What not to do if you want to get your friends into the diving world

Scuba diving is a recreation for two. It is natural to share your passion for it with your closest friends.

We are sure that you have many times explained to someone why you became a diver. Also answering their many questions trying to get them into the world of diving. However, sometimes we can forget about how we felt before getting certified and all the things we learned while diving. So, when trying to get your friends to dive, keep in mind a few things you should definitely not do.

Don’t tell your friend that diving is easy

Although we agree that recreational diving is not rocket science in the end, learning the basics at the outset can be tricky. Try to remember how you felt in your first try to scuba dive. Most of us did not master skills such as buoyancy or breathing the first time we tried. We may consider this simple now because we had the opportunity to practice these skills several times, but at first, it seems complicated.

What to say instead if you want to get your friends into diving

Tell them the point is not to learn everything right away. The instructor would do almost everything with them in the beginning. And their instructor will do a lot of things even instead of them. The diving experience should be relaxing as well as revealing the feeling of breathing underwater, and an experimental/test dive is ideal for this. Then, if they enjoyed their first dive, they could enroll in the course. They should not be overly bothered by the detailed knowledge of how the compensator works or how to properly remove the mask. Reduce the mental charge to keep things simple. And remember, their instructor is a professional trained to teach these skills.

Don’t negate their fears

When you meet non-divers who know your life is about diving, they often directly share with you their fear of trying. The main two fears you can usually hear are the fear of depth, respectively drowning. And the fear of fish, that is, to be touched by something they cannot see, respectively, the fear of the unknown. Tackling these fears without empathy will not get you anywhere. Or worse, it can create a blockage for your friend. We are all afraid of something.

So what should you do instead?

If your friend is not a confident swimmer, it might be a good idea to work on this together before encouraging him to try diving. If marine life is what he is worried about, why not go through some of your best underwater photographs to show him the beauty of the underwater world? Tell him that when he enters the water nothing is unknown and everything is clearly visible through the mask. Offer to go with him underwater. Admittedly, you must keep in mind that the presence of a third diver in a diving course is subject to the goodwill of the instructor. Always respect the minimum distance for an instructor to do their job, but brief eye contact can mean everything to someone who has been overwhelmed by this new experience.

Don’t tell them they done something wrong

Sometimes people try to dive, but that doesn’t go well straight away. The reasons for this can be many, but telling them that they missed something will not help. The most important diving concern is the pressure they have in their ears. Some may have felt it when trying to dive with a snorkel at the beach or at their local pool. As pressure equalization becomes almost natural for divers, it is easy to forget that this is not a skill we possess by instinct. If people felt pain at any time, it is important to listen to it and realize what happened.

How do I approach them at this point?

It is usually good to start by saying that equalizing the pressure in your ear is one skill that you will primarily practice with your instructor. The key is to make the experience enjoyable. It is usually necessary to explain that the ability to equalize pressure depends on the people, and there are a number of individual techniques to achieve the same result.

Thanks for reading! To read more about scuba diving, check our story about how to keep warm while scuba diving.

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