Before I started diving, casual conversations with people who know a bit about diving led me to believe that you don't really need to know how to swim in order to dive. Fact or fiction? Now that I have some experience let's deliberate.Let's talk about the gearThe human body is naturally positively buoyant when the lungs are filled and muscles are relaxed. Notice how you tend to float especially well in salt water. As technology developed, man built gear to help control their buoyancy.
Your exposure suit, in most cases here your wetsuit, is made of neoprene and other fabrics. Neoprene is kind of like rubber, and so it floats. Your mask, although has some positively buoyant materials, generally doesn't float because of the hard denser materials used to make it strong (so it doesn't break if you happen to put it through some rough handling). Your fins are likely to be neutrally/positively buoyant because they need to be slightly rubberized to ease your finning, but negatively buoyant fins are also available.
Your BC (Buoyancy Control Device), as the name would indicate helps to control your buoyancy. So it can be both positively or negatively buoyant depending on how much air you fill it with. Your air tank, of course will sink. Your weight belt & weights are there for the sole purpose of helping you sink. Other random accesories are negligable.
Now if you really think about it, it's much easier to float than it is to sink. You would have a hard time descending if not for the weights, so if you're having problems staying afloat, just drop them. That's why they're made to come loose with ease.
So technically, swimming isn't a prerequisite to diving. The most important thing is to not panic. As long as you can think straight, you're not going to drown.
Does this mean you can dive if you don't know how to swim?Swimming and diving use different techniques, so you don't really need to know how to swim in order to dive. But food for thought - people who don't know how to swim are generally more afraid of huge volumes of water than people who know how to swim. The psychological factor cannot be avoided. When unexpected events take place while a person is in the water, a non-swimmer is more likely to panic.
You'll also notice how many non-swimmers are hydrophobic. This means it takes them a lot more time and effort to get comfortable in the water. I know of some people at least 5ft tall who won't even dare to get into a 4ft pool of water. Forcing it will only take the fun out of diving. Furthermore, it's not only your life that is at stake. When you panic, your inability to think rationally might cost someone else his/her life.
I've seen some people who made it through their open water diver course, PADI certified. But it was only because they forced themselves through. And one major contributing factor is that they had a nice patient instructor around to make them feel secure. What happens after getting their certification? They're unlikely to find security in diving with other divers. And divematers won't always be so accommodating to be right by their side all the way through the dive. Are they going to have their own personal instructor/divemaster follow them on every dive? It just wouldn't make sense.
Mervs' conclusionDiving is supposed to be fun, but the fun disappears when your mind is constantly troubled by the fear of drowning. Knowing how to swim gives you peace of mind so that you can focus on having fun. So put in some effort to learn to swim before diving. And if water scares you, avoid diving altogether. Stick to National Geographic, Animal Planet & Discovery Channel.
