Hi SD fans, and welcome back to the channel. Getting back into diving after a period of
inactivity is sometimes a daunting process, especially if the reason for stopping diving in
the first place was a bad experience underwater. But not everyone stops diving because of a scary
incident – sometimes life just gets in the way, and diving falls by the wayside. I have spoken
to countless people over the years who say ‘I did my PADI course XXXX amount of years ago’,
or ‘I used to dive back in the day’, and so on. Just remember, diving is one of those
activities that can be done by all ages, and it is never too late to get back on the wagon.
In this video, I’ll offer some sage advice on returning to scuba diving.
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‘I used to dive but…’, ‘I did my open water course years ago, but haven’t dived since’,
‘I had a scary incident and quit diving’, are all things I have heard time and again at dive shows,
on dive trips, and even just at friends and family gatherings.
It is amazing how many people are out there who used to dive and then, for a variety of reasons,
no longer venture into our watery world of adventure. Whenever I am confronted
by one of these people, I always seek to discover why they stopped diving in
the first place – and then do my level best to tempt them back into our awesome sport.
So, let’s have a look at some of the common reasons I have heard for quitting diving.
I used to dive but then we had kids Probably one of the main reasons I get told
is that life simply got in the way. Some people stopped diving due to
getting a new job, getting a house, meeting a non-diving partner, and so on, but the number
one reason is that children turned up on the scene and diving was put on the back burner.
Some people do return to diving after having children – my wife and I went
on our first post-birth dive trip when our son Luke was eight months old – but far too
often it seems that diving is permanently lost to the history books for many parents.
I think this is a crying shame, as diving is one of those activities that can be done
as a family, much like skiing. There are even companies out there like Kids Sea
Camp which specialize in offering family-friendly dive trips to locations all over the world.
Children can get into scuba diving from the age of eight through pool or confined water programmes,
with most training agencies offering full scuba courses – albeit with junior depth
limits – from the age of 10. However, you can get youngsters into the water long before then. Luke
was snorkelling from the age of three, and had his first taste of breathing through a regulator
at the age of five-and-a-half on a SASY system, or Surface Air Supplied Snorkelling for Youth.
This is basically a dinky cylinder on a small BCD that is packed full of high-density foam,
providing huge amounts of buoyancy. The children bomb around on the surface, breathing through
a standard regulator, but can lift their heads out of the water at any given moment.
Luke did SASSY when we were in the Cayman Islands with Kids Sea Camp, and I still remember him out
at the 4m dive known as Stingray City, bent at the waist, head down and flailing his arms like mad
trying to get below the surface. This is a great intro for children into scuba systems, and sets
them up well for when they can do Bubblemaker and Scuba Ranger programmes when they turn eight.
From the age of ten, once they have an entry-level certification, you can all dive as a family,
and believe me, nothing beats the feeling of exploring a reef or a wreck with your entire
clan in tow. The fact that most junior open water qualifications are limited to 12m or so is no
bad thing either, as if you have been out of the water for a few years, sticking to these shallower
depths for your dives together will get your back into the swing of things in a safe manner.
It has been too many years since I dived That bring me on nicely to the next reason for
people not diving – it has just been too long since they last ventured beneath the surface.
However, diving is a bit like riding a bike, it is amazing how all those
skills coming rushing back to you when you get your equipment on and go for a dive.
But I am not suggesting you just dig out your old gear from the back of the shed
and go for a dive. There are various ways to get yourself back into the groove.
Dive with a buddy You might have a very experienced buddy who is
suitably competent to take you back into the water for your first few dives after an extended layoff.
Just be aware, though, that just because someone is a long-time diver with thousands of dives under
their belt, they might not be the best person to take you for your first dives in a while.
I know some hugely experienced divers who definitely know their stuff,
but I wouldn’t want them taking a newbie into a swimming pool, never mind the sea.
So just bear that in mind if a well-meaning friend offers to get you back in the water.
Do a refresher One of the best ways to get back into the
water when you haven’t dived in a while is to sign up for a refresher course with your local dive
centre. Here, a qualified instructor or Divemaster will be able to guide you through setting up your
gear, getting back into the water, and running through some skills and drills. As I said, you
will find that muscle memory and core skills will come rushing back to you once you are underwater,
but it is a good idea to go through all of the basics – mask clearing, regulator retrieval and so
on – as well as get back into the feeling of scuba diving in this controlled, monitored environment.
