Scuba diving is a great activity that has become more popular in recent years. Whether you are visiting an exotic island in the search of hidden treasures or diving beneath the waves near your home, there is something for everyone in scuba diving.
While scuba diving should be a fun experience for everyone, from beginner to pro, there are lots of misconceptions around it. Starting from how diving is done to the minimum requirements you should have to become a scuba diver.
In this post, I will debunk the top 15 myths and misconceptions around scuba diving. If you have heard some more and don’t see them in my list below, get in touch and I will be happy to add those myths to my list.
1. You Can’t Dive If You Wear Contact Lenses or Glasses
One of the major concerns for divers-to be or newbie divers, is what will happen if they aren’t able to wear their glasses.
This is not a limitation keeping you from diving, and there are several options to help those with poor vision start scuba diving.
The two main options are to use a prescription dive mask to mimic glasses, or for the diver to use soft lense contact lenses.
These contact lenses can be worn, even if your mask floods, and are a safe and attractive option to allow divers to explore freely, despite their poor vision.
I personally always recommend all divers to limit risk factors while diving. Even if soft-lense contact lenses are safe, I strongly suggest to use a prescription dive mask such as the Scubapro Zoom Evo or the Cressi Focus.
If you are looking for more info on how to choose the perfect scuba diving mask, check out my complete guide.
2. You Will Be Eaten By Sharks
You might be wondering what will happen if you are diving and run across a shark.
Will he eat you? Most likely not. There is an extremely low chance that a shark will attack you while you are diving.
In 2021 only 4 percent of all shark attacks were related to snorkeling and diving, meaning that you are not going to be eaten by a shark on your next scuba diving trip.
In case you are still not convinced, consider that a group of researchers from Stanford University has conducted a study showing that the probability of being bitten by a shark is 1 in 17 million for surfers while scuba divers have a way lower probability of 1 in 136 million.
3. You Can’t Dive if You Are Claustrophobic
Claustrophobia should definitely not be a barrier to diving, but you should be aware that you may want to avoid certain types of dives if you do feel claustrophobic.
For instance, at least in your first dives, try to avoid night diving, deep diving, wreck diving or cave diving.
Open water dives should be a safe choice since you cannot dive under an object that would block you from reaching the surface.
I would also suggest starting with shallow dives not requiring a safety emergency stop while ascending. This will allow you to test whether you have claustrophobia underwater.
Also, try out different lighting and visibility conditions to ensure that you do not have claustrophobia also with poor visibility or light.
As long as you prepare ahead of time, and let your dive partners and instructor know, you should be able to dive even if you are claustrophobic.
4. You Can’t Dive with Tinnitus
Another misconception or myth about scuba diving is that you cannot dive if you have Tinnitus.
This is not correct, if you have tinnitus prior to going scuba diving you can dive safely, and according to the Divers Alert Network (DAN), there is no reason to cancel a dive because of tinnitus.
However, if you do experience tinnitus after a dive, you should definitely get in contact with your doctor to have your ears checked.
5. You Can’t Dive If You Have Asthma
Another myth is that if you have Asthma you cannot go scuba diving.
This is incorrect. In fact, scuba guidelines prescribe that you can dive provided that you have specific medical clearance.
When scuba diving you will need to perform moderate to intense physical activity as well as use a breathing device.
Many scuba societies only recommend that cold-based, exercise-based, or emotion-based asthmatics should be certified by a dive doctor before diving.
As long as you are certified and medically cleared you can dive, even if you have Asthma.
6. Divers Breathe Pure Oxygen
When people hear about oxygen tanks, they might think that divers use pure oxygen while diving.
In fact, breathing a high amount of oxygen at depth is toxic, and could even lead to injury or death.
Most scuba diving tanks contain normal air, which in turn has about 21 percent oxygen.
Some tanks may contain closer to 40 percent oxygen, but these are only used by divers that are specifically certified for Nitrox and will not be used by new divers.
Note however that for some types of technical diving, scuba divers do breathe pure oxygen at very shallow depths.
7. Diving is Only For The Young And Fit
One misconception is that you need to be in great physical shape or be young in order to dive.
This simply isn’t true, anyone can dive as long as they can perform the tasks needed to dive.
