why?

[CompuDude]

What cracks me up are the people who say scuba diving is too dangerous, but then they get in a car and drive to work... or go offroading. And don't get me started on motorcycles.

There are lots of activities that people do every day that have a FAR worse safety record than scuba diving, but somehow people are really freaked out by the idea so they don't consider the realities.

[doimber]

i guess its that your under water, which is where the people that say its dangerous are not comfortable. and second i have heard many people say that your breathing through a tube and that is not easy. accept that it's highly pressurized and if you have a good reg. then you can breathe easly

[thagar]

I haven't had anyone say it was dangerous yet. It isn't any more dangerous than my brother going rock climbing or the guy weaving in and out of DC rush hour traffic.

[bigman241]

People smoke drive cars, fly planes, swim across lakes and oceans. People sky dive, and guess what people die doing everything else. You can die in your living room watching tv as a bullet flies through your window and kills you. You can walk outside your door and get bite by a snake and die. Where all going to die one day why not die doing something you love to do. A smoker has aheck of alot bigger chance of dieing then a diver does.

[Miked]

I think that these comments result froma combination of things, among them:
you're breathing underwater,
all the "complicated" equipment,
the "spaceman" look when in full gear and wetsuit,
jaws.
in other words, the unknown.

[BookemDano]

It's interesting that I am fairly claustraphobic, but have never had that feeling when diving.

[Vercingetorix]

Originally Posted by doimber

it seemed like i couldn't talk about scuba without my mom or some other person telling me to stop talking or saying that scuba is to dangerous and if you must do it don't talk to us about it.

I'm sorry you're not getting support from your family. I would have hoped they'd encourage you and ask questions to stimulate your enthusiasm and learning.

Originally Posted by doimber

why is a 37 year old in the junior divers?

An odd question. Why'd you ask?

[Vlane]

It can be dangerous, but like others have said with education you can greatly reduce those risks. When I bring up diving around friends most of them just think it's stupid to dive in lake and there's nothing to see down there. My parents are pretty supportive but they don't like the idea of cave diving. I'll try it one of these days, but I still need some more dives under me.

[Vercingetorix]

Originally Posted by Vlane

It can be dangerous, ...

to your wallet and credit cards

[bmp51]

Originally Posted by Vercingetorix

to your wallet and credit cards

HAHA exactly!!!

my parents and my wife are supportive (hell my pop is the one who gave me lessons for a bday a few years ago) he has been diving since the early 80's before a lot of the "newer" safety standards.

My mom is a bit freaked out about it at times, but overall very supportive. Again though they have asked a LOT of questions, and my wife actually read through the OW book to get an idea of what I would be doing underwater.

She tried a DC (discover Scuba) at a local shop, and was unable to deal with the claustrophobia. she said it was the mask with the reg that made her feel like she was not able to breath, like she was "stuck behind the gear"