How dangerous is scuba diving in shallow waters, say less than 15ft/5meters? I'm planning on learning basic scuba with my wife and kids, and my feeling (born out of ignorance, masked as common sense, I know) was that it was very safe if you don't go deep, however some comments here are making me question that. So how safe is it, in general lines, if you don't go more than a couple of meters? And how much better/more fun is it than snorkeling? Thanks in advance for any answers!
It is far more fun than snorkeling and (in my opinion) anything less than 10/12 meters is very safe, if something goes wrong you just slowly kick up and don't need a safety stop. A couple of caveats: you should get certified with an instructor who takes the time to teach you safety techniques (like how to recover if your mask gets pulled off); the certification will involve at least one deep dive. I recommend proceeding directly to 'advanced' certification (the next level after open water diver) right away, because the basic open water course is targeted at minting as many new scuba divers as possible, and is not enough to adequately practice what you learned.
As far as shallow water diving goes, the best places are coral reefs (like Hawaii), you can spend all day in 30 feet of water and never get bored. The great advantage over snorkeling is that you can get very close to things (like tiny fish that look like designer handbags defending their little patch of coral) and see things in 3D, sea turtles slowly drifting past you, small sharks warming themselves on sunlit patches of sand like cats.
For maximum safety, avoid diving sites that have currents or boat traffic, and shore dives with strong surf, those are probably the biggest risks to a beginner in shallow water. It's also a good idea if diving with your family for the most proficient one or two of you to eventually take a rescue diver course, which will teach you how to help a panicked or incapacitated diver. Good luck and have fun—good safety habits go a long way in this activity, and you are in for years of enjoyment diving together.
Funny... I'd have said that snorkeling is among the best ways to spend time in the water. The cool life is near the surface anyway, and requires zero training.
Scuba lets you get closer and it's wonderful to feel the true 3D freedom of movement. But in terms of sight seeing snorkels get got 90% of the joy for 1% of the effort.
> How dangerous is scuba diving in shallow waters, say less than 15ft/5meters?
Bear in mind that the rate of change in pressure is higher at shallow depths. At the surface pressure is 1 atmosphere, it will be 2atm at ~33ft, 3atm at ~66ft and so on. This means that if you have a momentary loss of buoyance control and shoot up, say, 10ft, it is a much larger sudden change in pressure (i.e. more dangerous) to go from 20ft to 10ft than from 100ft to 90ft. So having expert buoyancy control is actually more important at shallower depths.
It just takes practice, but it is a risk for new divers who go in thinking they'll just stay shallow but do so without having mastered boyancy yet.
For shallow dives I use nitrox at 36% oxygen to reduce nitrogen absorption. It's easy to get nitrox certified after completing basic & advanced training so I'd recommend it if shallow diving is a primary goal.
Although at 15ft or less I generally just snorkel if the visibility is any good. At such depths you can see the same by snorkeling, with less risk and hassle.