You will need to be able to read the dials on your tanks, carry the equipment you need in and out of the water, and keep yourself moving throughout your entire dive.
You do not need to be as fast as younger divers, you just need to be able to perform basic tasks, and you can dive, either as an experienced diver or as a first-timer.
Note however that physical conditions do affect diving performance and the risk of developing some diving-related injuries.
This is why it is always essential to have a specific medical clearance to dive in case you have some health issues or physical conditions.
8. You Can’t Dive While on Your Period
You might have been told that you cannot dive while on your period. Again, the standard for scuba diving is being able to perform basic tasks (known as diving skills).
If you experience cramps during your period, you need to be able to perform each of the physical tasks needed.
Simple pain meds can help you manage these cramps, and help you focus on the dive. As long as you can keep up with the diving tasks, there is no reason not to dive while on your period.
9. You Can’t Dive if You Had Covid-19
If you have had Covid, you don’t need to let it stop you from going scuba diving.
Again, the gold standard for these is, as long as you can perform all the diving tasks you can go scuba diving.
If you had a severe batch of symptoms it may be a good idea to check and make sure your physical fitness, mental focus, and breathing ability are up to par in a local swimming pool or body of water.
As long as you can physically and mentally keep up, and have tested negative for Covid, there is no reason to stop you from going scuba diving after having Covid.
If you had covid and would like to scuba dive, I strongly recommend you check out the most recent Covid guidelines from DAN.
10. You Can’t Dive After Getting A Tattoo
While this is technically just a myth, there are some things that you will want to consider before scuba diving after getting a new tattoo.
When getting a tattoo they recommend that you try and keep it as dry as possible. This is to prevent the ink from being washed out and to prevent the sensitive, raw skin from potentially getting infected.
However, if you keep the tattoo dry you should be safe to dive with it. Some divers have had success using a water-tight bandage like tagaderm or wrapping it in plastic wrap.
Others used a dry suit while diving which will keep your entire body dry. This means that while you need to prepare beforehand, you can still scuba dive with a new tattoo.
11. Scuba Diving Is Dangerous
A common misconception about scuba diving is that it is a dangerous activity.
In reality, around 3-4 divers per 100,000 divers in the US and Canada die each year from diving.
In comparison, there are just under 12 deaths per 100,000 drivers in the US each year, meaning dying in a car accident has a higher probability than dying while scuba diving.
In addition, the most common injuries while diving are ear problems, decompression sickness, and marine envenomation.
The first two can be avoided by following diving training and the last can be avoided by not touching or provoking marine wildlife.
12. You Cannot Scuba Dive if You Are Not A Good Swimmer
There is relatively little swimming that needs to be done while scuba diving.
Most of the movement will be done by mastering your buoyancy and using properly your fins.
To be certified to dive all you need to do is be able to swim 200 yards and tread water for 10 minutes.
If you can’t do either of these you can look for a scuba experience where you get to wear and use all of the scuba equipment in an enclosed pool with a guide, but will not be able to dive in open water.
If you are interested in becoming a PADI certified open water diver, check out my ultimate guide.
13. Scuba Diving Is Too Expensive
People might think that scuba diving is super expensive.
In fact, taking an entry level diving course will cost you between $200 and $600 depending on the location.
You can also do trial dives with a guide for $70 to $200 at many resorts.
Trial dives will be shorter, but do not require the training and classes of a full course and are, on average, cheaper as well.
14. You Need To Dive Super Deep To See Something Interesting
You might think that you need to dive super deep in order to find something interesting.
In fact, there are many reefs and atolls that are only about 6 to 98 feet (2 to 30) meters deep making them easy to reach even while snorkeling.
In some cases, shallower dives might be even better than deeper dives, because you don’t have to spend as much time descending and ascending out of your dives.
If you are looking for some places with easy, shallow dives, check out places like the Maldives or Bonaire.
15. Diving Is a Men’s Only Sport
One concern that women may have is that they believe that diving is a men’s only sport.
While the majority of divers are male, there are also many women who participate as well.
In one survey conducted by DAN, they found that 66 percent of divers were male, with the remainder being female.
The number of women participating in this sport is increasing every year too, so this should not be a major concern for new divers.