Debunking Myths regarding Scuba Diving

It’s expensive! Yet, it is cheaper than getting your driving license and with the Open Water certification you can dive globally at 18m.

I don’t have a dive buddy! Well trust me, you will find a good number of people always ready and willing to let you know that it’s time for a dive!

I don’t have the time! To complete your first diving experience (PADI Discover Scuba Diving) you only need 4 hours! That is the same amount of time that it takes to get a cup of coffee with one of your friends. The difference is that the cup of coffee is not an unforgettable experience!

I am afraid that I will run out of air and drown! Your first diving experience takes place in a controlled and shallow environment where your tank has more than enough air, where the ever presence of your instructor can ensure the smooth completion of your first diving experience.

I am afraid that I will have Decompression Sickness! Your first diving experience takes place in a depth where you are free of decompression sickness. Afterwards, your training can make sure that by keeping a simple set of rules during your every dive you can be certain that decompression sickness will never be an issue during your dives!

I am scared of the big fish, sharks! Unfortunately in the Mediterranean Sea and more specifically in Greece, encountering sharks is an extremely rare occasion and even when it happens the species are completely harmless to humans. Overall, all sea creatures have no offensive features towards humans and the only reason for any accidents occurring in the water have to do with animals being in a defensive state.

I get cold easily! The different kinds of wetsuits that you can find in our dive center can cover all of your needs and can ensure that you will complete your first diving experience without worrying about getting cold.

I have health issues! If your health “problem” is that important then your doctor surely has already advised you as to what are the activities that you can participate in or not! Otherwise, a visit to a pathologist or even better a hyperbaric doctor will cover all your possible questions.

I am not so sure I can make it! PADI’s program Discover Scuba Diving will convince you! The patience and persistence that describes our instructors in combination with the relaxation that scuba diving itself provides, are the most important factors that will make sure you complete your first diving experience with ease.
Then it’s not about whether you make it or not but only a question of when you will get your first diving certification!

I am claustrophobic – have panic attacks! Regarding claustrophobia, if you can use and be in an elevator then surely you are not claustrophobic. As for the panic attacks, a rather big number of people have, at some point in their life, experienced a panic attack but that doesn’t mean that they suffer from that in a clinical way. Water helps in our inner serenity and relaxation and the presence of the professional diving instructor make the perfect conditions for the completion of your first diving experience.

I am afraid of the sea! Scuba diving is one of those experiences that bring you closer to the sea. So close that it makes you love it and really understand what makes it so charming. Right before your eyes, all the big “mysteries” that may have kept you at a distance, get solved. Through scuba diving you will acquire an innate respect for the ocean and the fear gets instantly transformed to love for it!

I am scared of the sea’s black! When you are standing at the beach and look at the ocean you can all different shades of blue that you can imagine. The dark blue, the “black” that you see isn’t but patches of the sea’s bottom covered with seaweed, the lawn of the Mediterranean Sea! Home to different species of fish, octopuses and other sea creatures that enrich our dives and make them as beautiful as we wish them to be! Usually we tend to fear what we don’t know. Scuba diving has a unique way of transforming many of our fears and worries into limitless love of this “multidimensional” blue!

These are some of the most common “myths” that people have as their reservations as to why they shouldn’t try scuba diving. Me, writing these lines, used to have lots of these fears before I began doing this thing that I now have great difficulty in finding the right words to describe the love for scuba diving. I can tell you this though; fear isn’t but an idea in our minds, but the most important thing is the adventure waiting behind this idea!

Orestis Papadogoulas
SCUBA Instructor