In a BBC survey of the "50 Things To Do Before You Die" scuba diving took no less than 4 spots in the top ten including diving with dolphins and sharks. People love to commune with nature and on a coral reef you can see more wildlife in 10 minutes than you would over 10 hours in a rainforest.
More women than men are learning to dive these days. The approximate ratio is 65:35. And it is a trend that is reflected elsewhere. Diving is no longer a male preserve. The misconceptions have been stripped away. Students quickly find out that the underwater environment is not a dark, cold alien world but a place of tranquillity and breathtaking beauty.
Learning to dive has no boundaries. The only prerequisites for a PADI Open Water course are that you are at least 10 years old, you are in reasonably good health and you can swim a few lengths in the pool.
Also we ask you to fill out a medical questionnaire to see if you are fit and healthy to dive. If you answer "yes" to any of these questions you will need a doctor's note to begin training.
PADI's director of marketing Gary Von Roekel says: "Our research has shown that scuba diving is growing in popularity because it's an activity that's not only fun and exciting, but peaceful and relaxing too".