Do I Need to Know How to Swim to Scuba Dive?

The Question That Stops Most Adults From Ever Diving

It usually happens late at night. A trip is coming up — Bali, Cebu, Jeju — and someone in the group has mentioned a dive. You open Google, type the question that has been quietly bothering you for years, and start scrolling.

One blog says “swimming skills are not required.” The next one warns that you must complete a 200-meter swim and ten-minute float, no exceptions. A forum thread argues both. A YouTube comment says the test was “the easiest thing in my life.” Another says it took two attempts and made the writer cry.

You close the tab. You decide diving “isn’t for you.” You snorkel on the next holiday, watch a family of strangers descend slowly into deeper blue, and feel that small, half-disappointed relief of having stayed safe.

That decision — made on a phone, at 2 a.m., based on conflicting blog posts written by people who were trying to sell you something — has steered countless adults away from the single experience that could have changed how they feel about water for the rest of their lives.

You’re reading this for a reason. Let us give you the actual answer — the one we give every student who walks through our door in Seoul.

Why the Wrong Answer Costs More Than You Think

The internet hands you two extreme answers, and both are dangerous in different ways.

The first comes from half-day try-dive operators on tropical beaches. “No swimming required!” they say, because they want you to book a one-hour bubble blow under the watch of an instructor who is also watching five other tourists. That experience is real, and for some people it’s a beautiful first taste. But it is not a certification. It does not prepare you. And if you bring that confidence to a real open-water dive afterwards, you can find yourself at six meters with a flooded mask, no idea how to clear it, and a regulator hose pulling on your jaw.

The second answer comes from gym-style instructors who treat the swim test like a military entrance exam. They yell across the pool deck. They time everyone. They pass the strong swimmers and quietly fail the rest, then call them back six months later. The students who do pass often leave certified but never comfortable in the water — and they rarely dive again.

Both approaches share the same blind spot: they treat the swim requirement as a hurdle, not as information about you. The PADI watermanship standards don’t exist to filter people out. They exist because, in the rare event your gear becomes a problem at the surface, you need to be able to keep yourself calm and floating long enough for help to reach you. That’s the whole reason.

The honest answer about swimming and scuba diving sits between the two extremes — and it’s almost certainly more generous than you’ve been led to believe.

Here is what PADI actually requires, why it matters, and how a real Career Development Center in Seoul handles students who arrive nervous about their swimming. No marketing. No yelling. Just the standard, in plain English.

What PADI Actually Says — Word for Word

To earn a PADI Open Water Diver certification, the global standard has only two watermanship items. There is no third. There is no fitness benchmark beyond what these two items demonstrate.

Read the first line again carefully. No time limit. If you take fifteen minutes to swim 200 meters using a slow breaststroke, you pass. If you switch from freestyle to backstroke halfway because your shoulders tire, you pass. If you stop kicking and pull yourself along with a relaxed sidestroke, you pass.

The float is even more forgiving. Lying flat on your back, sculling gently with your hands, costs almost no energy. Most people who think they “can’t tread water” can absolutely float on their back once someone shows them how to relax their hips and stop kicking against gravity.

The standard tests comfort and endurance, not technique. It exists so we know that if your gear is removed at the surface — a boat sinks, a strap snaps, anything — you can keep yourself afloat and breathing until help arrives.

Three Honest Profiles

Discover Scuba Diving vs. PADI Open Water Diver

If you are unsure which one fits you, write to us. We will tell you honestly — including when the answer is “wait three months and learn to swim first.”

Where You Will Actually Be Practicing

Confined-water training in Seoul takes place in a heated indoor pool. Water temperature is comfortable year-round, the bottom is visible, there is no current, and the deep end is not deeper than what you’ll need to comfortably perform skills. You will not be thrown into cold open water on day one. That is not how anyone learns to dive well.

Sessions move progressively. The first half-hour is in shallow water you can stand in. We add equipment piece by piece. You breathe through a regulator while kneeling in waist-deep water before we ever ask you to be neutrally buoyant. By the time you are practicing skills in the deeper section, the breathing apparatus already feels normal.

Open-water dives — the four required dives that complete certification — happen on Korea’s east coast (Gangneung or Donghae, roughly one hour from Seoul by KTX or three hours by bus). Water temperature ranges from around 14°C in winter to 26°C in late summer. We supply thermal-protection wetsuits or drysuits as appropriate. Visibility on a good day exceeds ten meters; you will see kelp forests, rockfish, sea slugs, and on occasion small rays. For students who want warmer water and better visibility for their first open-water experience, we also run trips to Jeju Island and overseas destinations.

Why Nervous Swimmers Choose NB Divers

How a Real First Pool Day Unfolds

The Questions Students Ask Most

Finding Us, Paying, Eating, Staying Warm

Getting to the dive center. NB Divers is a short walk from Jamsil Sports Complex Station (잠실종합운동장역, Line 2 & 9). The easiest fallback is KakaoTaxi — install the English app before you arrive. When you book, we send a Korean-language address card you can show any taxi driver, plus the precise WhatsApp pin-drop.

Payment. We accept Korean credit cards and most international Visa, Mastercard, and Amex cards. Cash is not required. If your card has been flagged for foreign-merchant blocks, let us know in advance and we’ll send a payment link that handles 3-D Secure cleanly.

Messaging us. KakaoTalk is the dominant chat app in Korea and we use it actively, but for international numbers WhatsApp is usually faster and easier. Both are checked daily, and the support continues long after your final dive — questions about gear, future trips, or your next certification level are always welcome.

Food during course days. Vegetarian, vegan, halal, gluten-free, and other dietary needs are easily accommodated in the area surrounding the dive center. Tell us in advance and we’ll point you to specific restaurants — including Muslim-friendly options near the pool. Pool training is physical work; eating well between sessions matters more than students expect.

What to bring on pool day. A swimsuit, a towel, and an open mind. Everything else — mask, fins, regulator, BCD, weights — is provided. Bring a light snack and a water bottle. Hair tie if you have long hair. Contact lenses are fine (we’ll talk you through the mask-clear technique safely). Glasses can be addressed with a prescription mask insert; mention it at booking if you wear strong correction.

For open-water trips on the east coast. Korea’s east-coast diving runs year-round. Spring and autumn give the cleanest visibility; mid-summer brings warmer surface water but more boat traffic. Winter is colder but the marine life is often more active. We supply thermal exposure gear matched to the season — a 5mm wetsuit in summer, a drysuit in winter — and you’ll travel with the group from Seoul. No separate logistics required from your end.