Scared To SCUBA? How To Overcome Your Fear of Underwater Adventures

In short. Being scared to scuba dive is normal, and on Koh Tao it is also the easiest fear to deal with, because the fix is practical: tell your instructor, go one-on-one, stand in water you can stand up in, and breathe until the regulator feels ordinary. Most of the time it’s mind over matter — and we’ve watched it turn hundreds of times.

Most “overcome your fear of diving” articles are written by people who have never stood in the shallows with a frightened student. This one is written by someone who does it most weeks. So instead of visualisation exercises and progress trackers, here is what the fear actually looks like on the sand, what we do about it, and one story that explains why none of it is a big deal.

What the Fear Actually Is

Ask nervous students what scares them and you get the same four answers:

1. Breathing underwater. Every instinct says you can’t. This is the real one, and almost all the others are versions of it.
2. Water in the mask. Specifically, having to clear it on purpose. The skill isn’t hard; the idea of water near your nose while you’re underwater is.
3. Depth and the open sea. Not being able to stand up. Feeling small.
4. Marine life. Sharks, mainly, and things that sting.

Here is the useful thing about that list: on a first dive with us, items 3 and 4 don’t apply yet, and items 1 and 2 are solved standing up, in water to your chest, before anyone goes anywhere. You don’t need to conquer the ocean. You need to get comfortable breathing through a regulator while standing on sand at Japanese Gardens or Mango Bay. That is a much smaller job.

What We Do With a Nervous Student

Every instructor has their own way. Mine goes like this.

I take them out of the group, one-on-one, so there is nobody watching and nobody waiting. I inflate their BCD fully, so they physically cannot sink, and I have them stand in the shallows and put their face in the water with the regulator in — not kneel, not descend, not do a skill. Just stand there and breathe.

That’s it. There’s no clock on this. Some people need two minutes, some need twenty, some need to come back tomorrow. When the breathing is slow and boring, we kneel. When kneeling is boring, we try one skill. Nothing new is added until the last thing feels normal.

The other half of the method is you. Tell your instructor you’re scared before the first session. We can only slow down if we know, and a nervous student who says so gets the most experienced instructor on the team and a place right next to them for the whole course.

One Student

I once had a guest who was terrified in the confined-water session. She really wanted to do it, but she couldn’t concentrate on the skills and was struggling to breathe properly through the regulator. I had three other students in the water at the time, and I knew that with a one-on-one session I could get her through it. So I took a break, took her aside and arranged for her to come back the next morning.

When she arrived the next day I asked her a simple question: have you been snorkelling before? She said yes, and that she loved it. So I invented a word — skorkelling: snorkelling with scuba gear on. We spent around an hour just swimming on the surface in full kit, breathing through the regulator, looking at the reef. Then I explained that we’d be doing exactly the same thing one metre down. So we did. After that she was great, and she became a really good diver.

Most of the time it’s mind over matter. Her problem was never the skills; it was that everything was new at once. Take away the newness one piece at a time and the fear has nothing to hold on to.

If It Rises Underwater

It can happen on dive one or on dive one hundred: a bit of water in the mask, a breath that didn’t feel full, and suddenly the thought I need to get out.

• Stop. Don’t kick, don’t reach for the surface. Hold your instructor’s arm if you need to.
• Breathe out, long and slow. Then in. Then out again. Three breaths is usually enough for the thought to pass.
• Signal. The “something’s wrong” hand-wave or the thumb-up. Your instructor will take you up slowly, or simply hold position with you until you’re fine.

Nobody is ever taken deeper than they want to go, and coming up — slowly, together — is always an option. On a try dive or an Open Water course you are never more than an arm’s length from someone whose entire job that morning is you.

Two Routes In

Try dive — 2,500 ฿, half a day. The gentlest start: one guided dive to a maximum of 12 metres, four people per instructor at most, no exam, no pressure to continue. If you’re scared, this is the one to book first. If it goes well, the skills count towards the course.

Open Water — 11,000 ฿, 3.5 days. The full certification. The pace is yours: the confined-water session on day two runs until everyone has it, and if you need another go we slot you into the next course for that part, usually at no extra charge.

Our beginner’s guide walks through both, hour by hour.

Our top tip

Don’t keep it to yourself. Tell the instructor that you really want to dive but you’re scared. An experienced instructor will know what to do and keep you close to them on the course. The main thing is to just relax and don’t overthink things.

Frequently Asked Questions