Dive Snorkeling

I cant tread and terrible swimmer but would love to scuba dive?

Hi there..I would like to scuba dive and sign up for Open Water course. The thing is I am a terrible swimmer and I cant tread. I can only do freestyle and float horizontally, either face up or down. But I am comfortable in the water. I love snorkelling as well but of course I wear the life jacket when I go snorkelling. But snorkelling and scuba diving are completely different are they not?Do you think I can scuba dive? Thanks.

All legitimate scuba training agencies require you to possess basic swimming skills in order to become a certified scuba diver. Exact requirements may differ, but you will need to at least be able to swim a distance (possibly up to 200m), tread water/survival swim for 10 minutes, and snorkel swim with mask/fins/snorkel (maybe 450 yards). You may also have to swim underwater for 15m (50 feet) or so. The idea is that you should not be COMPLETELY dependent upon your equipment in the water.

If you are comfortable in the water but lack these basic swimming skills, my advice is that you spend time developing these skills before signing up for the course. You'll be a lot more confident when asked to do these skills and will be able to enjoy the course that much more because you won't be dreading the water skills tests.

So, yes, if you are comfortable in the water there is no reason you cannot become a scuba diver but you should spend some time developing better swimming skills before signing up.

EDIT; By the way, you say you can "float horizontally, either face up or down". If you can float on your back for 10 minutes without support, that would satisfy the survival swim requirement in a NAUI course.

On 20.01.2004 we left cold Germany with a small group of 8 people who wanted to escape the winter and enjoy a few nice days at Embudu Village (Maldives).

After about 11 hour's flight, we landed at Male. After customs, we were already expected from our tour leader. (As a small note: It is forbidden do bring alcohol to the Maldives. The hand luggage and the suitcases are scanned for).

Directly at the airport our boat was already waiting for us, which should bring us to Embudu Village. The transfer usually took about 45 min. But in recent weeks, there were strong currents so we had to make a detour. The holiday begins already on the boat. You took your shoes off and you don't have to care about your luggage.

At the airport we had our check-in maps of the island and get out, so the check in at reception is very quick - we got the bungalow we reserved. In the evening of our arrival day our tour leader gave us a short briefing about the Maldives and our island. Even the local dive center was there.

Embudu Village is a small and quiet island. The comfort of the island is normal.
The bungalows are built along the water and in the middle of the island are the restaurant, bar and reception. The island has a few water bungalows. We had the opportunity to test one of these water bungalows for 2 days. We couldn't sleep at all. The splashing of the water kept us awake. In future, we would not book one of these bungalows.

The normal bungalows are simple and functionally furnished. They are cleaned twice daily. The bathroom is integrated into the bungalow.

As the island consists totally of sand, we didn't need our shoes at all for 2 weeks.

The hotel offers full board and all inclusive, which can be booked directly at the hotel. Breakfast and dinner are always served in buffet form and is really very good. The selection of food is not excessive.

Swimming and snorkeling is possible everywhere in the small lagoons around the island. You can even circle around the island while snorkeling.

The house reef is about 3 / 4 destroyed. There is a corner where the old and intact reef is still present, but at this corner there are usually strong currents. The snorkeling is worth again, because the fish has not changed. We had several baby sharks, manta rays, turtles, rays, etc.

The diving base is located near the water bungalows. We have decided to take the boat twice a day. The base line, the instructor and the crew of the boats were very competent and friendly.

Résumé As for me, I can only recommend the island. We were certainly not the there for the last time.

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