks from the bottom of a pool and you are certified" I call bullshit. There are a number of drills such as clearing one's mask that must be mastered. Removing and putting your BC back on while underwater is required, while "retrieving it from the bottom" is not.

http://www.padi.com/scuba-diving/padi-courses/become-a-diver/learn-to-scuba-dive/

[pipoman]

8. Most who can't swim would be too scared to try

Beyond the basics of floating and treading water, scuba really doesn't require swimming in the traditional Red Cross way. It likely depends on the type of certification being talked about. Tourist scuba in resort areas doesn't require certification, some may do some basic training, then 'certify' them for their little excursion.

[badtoworse]

9. I had to take a fairly difficult swimming test

You do learn to put your equipment on underwater, but there is a lot more to learning scuba than just that. The guy that says he only needs to get his tanks from the pool bottom should not be diving.

[sorefeet]

10. The guy in question

knows everything about everything and if you question him you are just starting a fight, to him. Very difficult to be around.

[badtoworse]

11. Ask him if he knows what a pneumothorax or an air embolism is.

If he doesn't, he knows nothing about scuba diving. They are both very serious conditions that can be caused by mistakes in scuba diving. They can be fatal and if he doesn't know how to avoid them, he risking his life if he dives.

[Chan790]

21. Or decompression sickness.

There is probably nothing scarier or more lethal to a diver than a case of the bends. Avoiding it and treating it are just about the most-important thing you have to learn before you even get in the water. Not knowing about the risk is the surest way to end up dead and the bends can kill the most-experienced diver. In 2009, it killed Carl Spencer, the top exploratory diver employed by National Geographic. He surfaced too quickly from a dive in the Aegean while researching the sinking of the Brittania and was dead before they even got him airlifted to the hospital.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/may/25/diver-titanic-greece-bends

If a diver tells you they don't know about decompression sickness or have never seen it, find a new diver...they're either poorly educated or inexperienced.

[tg]

12. A "cruise course" maybe?

Sounds like he took a cruise course, where they teach you the basics for an hour or so and then take you out under close supervision. But it's not a certificate course, just the ability to take a short dive with others taking responsibility.

For the record, I did all the course work at home and the open water dive as a cruise course in the Carribbean but never got them put together for a certificate.

[sorefeet]

13. That might be true

If it comes up again I'll ask, but if I bring it up he would take it as me calling him a liar. He called me a judgemental muther fucker at 4:00 the other morning because I told him he smelled like a brewery and his boss was picking him up at five, maybe try some gum. He's on probation in the first place. Not allowed to drink.

[Thor_MN]

14. I'm NAUI certified and we did have to swim during the coursework

Nothing too difficult, I think it was just 4 laps at the Y pool to demonstrate very basic confidence. Technically, you don't need to know how to swim to SCUBA dive. That is, if never, ever, have a failure of your gear, or get into a current, lost, disoriented, etc. Then knowing how to swim can save your life.

When my dad bought his gear, before diving was a sport, they guy he bought it from told him "You don't need to know how to swim, you can just walk on the bottom." Some types of diving don't involving any swimming at all, but that's mostly commercial diving.

While diving you really don't use your arms for "swimming", you use them to change position and to brake. Otherwise, they are free to do whatever, your propulsion is from kicking.

I'm certain that one could find instructors that would certify even someone who was a horrible swimmer...

[mainer]

15. I got PADI certified years ago, but I don't recall having any sort of swimming test

I'm not a strong swimmer, but scuba's a different sort of swimming. Mostly it's about not panicking in uncomfortable situations.

[Logical]

16. Lounge? n-t

[alarimer]

17. Yes, I think you have to be able to swim some distance

The different certifying groups might have differing standards, but it's like 200 yards or something, if I recall correctly.

And it might depend on the level of certification as well.

Check with PADI or NAUI.

I think to be an instructor you also need lifeguard-type or rescue training.

[OldHippieChick]

18. Certifications differ

It was much more difficult to get certified years ago than it is now, but PADI, NAUI and YMCA certifications all require that you pass a swim test. There is a "resort" or "cruise" course that doesn't require passing of a swim test, but it also is not a full certification course.

Back in the day my "Y" course required a demonstration of freestyle, backstroke and side stroke carrying 10 lbs. of weight the length of the pool. It does matter if you know how to swim for pity's sake. There is more to the course, even today, than merely retrieving your tank and gear from the bottom of the pool. No certifying agency is going to want the liability of sending folks out that unprepared. Imagine the lawsuits!!

[Drew Richards]

19. I got NAUI and PADI certified back in the 80's for both one of the requirements was the ability to

Tread water for 4 minutes while fully geared...this was to insure many things.

To ensure you recognized your buoyancy rate to weight belt ratio.

To ensure that you can propel yourself to the surface even if you emergency float bag is damaged.

To ensure you are able to manipulate your mask regulator and tanks while staying above water enabling you to breath...

Kind of hard to do if you cant swim...treading water efficiently is a learned skill.

I highly DOUBT they would ever take that training and requirement out of training.

the certification test included

Swimming 4 laps of the pool or ocean roped of area
Treading water 4 mins
Clearing mask
Testing regulator
Adjusting tanks...
Having mask and regulator pulled off your face and being able to recover and clear both while under water...

And finally retrieving your tanks from the bottom of pool or ocean floor, donning them AND the regulator and swimming in a controlled manner back to the instructor...

Anyone that tells you different is either lying or got certified by a piece of shit that did not insure your competency in surviving an unforeseen diving complication that occurs frequently.

[sorefeet]

20. I looked in PADI

it says adequate swimming skills required for scuba TRAINING. So I'm guessing to be certified one would need to know how to swim. This has been helpful, thanks.