These sessions only last a few hours and are not expensive,
but they are a fantastic way to brush up on your skillset and properly prepare to get back diving.
Do your open water course If people have been out of the water for
a seriously extended time period – I am talking several years – then I often suggest it would
be a good idea for them to re-do their entry-level open water course. These are only a few days long,
and training and techniques are constantly evolving, so it is a great way to safely return
to the diving fraternity and at the same time bolster your skillset with up-to-date knowledge.
Before I get into the next reason for quitting diving,
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Right, on with the next reason people stop diving…
My partner does not dive. I know far too many people who hung up their
fins when they got married or met a long-term partner and their significant other did not dive.
Again, this is a real shame as diving is a fabulous sport for
couples – they are a ready-made buddy team at the end of the day! I always urge people whose
partners don’t dive to try and lure them into our watery world – sometimes, you just have to give
up and realise they will never become a diver, but quite often, I have seen these non-diving spouses
get seriously addicted and end up even more of a dive-addict than their diving other half!
A great way to both get diving is to do the open water course together – as I said above, if it
has been several years since you last dived, then re-doing the open water course is not a bad idea
anyway, but if you can do it with your partner, then even better.
I remember a friend of mine who was going to the Maldives on his honeymoon.
Years before he had done his entry-level course in a quarry in the UK but had not dived since.
His wife was a non-diver. I lambasted him that he could not go to the Maldives and not dive,
and suggested they both do their open water course while they were out there.
A few weeks later I saw them, and they excitedly told me that they had followed my advice and done
their open water certification. I then asked how many dives they had done and they replied ‘just
the four’. I was astounded that on a two-week trip they had only done the four qualifying open water
dives, but then they told me what they had seen on those dives… dive one they had a dolphin came and
played with them in the midst of a skill circuit, dive two they saw a manta ray and eagle rays,
dive three a hammerhead shark swam through the group, and on dive four, at their safety stop,
they were buzzed by a whaleshark. While I was cursing them under my breath, they said
‘where should be dive next’, and I told them tongue-in-cheek to take up golf,
as they were never going to equal those initial four dives. Some people are just lucky, I guess.
I had a scary experience This is perhaps another regular
reason for stopping diving that I hear. People have been diving and scared themselves silly,
and have not dived since. I have been on boats when divers have had a moment and are on the brink
of jacking everything in, but if you can calm them down and get them back in the water for a gentle,
relaxing dive – the exact opposite of whatever incident freaked them out – then you stand a good
chance of keeping them in the diving world. But if it has been a long while since the incident,
then it is harder to overcome those deep-seated fears, but it is not impossible.
Again, signing up for a full open water course is a great idea if it has been a long time
since they were last in the water. Going back to basics is a good way to reset,
and start them back on the diving ladder. If it hasn’t been that long since they
canned diving, then going for some nice, easy, shallow dives with an instructor or dive guide
is a good course of action. Just being back in the water in a relaxed fashion can reignite their love
for the sport. More often than not, when the proverbial hit the fan, the diver in question
was probably pushing the limits of their diving abilities, so keeping things nice and relaxed
is a surefire way to push that horrible memory of diving into the furthest recesses of their brain.
The main thing with these people is to not run before they can walk, but in a diving sense.
Their confidence may go through the roof after a couple of shallow dives,
but the worst thing that can do then is charge back into the deeper, more-challenging dives
they were doing pre-incident, as then they are just asking for something similar,
or worse, to happen again. Get them to take things slowly and steadily, increasing the difficulty of
their dives as their confidence and skills grow and return. Before long they will be back in the
thick of it, loving their diving again, and that scary moment will be a distance memory.
Have you had a lay-off from diving? How did you get back in the saddle? Leave your comments below,
and if you have a question, fire away – if we can’t answer it, I am sure some of our
ever-growing subscribers will be able to assist. If you enjoyed this video, please hit that
subscribe button, so you don’t miss out on any of our future content,
and go check out our playlist for more educational and entertaining videos. Don’t
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As always, if you are going diving, stay safe!