Scuba diving is great. You don't have to do deep or risky dives to enjoy it. There's a ton of fun in diving around reefs 10m down.

That story is pretty wild. And relatable.

I got myself into a little trouble when I dove the Blue Hole 16 years ago. We were warned pretty heavily how many people have died doing it, so I went in with a healthy level of anxiety. It was my second dive where the dive plan was to go to 40m, which is the limit on regular air.

The descent was surreal. You have the wall of the crater on your side, but everything else is different shades of blue. Past about 10m, there's not really any wildlife to look at, just blue. We descended straight down, going in slow motion. As we went down the blues got gradually darker and deeper.

At probably the high 20s, I started to notice I could really see the surface clearly anymore, and I started to panic. My breath started racing and I started being annoyed by my regulator in my mouth, which is an unnatural feeling to being with. For maybe a minute, I debated whether I should try to get myself under control, or signal my dive instructor I wanted to ascend. Meanwhile, we were still drifting downward. I worried whether nitrogen narcosis might affect my judgment or ability to control my panic.

In the end, I decided not to be a hero. I gave my instructor the thumbs up to ascend, and we went through the orderly process of safety stops. When we got to the top I told her I explained I was feeling panicky (you can't really communicate anything nuanced below the surface), and then I spent the rest of my tank diving the first 10m, which was relaxing, and let me finish the day on a high note.

I have over 5000 logged dives and have only suffered DCS once, with the right training SCUBA can be very safe.

that comment is a classic and certainly entertaining, but there are multiple levels of safety to prevent something like this from happening, the first of which is the wall of tombstones that greets you when you arrive at that specific dive site. To end up in that situation means to have already made a number of big, big errors.

I remember the Blue Hole as one the best dives I made, and not even the scariest: that prize goes to the time I was in calm waters at 20 meters, and the pressure regulator just failed, leaving me without air from both mouthpieces. And that's why you have a buddy...

I don't think I've ever had anything fail on me diving, but I've been with people who have run out of air (my buddy was constantly using all his up), so having to breathe off someone else's tank isn't uncommon.

As I mentioned in my sibling comment, I did have a scary time on the Blue Hole. I think my other most nervous dives were:

- Pacific dive in Costa Rica in rough seas and surge. We suddenly had visibility drop to near zero when we hit the outflow current of a river. Definitely a lesson in how quick conditions can change.

- Cavern diving in a cenote in Mexico. Nothing weird happened, but we went kinda far in, and I get nervous in overhead environments.

same, blue hole is notorious because inexperienced divers get pressured into deep dives they haven't trained for by local guides looking to make a quick buck.

my scariest dive was when a 14 year old got separated from the group and thought it would be a good idea to continue his dive for 30 minutes.